BSFI Free Summer Movies -- AUGUST 2026 at BSPAC!

No question this summer in Borrego it’s muggy and buggy outside, but inside the BSPAC Theater it’s cool and comfortable, and we have the best Free Summer Movies playing in August, screening every other Wednesday, through December at BSPAC. 

On August 12^th, we have the legendary comedienne Melissa McCarthy playing against type in Can You Ever Forgive Me? And on August 26^th we have Jack Nicholson, in perhaps his greatest role, in Roman Polanski’s masterpiece, Chinatown.

All screenings are held on Wednesday evenings at 7pm at the Borrego Springs Performing Arts Center, 590 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs, CA 92004. 

Our full schedule for 2026 is posted on the BSFI website:  www.borregospringsfilminstitute.org. 

Please check the website for the most up to date information.

Here are the movies coming to BSPAC in August:

Wednesday, August 12, 2026 at 7pm – Can You Ever Forgive Me? – 2018 – Rated R – 1h 47m

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a darkly witty and deeply affecting biographical crime drama that stands as one of the most acclaimed films of its year and a landmark performance showcase for its lead, Melissa McCarthy. Directed by Marielle Heller, with a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, the film is based on the 2008 confessional memoir of the same name by Lee Israel. McCarthy plays Israel, a once-celebrated biographer who, fallen on desperately hard times in early 1990s New York, turns to forging letters purportedly written by deceased literary luminaries and selling them to bookstores and collectors.  Her partner in crime is the roguish, openly gay Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant), whose flamboyant warmth provides a perfect foil to Israel's bristling misanthropy.  The supporting cast includes Jane Curtin as Israel's blunt literary agent, and Dolly Wells as a bookshop owner who becomes romantically interested in Lee.  Filming in New York City began in January 2017 and concluded in early March, and the film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in September 2018.  Critically, Can You Ever Forgive Me? was rapturously received. The National Board of Review named it one of the top ten films of 2018.  At awards season, the film swept up nominations across the board: McCarthy and Grant both earned nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the BAFTAs, while Holofcener and Whitty were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Wednesday, August 26, 2026 at 7pm – Chinatown – 1974 – Rated R – 2h 10m

Chinatown is considered a masterwork of American cinema and one of the defining films of the New Hollywood era. Directed by Roman Polanski and written by Robert Towne, it stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, with a towering supporting performance from John Huston, along with John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Burt Young, and Diane Ladd. The film is set in Los Angeles in the late 1930s and is loosely inspired by the real-life construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in the early 20th century — which gives the story its grounding in the murky intersection of civic power and private greed. The screenplay was written specifically for Nicholson, who plays J.J. "Jake" Gittes, a private detective hired for what appears to be a routine infidelity case, only to be swept into a labyrinthine conspiracy involving the corruption behind the city's water supply. John Huston, himself a titan of old Hollywood, plays Noah Cross, the monstrous tycoon at the center of the scandal, creating one of cinema's most disturbing villains.  Chinatown is notable for one of Hollywood's great creative conflicts: Towne had originally conceived an ending in which Evelyn kills her father, but Polanski insisted on a far darker conclusion in which Evelyn is killed and her daughter is taken by Noah Cross — a choice Towne initially resisted but later acknowledged was right. Polanski's inherent pessimism, fueled by his return to the city where his wife Sharon Tate had been murdered by the Manson family, pushed the film into even darker territory, connecting the viciousness of urban politics to an inherent malevolence in human nature. Released by Paramount Pictures in 1974, it received widespread critical acclaim and is today regarded as one of the greatest films of the 20th century. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards but surprisingly won only one — Robert Towne's Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, losing the major prizes including Best Picture and Best Director to The Godfather, Part II. Towne's script, however, has endured as perhaps the most celebrated and studied screenplay ever written, and the film's closing line — "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown" — remains one of the most iconic in the history of the medium.

And looking forward, here are the scheduled movies coming in September and October: 

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 7pm – Sentimental Value – 2025 – Rated R – 2h 13m

Directed by Joachim Trier and written by Trier and Eskil Vogt, the film is a Norwegian comedy-drama that weaves together family drama, creative ambition, and the bittersweet pull of reconciliation. The story centers on sisters Nora and Agnes, whose estranged father Gustav — a celebrated but now semi-obscure film director — re-enters their lives following the death of their mother, hoping to cast Nora as the lead in his long-awaited comeback film. When she refuses, he turns to a glamorous American actress, upending the family's fragile peace and forcing all three to confront long-buried resentments. The film won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. In Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and English with English subtitles.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 7pm - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – 1948 – Not Rated – 2h 6m

Set in Mexico in the 1920s, two hard-luck Americans, Fred Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt), team up with Howard (Walter Huston), a wise old prospector, on a quest for gold deep in the remote Sierra Madre mountains. Written and directed by John Huston — who adapted the film from B. Traven's 1927 novel — the story takes a dark turn as the men's discovery of gold gives way to suspicion, paranoia, and greed that threatens to destroy them as surely as any bandit. The film is widely considered Huston's finest work, and in a historic sweep at the Academy Awards, John took home Oscars for Best Director and Best Screenplay while his father Walter won Best Supporting Actor — the only time a father and son have won in the same ceremony. Celebrated for its exceptional performances, authentic atmosphere, and moral complexity, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is regarded as a timeless masterpiece of psychological depth and thematic richness.

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 at 7pm – Diabolique – 1955 – Not Rated – 1h 47m

Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and set in a decrepit French boarding school, the film follows the wife (Véra Clouzot) and mistress (Simone Signoret) of a cruel, abusive headmaster (Paul Meurisse) who conspire to murder him — only to find his body mysteriously vanishes after the deed is done. Based on a novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac — whose work would later provide the basis for Hitchcock's Vertigo — Clouzot expertly builds a feeling of mounting dread, culminating in a twist ending that pushes the film into the realm of nightmare. With its unprecedented narrative twists and outstanding performances, Diabolique is considered a benchmark in thriller filmmaking and one of the most influential films of its kind.  In French with English subtitles.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at 7pm – Poor Things – 2023 – Rated R – 2h 21m

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster) and set in a whimsical version of Victorian England, the film follows Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life by an eccentric scientist (Willem Dafoe) who implanted a baby's brain into her body — sending her on a globetrotting adventure of self-discovery with a sleazy lawyer played by Mark Ruffalo. Wildly imaginative and exhilaratingly over the top, the film is considered a bizarre, brilliant tour de force for both Lanthimos and Stone, and it announced itself immediately upon its debut at the Venice Film Festival, where it was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion. At the Academy Awards, Stone won Best Actress for her performance, while the film took home additional Oscars for Best Costume Design, Best Hair and Make-up, and Best Production Design — a sweep that cemented Poor Things as one of the most celebrated and visually inventive films of the decade.

This season’s BSFI movie screenings are being generously underwritten by the Borrego Valley Endowment Fund (BVEF).

See you at the movies!