The anniversary edition leans into the weird. This year's lineup includes a film about Sea Monkeys — the actual brine shrimp empire, not a metaphor — plus a doc with enough rock-star-body-part candor that 48hills felt compelled to flag it in a headline, and at least one film the festival describes as involving high-heeled anarchy, which is doing a lot of work as a descriptor. DocFest has always punched above its budget on international acquisitions, and the 25th year appears to double down on that rather than going retrospective-heavy.
Practical notes: The Roxie has limited street parking on 16th and 18th; BART is the actual move here. Arrive ten minutes early — the Roxie's narrow lobby backs up fast on weekend evenings. The bar next door, Elixir, is a reasonable pre-screening option if you want a drink without hunting.
With two hours, I'd pick one marquee-weird title — the Sea Monkeys doc or whatever has the most alarming festival blurb — buy a ticket day-of at the box office, and walk to Tartine Manufactory afterward if you need to debrief.