Portland's independent theaters are stacking their calendars, with three festivals and two buzzy new releases landing across the city's neighborhood screens starting Friday, Aug. 14.

The biggest draw: Clinton Street Theater at 2522 SE Clinton St. hosts back-to-back festivals through the end of the month. Queer Screams (stylized "Queer Scre4ms") launches its fourth year Friday with a prom theme, special guests and a weekend of queer horror running through Sunday, Aug. 16. Actor Nancy Allen attends a 50th-anniversary screening of Brian De Palma's "Carrie" (1976) on Friday night, while writer-director Bryan Fuller, known for TV's "Hannibal" and "Pushing Daisies," attends a Sunday screening of his directorial debut "Dust Bunny" (2025).

The festival fills the rest of its lineup with features including the 2024 French psychosexual thriller "Scarlet Blue" and punk-rock provocation "Wolf Cat Fever," plus shorts blocks. Tickets run $15–$25 per screening or $75 for a weekend pass.

The day after Queer Screams wraps, Clinton Street pivots to the Hanabi Film Festival, a two-week celebration of Japanese cinema running Monday, Aug. 17 through Aug. 29. Now in its fourth year, Hanabi opens with a 16mm screening of Kenji Mizoguchi's 1953 landmark "Ugetsu" and includes restored prints of "Harakiri" (1962) and the 1983 Palme d'Or winner "The Ballad of Narayama." Opening weekend features the North American premiere of "Poca Pon," and the festival closes with a six-episode screening of the 1990s cyberpunk anime "Iria: Zeiram the Animation." Tickets are $10 per film, $75 for a full festival pass or $50 for a late-night pass, per the Mercury's Second Run column.

Two weeks of film at one Southeast Portland venue. That alone is worth circling on the calendar.

Also opening Friday across Portland: Jane Schoenbrun's "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma," starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson, screens at Cinema 21 (616 NW 21st Ave) and Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy Blvd), expanding to more screens Aug. 21. Schoenbrun, whose previous films include "I Saw the TV Glow" (2024), has described their first two features as "trans coming-of-age" films and said "Camp Miasma" "gets rid of those last two words," according to Oregon ArtsWatch.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "The Samurai and the Prisoner," based on Honobu Yonezawa's acclaimed 2021 novel, also opens Friday at Cinema 21, Living Room Theaters and St. Johns Twin Cinema, with Cinemagic adding screenings Aug. 21.

More on Portland screens:

• Aug. 18–23: Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology (PFCAT) at OMSI, 1945 SE Water Ave. 170 films from 31 countries. Tickets $9–$12.
• Aug. 18: 1960s Super Show (16mm triple bill of animated Spider-Man, Hulk and Adam West Batman) at Hollywood Theatre.
• Aug. 20: Short Films by Pratibha Pamar, presented by Lesbian Cinema Club, at Tomorrow Theater, 3530 SE Division St.
• Aug. 22: Gus Van Sant's "Drugstore Cowboy" (1989) at Tomorrow Theater.