Around Town: A weekend for foreign-language films
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With the Golden Globe Awards on tap for Sunday evening, that means it’s time for the American Cinematheque’s annual Golden Globe foreign-language nominee festival.
Screening Thursday evening at the Aero in Santa Monica is Italy’s ‘I Am Love,’ starring Tilda Swinton. Writer and director Luca Guadagnino will be on hand to introduce the screening. On tap for Friday is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s latest film, ‘Biutiful,’ with Javier Bardem, from Mexico/Spain. And Saturday afternoon at the Egyptian is a free round-table seminar with the directors of the five nominated films, moderated by Mike Goodridge of Screen International. www.americancinematheque.com
The Latino Student Film Festival, on Thursday evening at the Downtown Independent, features films made by students in the L.A. area. Participating schools include Central L.A. High School No. 9, Self-Help Graphics, Bell High School and Lincoln High School. lacla.org
‘True Grit: The Golden Age of Road Movies’ continues Thursday evening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with Paul Mazursky’s delightful 1974 comedy ‘Harry & Tonto.’ Mazursky will participate in a Q&A after the screening. Set for 5 p.m. Saturday is 1973’s ‘Electra Glide in Blue,’ with Robert Blake as a motorcycle policeman. Following at 7:30 p.m. is Jerry Schatzberg’s underrated 1973 buddy film, ‘Scarecrow,’ with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino. Vilmos Zsigmond, who supplied the evocative cinematography, will be on hand to discuss the film. www.lacma.org
The Downtown Independent is the host Friday through Sunday of the Graphation Film Festival. Graphation, organizers say, is ‘to adapt a cinematic work to pulp fiction or literary forms associated with graphic novels or to expand digital creative works into literary forms and then onto electronic mobile platforms.’ www.graphation.com
The American Cinematheque’s tribute to great screen icons continues Friday at the Egyptian Theatre with two great Alfred Hitchcock thrillers from 1954 starring Grace Kelly: ‘Rear Window,’ also with James Stewart, and ‘Dial M for Murder,’ with Ray Milland and Robert Cummings.
The Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society presents a screening of the recently restored 1927 Colleen Moore comedy, ‘Her Wild Oat,’ Friday at the venerable Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Bob Salisbury will provide musical accompaniment on the theater’s mighty pipe organ. www.latos.org.
The UCLA Film and Television Archive’s salute to vaudevillians on film, ‘Mixed Nuts,’ presents the 1934 musical comedy ‘Gift of Gab,’ with Edmund Lowe, Gloria Stuart and Ruth Etting on Saturday at the Billy Wilder Theatre, along with 1932’s ‘The Big Broadcast,’ with Bing Crosby, Burns and Allen, Kate Smith and Cab Calloway. Rounding out the program is the 1931 short ‘Taxi Tangle,’ with Jack Benny. Scheduled for Sunday evening is a nitrate print of the 1935 comedy ‘Here Comes Cookie,’ with Gracie Allen. Also screening is another comedy with Wheeler and Woolsey, ‘Diplomanics.’ www.cinema.ucla.edu.
The Hollywood Heritage Museum and the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum present David Kiehn, historian for the Essanay museum, Saturday night at the Lasky-DeMille Barn. Kiehn will present slides and movies that illustrate the quest of Gilbert M. ‘Bronco Billy’ Anderson to find the perfect location in California for a movie studio. www.hollywoodheritage.org
Throughout this month, about 200 independent groups will be screening the documentary ‘Zeitgeist: Moving Forward’ in 30 languages across 60 countries. The film, a sequel to the controversial 2007 ‘Zeitgeist: The Movie,’ will screen Saturday evening at the Aratani Japan America Theater and then move to the Laemmle’s Music Hall in Beverly Hills on Sunday for a five-day engagement. www.zeitgeistmovingforward.com
Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Oscar-winning best film, ‘West Side Story,’ based on the seminal Broadway musical by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. The 70-millimeter print features the newly restored soundtrack. Two delightful French film family classics directed by Albert Lamorisse visit the Aero on Sunday: 1956’s ‘The Red Balloon’ and 1953’s ‘White Mane.’
The Egyptian is celebrating ‘Crazy Good: An Alejandro Judorowsky Tribute’ on Saturday and Sunday. Screening Saturday is his 1989 horror film, ‘Santa Sangre,’ and his 1968 debut film, ‘Fando and Lis.’ Sunday’s double bill is his 1970 classic, ‘El Topo,’ in which he also stars, and 1973’s ‘The Holy Mountain.’ Jodorowsky is, schedule permitting, set to appear both days.
The ArcLight Cinemas are celebrating cult comedy classics this month. Scheduled for the ArcLight Hollywood on Monday is the 1985 musical comedy ‘The Last Dragon,’ while the ArcLight Sherman Oaks presents 1999’s ‘South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.’ Scheduled for Wednesday at the ArcLight Beach Cities is Wes Anderson’s’ quirky 1998 hit, ‘Rushmore,’ while the ArcLight Pasadena presents the 1985 John Hughes’ comedy, ‘Weird Science.’ www.arclightcinemas.com
The Hammer Museum goes wild and crazy Tuesday at the Billy Wilder Theater with its ‘Open Projector Night,’ in which short-film makers are encouraged to bring their flicks under 10 minutes to be screened. There’s free popcorn. Identical twins Jason and Randy Sklar host the event. www.hammer.ucla.edu
The documentary ‘No Way to Say Goodbye,’ screening Tuesday evening at the Skirball, chronicles the dwindling of the Jewish community in Bolivia. Following the screening is a Q&A with director Jonas Jacobs. www.skirball.org
The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre’s ‘TV Tuesday’ pokes fun of the ‘very special episode’ of TV sitcoms. www.cinefamily.org
The Aero Theatre presents a rarely seen 1956 melodrama, ‘There’s Always Tomorrow,’ directed by Douglas Sirk of ‘Magnificent Obsession’ fame. Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, who burned up the screen in 1944’s ‘Double Indemnity,’ reunite for this romantic drama. Pat Crowley, who played the girlfriend of MacMurray’s son, is the special guest. www.americancinematheque.com
Bert Shapiro’s documentary ‘Speaking for Myself,’ which chronicles the lives of eight New York performing artists, screens Wednesday at the Echo Park Film Center. Shapiro will be in attendance. www.echoparkfilmcenter.org
Also Wednesday, Rudolph Valentino reprises his seminal role as Ahmed in 1926’s ‘The Son of the Sheik,’ which became the beloved silent sex symbol’s last film before his untimely death that year at the age of 31. Vilma Banky also stars. www.cinefamily.org
— Susan King
