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Around Town: Catherine Deneuve, Outfest Fusion, world cinema and a tribute to Chris Morris at L.A. revival houses

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Legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve is being feted this weekend at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. ‘Beautiful Dreamer: The Early Films of Catherine Deneuve’ opens Friday with her 1967 classic ‘Belle de Jour,’ directed by Luis Bunuel. Deneuve plays a beautiful housewife with sadomasochistic fantasies who decides to act on them by working in the afternoons at a chic bordello. ‘Belle’ is followed by the creepy 1965 Roman Polanski film, ‘Repulsion,’ in which she plays a shy young woman who loses her mind. Deneuve is scheduled to appear in person Tuesday for the preview screening of her latest film, ‘Potiche,’ directed by Francois Ozon. http://www.lacma.org

The American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre features two films by the late British director Bryan Forbes on Thursday evening: 1964’s haunting ‘Seance on a Wet Afternoon,’ for which Kim Stanley received a lead actress Oscar nomination, and 1967’s ‘The Whisperers,’ starring Edith Evans in her Academy Award-nominated turn.

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Friday’s Aero offering is the 1985 Oscar-winning best picture, ‘Out of Africa,’ directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Meryl Streep, Robert Redford and Klaus Maria Brandauer. The original 1982 ‘Tron’ zooms into the Aero on Saturday evening in a 70-millimeter print. Writer and director Steven Lisberger, visual effects supervisors Richard Taylor and Harrison Ellenshaw, director of photography Bruce Logan and VFX computer animator Bill Kroyer and VFX crew member John Scheele will also be on hand.

The Aero celebrates the 50th anniversary of Elia Kazan’s drama ‘Splendor in the Grass,’ starring Natalie Wood in her memorable Oscar-nominated turn as a frustrated teenager in love with her high school boyfriend (Warren Beatty in his film debut). A discussion with editor and film scholar Lisa Dombrowski, film scholar Leo Braudy and Kazan biographers Richard Schickel and Sam Wasson will follow. The Aero’s in-person tribute to French director Bertrand Tavernier (‘’Round Midnight’) continues Wednesday with a preview of his latest film, ‘The Princess of Montpensier.’

The L.A. League of Arts Burning Man Film Series presents ‘Dust & Illusions’ Sunday evening at the Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Olivier Bonin directed this look at the Burning Man Festival, which began in the San Francisco underground in the 1980s and has since become the largest counterculture event in North America. http://www.americancineamtheque.com

Outfest’s Fusion: The Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Festival visits the Egyptian Theatre on Friday and Saturday. The festival opens with a sing-along of the 1978 film ‘The Wiz,’ starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Lena Horne. Among the programs scheduled for Saturday is the documentary ‘Hooters: The Making of Older, Wiser Lesbian Cinema,’ a shorts program and a gala featuring the screening of the 2009 British film ‘Fit,’ directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair, who is also receiving the Fusion Achievement Award. http://www.Outfest.org/fusion2011

The Arab Film Festival and USC School of Cinematic Arts host the Contemporary Middle Eastern Cinema Conference on Friday through Sunday at Norris Cinema Theatre. Among the films set to be showcased at the event are the Algerian Oscar-nominated ‘Outside the Law,’ the Iraqi film ‘Son of Babylon’ and the Iranian film ‘Offside,’ directed by Jafar Panahi, who was arrested last year and sentenced to six years in jail in addition to being banned from making films for 20 years. http://www.cinema.usc.edu/MiddleEasternCinema

The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre’s retrospective of the comedies of Chris Morris continues Thursday through Saturday with his 2010 film ‘Four Lions,’ followed by one of his TV projects. The festival also features a special Saturday matinee of Morris’ only narrative TV series, ‘Nathan Barley.’ The comedy continues Sunday with an evening with Cassandra Peterson, the actress more famously known as cleavage-sporting TV personality Elvira, featuring her 1988 film comedy ‘Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.’

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Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant, screenwriters of ‘Night at the Museum’ as well as the co-creators and stars of ‘Reno 911,’ will appear Monday evening at the Silent Movie Theatre to present rare, unseen footage from the TV show. Cinefamily hosts a sneak preview Tuesday of the bubonic plague horror film ‘Black Death,’ with director Christopher Smith in person. Following is a screening of 1968’s ‘Witchfinder General.’ And Charlie Chaplin’s beloved 1931 ‘City Lights’ will grace the Silent Movie Theatre on Wednesday. http://www.cinefamily.org

The Nuart presents a midnight showing Friday of John Carpenter’s 1983 horror flick, ‘Christine,’ based on the novel by Stephen King. There will also be a clip reel tribute to Carpenter before the feature. http://www.landmarktheatres.com

The Art Theatre in Long Beach presents David Lynch’s surreal 1986 masterpiece, ‘Blue Velvet,’ as its midnight offering Friday. http://www.arthousetheatrelongbeach.com

The New Beverly Cinema’s midnight offering Friday and Saturday evening is the 1975 animated French comedy ‘Shame of the Jungle,’ which features the voices of Johnny Weissmuller Jr., Christopher Guest, Bill Murray and John Belushi. Screening Sunday and Monday evenings are the 1981 Australian thriller ‘Road Games,’ starring Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis, and the 1971 caper ‘The Anderson Tapes,’ directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Sean Connery and Dyan Cannon.

The New Bev’s Grindhouse Night on Tuesday presents a triple feature: 1973’s ‘The No Mercy Man,’ 1975’s ‘Johnny Firecloud’ and 1973’s ‘Summertime Killer.’ A Rod Taylor double bill is on tap for Wednesday evening: 1968’s ‘Dark of the Sun’ and 1974’s ‘Hell River.’ http://www.newbevcinema.com

The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles presents the German film ‘The Crocodiles’ on Sunday morning. The film is a remake of the 1977 German TV movie based on Max von der Gruen’s youth novel. http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/los/enindex.html

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‘The Birdwoman and Her Dreams: Animated Works by Nancy Andrews,’ Monday evening at REDCAT, features a selection of Andrews’ shorts, including two of her latest: ‘Behind the Eyes Are the Ears’ and ‘On a Phantom Limb.’ Andrews will appear in person. http://www.redcat.org

The Skirball’s free Tuesday matinee this week is Arthur Penn’s seminal 1967 ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ starring Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons in her Oscar-winning turn. http://skirball.org

Hank Rosenfeld, author of the new book ‘Golden-Age Screenwriter Irving Brecher: The Wicked Wit of the West,’ will talk about the famed scribe of such films as ‘Meet Me in St. Louis,’ ‘At the Circus’ and ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ on Wednesday at the Hollywood Heritage Museum at the Lasky-DeMille Barn. The screenwriter’s widow, Norma Brecher, will also be on hand to reminisce about her husband. http://www.hollywoodheritage.org

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