In breaking news pegged to the Los Angeles Film Festival, Spike Jonze’s new short film, We Were Once a Fairytale, starring Kanye West, will screen before tonight’s 8:30 p.m. screening of Jonathan Caouette’s All Tomorrow’s Parties at the Ford Amphitheatre. Special guests are expected, and self-packed picnics are welcome for the event. Also, just on a festival-related note, Examiner.com’s Marvin Miranda takes a swing at four flicks: Harmony & Me, Zero Bridge, Dear Lemon Lima, and For Those Who Remain.

For those in the Los Angeles area, Bobcat Goldthwait will appear in person at the Silent Movie Theatre on June 16, screening “a selection of his favorite found footage from his private collection,” followed by his 1992 directorial debut, Shakes the Clown. Festivities kick off at 8 p.m., and tickets are $12. For more
information on the event, and the Silent Movie Theatre in general, click here.

For those in the Los Angeles area, the Silent Movie Theatre celebrates the life and career of the brilliant, late Mitch Hedberg on Sunday, June 14. Before dying at the age of 37 in 2005, Hedberg dealt in surrealist snippets and ingeniously obvious wordplay, where the only real set-up needed for any joke was a grasped appreciation of his wry, shy personality. Whereas fellow deadpan comic Steven Wright’s delivery is incredibly dry and snail-paced, however, Hedberg’s came as a fast, engaging drawl, spoken to the floor while he hid behind a pair of sunglasses. With generous assistance from Mitch’s widow and fellow comedian Lynn Shawcroft, Cinefamily has combed through voluminous archives to unearth and compile rare footage of live performances, TV appearance and Hedberg’s unreleased MTV reality pilot. The evening will climax with a screening of Mitch’s lone directorial effort, the autobiographical 1999 feature film Los Enchiladas. Festivities kick off at 8 p.m., and tickets are $12. For more
information on the event, and the Silent Movie Theatre in general, click here.

Native Californian Kathryn Bigelow gets celebrated by the American Cinematheque next weekend, when her quite excellent new film, the Iraq-set war drama The Hurt Locker, screens at the Egyptian Theatre on Friday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. Following the advance screening, a discussion with Bigelow and various, yet-to-be-confirmed cast members will be held. Then, over the next two nights, she’ll get some double feature love, and return for in-person introductions to each film. Saturday, June 6, spotlights Near Dark and Strange Days, while Sunday, June 7 features Point Break and K9: The Widowmaker.

The historic Egyptian Theatre is located at 6712
Hollywood Boulevard,
between Highland
and Las Palmas,
in Hollywood.
Tickets for these screenings and all events at the Egyptian are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on screenings,
directions and other matters, phone (323) 466-FILM, or visit the Cinematheque’s eponymous
Web site.

Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced that director Michael Bay‘s highly anticipated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will have its American premiere on Monday, June 22 at the Los Angeles Film Festival, just in advance of its theatrical bow two days later, June 24. The festival runs from Thursday, June 18 to Sunday, June 28.

Police Academy‘s Michael Winslow — yeah, that guy — gets some love when the Silent Movie Theatre celebrates his unique talents of mimicry by giving him center stage to embark on a never-before attempted challenge that only he could possibly fulfill. Yes, on Wednesday, June 10, Winslow will be providing a live music-and-effects track to a varied sampling of classic and not-so-classic shorts from the silent era. Not so silent anymore, it turns out! Festivities kick off at 8 p.m., and tickets are $14. For more
information on the event, and the Silent Movie Theatre in general, click here.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Gremlins, starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates and, yes, the voice of Howie Mandell, the Aero Theatre will screen director Joe Dante’s squirmingly fun flick and its 1990 sequel on Friday, May 22, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Appearing for a special discussion in between the films will be Dante and actor Glynn Turman. The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

For those in the Los Angeles area, the Silent Movie Theatre celebrates Memorial Day weekend in a manner both somewhat traditional (with a barbecue) and inventive, on Monday, May 25. Operating under the philosophy that almost all movies have a certain, if tiny, reservoir of goodwill out of the gate, they’re screening the first five minutes (sans credits) of 15 movies, with most if not all the films being unavailable on DVD. After an hour-long, outdoor dinner break (bring your own meat to grill!), the audience then gets to vote on which film out of the 15 to watch in its entirety. Festivities kick off at 6 p.m., and tickets are $10. For more information on the event, and the Silent Movie Theatre in general, click here.

Blending gritty reality and poetic
expressionism, actor turned screenwriter and director Jules Dassin first gained recognition
for a series of tough-minded, urban action movies during film noir’s
glory years. This weekend, the Aero Theatre celebrates his work with three evenings of double features. The Naked City and Never on Sunday kick things off on Friday, May 15; Saturday, May 16 brings a heist flick double-fister, in the form of 1954’s Rififi and 1964’s Topkapi; Sunday, May 17, the tribute closes with screenings of 1950’s classic Night and the City and Thieves’ Highway.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for this movie, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM. For more information on Easy Virtues, which opens May 22 from Sony Pictures Classics, visit its British web site by clicking here.

In advance of its Stateside theatrical bow, the Aero Theatre will host a special advance screening of Easy Virtue, a romantic comedy starring Jessica Biel and Ben Barnes — on Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m., as part of a double feature of director Stephan Elliott’s work. An adaptation of Noel Coward’s play, Easy Virtue centers around John Whittaker, a young Englishman who falls madly in love with Larita, a sexy and glamorous American woman. They marry impetuously, but when the couple returns to the stuffy Whittaker family home, John’s mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) has an instant allergic reaction to her new daughter-in-law. Sparks fly, and a battle of wits ensues. Australian Elliott (Eye of the Beholder) will appear in person for a discussion between Easy Virtue and a 9:30 screening of his 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for this movie, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM. For more information on Easy Virtues, which opens May 22 from Sony Pictures Classics, visit its British web site by clicking here.

For those wanting to add some throat punches to the conclusion of their weekend, Steven Seagal’s entertainingly terrible Kill Switch makes its television debut on Spike TV on Sunday, May 3 at 10 p.m., EDT. Check your local listings to at least TiVo the opening 15 minutes, which feature a hilariously over-edited sequence in which Seagal catches a serial killer, and then “tosses” him around, through break-away walls and mock-glass tables.

CineVegas has finalized the complete lineup for its 11th annual festival, including Bobcat Goldthwait‘s World’s Greatest Dad as the closing night film, it was announced today by Artistic Director Trevor Groth. Starring Robin Williams, the dark comedy centers around high school poetry teacher Lance Clayton, who, after a freak accident, desperately tries to reconnect with his teenage son Kyle (Daryl Sabara), as well as a painfully adorable art teacher, Claire (Alexie Gilmore). Presumably, dogs are not fellated. For more information on the festival, which runs June 10-15 at the Palms Casino Resort and Brenden Theatres in Las Vegas, click here.

Just in advance of its nationwide theatrical bow, the Aero Theatre will host a special advance screening of Superbad director Greg Mottola’s Adventureland — a coming-of-age film drawn from his own young adult experiences — on Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. Set in the summer of 1987, the film centers around recent college grad James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg, above left), who’s forced to take a lowly job at a local amusement park to make ends meet. Luckily for James, what should have been his worst summer ever turns into quite an adventure as he discovers love with his captivating co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), and learns to loosen up.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for this movie, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM. For more information on Adventureland, which opens March 27 from Miramax, visit its web site by clicking here.

On Friday, March 20, two rarely seen slices of noir from 1951 screen as part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s 14th annual Festival of Preservation: Joseph Losey’s The Prowler kicks things off at 7:30 p.m., followed by B-feature The Hoodlum.

Set in a shadowy post-war Los Angeles, The Prowler focuses on a wealthy but neglected housewife (Evelyn Keyes) who spends her evenings alone, with only her husband’s voice on the radio for company.  When she’s spooked by a peeping tom, a calculating cop (Van Heflin) answers the call, turning her ordered life upside down. The Prowler was the third of five films director Losey made in Hollywood, and the most critically and commercially successful. The following year Losey was officially blacklisted, and soon embarked on a career abroad, where he eventually earned a reputation as an auteur.

The briskly paced The Hoodlum features quintessential tough guy Lawrence Tierney in a most fitting role — as Vincent Lubeck, an angry, brooding, habitual criminal who, after five years in the joint, is released on parole to live with his mother and brother Johnny (played by Tierney’s real life brother, Edward). Sent to work at the family gas station, Vincent grows bitter and restless, and begins plotting his escape from the menial labor of his humdrum life. Completely void of fear, pain and compassion, Vincent has no qualms about destroying everyone and everything in his path.

Appearing in person with the films are authors James Ellroy (The Black Dahlia) and Eddie Muller (Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir). The films screen at the Billy Wilder Theater, located at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood. Advance online tickets are available for $10, and are also available at the box office starting one hour before showtime: prices are $9 for general admission, $8 for Cineclub members, students, seniors and UCLA Alumni Association members, with ID, and $7 for Cineclub members who are students or seniors. For more information, click here, or phone (310) 206-FILM.

Writers In Treatment is proud to present “The Reel Recovery Film Series,” an eight-week film festival, fundraising event and recovery forum which will take place every Tuesday evening in April and May at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles. Permanent Midnight novelist Jerry Stahl and director Bernard Rose (Immortal Beloved) are scheduled to attend, and the eight films selected for the series are The Lost Weekend, Permanent Midnight, Leaving Las Vegas, Sid and Nancy, Days of Wine and Roses, Less than Zero, Barfly and Ivansxtc.

“This series isn’t just for addicts or alcoholics, it’s for anyone
who has ever been impacted or just wants to learn more about the
disease and its treatment in a less traditional and more entertaining
environment”, said co-founder Leonard Buschel. “We hope to raise both
money and national awareness so that indigent writers can learn that
there is free help available.” Live jazz will precede each screening and free popcorn will be available all evening. A special guest speaker will also lead a group discussion at the conclusion of each film. For more information, visit either of the linked web sites above.

On Saturday, February 21, at 2:30 p.m., the day before the Oscars, this year’s Academy Award nominated production designers and set decorators will participate in a special panel at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, discussing their nominated films and what it took to design them.

The Art Directors Guild and the Set Decorators Society of America, in association with the American Cinematheque, are presenting this panel, which will be preceded by excerpts of each nominated film. ADG President Tom Walsh will moderate the discussion with production designer James Murakami and set decorator Gary Fettis, of Changeling; production designer Donald Graham Burt and set decorator Victor Zolfo, of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; production designer Nathan Crowley and set decorator Peter Lando, of The Dark Knight; production designer Michael Carlin and set decorator Rebecca Alleyway, of The Duchess; and production designer Kristi Zea and set decorator Debra Schutt, of Revolutionary Road.

Admission is free, and tickets are available on the day of the panel discussion at the box office only; there will be no online ticketing. Also of note, a free panel discussion with all of the Oscar nominees for Best Film Editing will be presented by American Cinema Editors at 10 a.m. on February 21. For more information on either event, click here.

It’s still a ways off, but writer-director Anna Biller’s scrupulously fashion-detailed 2007 retro-sexploitation camp-fest Viva screens March 3 at 8 p.m. at the Silent Movie Theatre (611 N. Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles), as part of Cinefamily’s programming. Fab Magazine describes the movie thusly: “With a plot stripped from a 1969 letter to Penthouse, Viva tells the story of Barbi (Biller again), a naïve housewife who sets out to discover the seedy underbelly of the sexual revolution. With her best friend Sheila (Bridget Brno) in tow, she encounters everything from prowling cougars, grandmotherly brothel madams and lesbian supermodels to full-blown orgies. Toss in a gay hairdresser, a funk-gasmic soundtrack and some surreal animated and musical sequences and you’ve got one smoking hot slice of nouveau cult cinema. Biller’s truly amazing accomplishment in Viva comes courtesy of her uncannily authentic design. It doesn’t emulate the spirit of those swinging times, it’s possessed by them. Just one whiff of the cheap cologne, one glance at the rugged polyester, and you’ll have to submit to this killer escapade.”

Multi-hyphenate Biller will be at the Cinefamily event for an in-person, post-screening Q&A session; tickets are $12. For more information on the movie, click here; to check out its trailer, click here. For Cinefamily’s February calendar, meanwhile, click here.

As both an actor and director, Dennis Hopper has never ceased to surprise and provoke, with a career that includes unsettling visions like The Last Movie and Blue Velvet alongside mainstream tales of uplift like Hoosiers, big-budget action spectacles like Speed and Waterworld, interesting if not always wholly successful indie fare like Sleepwalking and Hell Ride and, let’s be fair, plenty of here-for-the-paycheck dreck.

To celebrate his work both on screen and behind the camera, the Aero Theatre will host Hopper in person for a 7:30 p.m. screening of Elegy on January 10, while the following evening will host a double-feature of two of Hopper’s works as a director — 1971’s The Last Movie, and a 98-minute director’s cut of 1990’s Backtrack, starring Jodie Foster. The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

The five Golden Globe nominees for Best Foreign Language Film will screen next week at the Aero Theatre, before the directors of all the nominated films convene for a special seminar at the Egyptian Theatre on Saturday, January 10. German director Uli Edel’s The Baader-Meinhof Complex will screen on Wednesday, January 7 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a discussion with Edel and writer-producer Bernd Eichinger; the following evening brings a double-feature of Everlasting Moments and Waltz with Bashir; Friday, January 9 features a double-feature of the French drama I’ve Loved You So Long and the sprawling Italian crime ensemble Gomorrah. On Saturday,
January 10, at 1 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre, the directors of all five films will
sit for a free-admission panel moderated by Mike Goodridge, of Screen International.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica; the
historic Egyptian Theatre is located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, between Highland and Las
Palmas, in Hollywood. Tickets for both venues are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on tickets, directions and each site’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM, or visit
the Cinematheque’s eponymous Web site by clicking here.

Directed by Bruno Barreto, an Oscar nominee for 1998’s Four Days in September, and written by Braulio Mantovani, an Oscar nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay for City of God, Brazil’s 2008 submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award screens January 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Aero Theatre. Based on a true story and featuring young actors plucked from theater groups in and around the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Last Stop 174 tells the tragic saga of a boy in search of a family and a mother in search of her son, all against a backdrop where lies, degradation, corruption and violence are the norm, and justice is an unreal concept.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

In celebration of its 70th anniversary, Laemmle Theatres is pleased to present “70/70,” a special series of 70mm film screenings ceremonializing its notable longevity in the exhibition business. All screenings will take place at the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles and benefit the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic, the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Diabetes Association and AIDS Walk Los Angeles.

Screening today, Friday, December 19, are The Remains of the Day at 5:15 p.m., 1975’s Tommy at 8 p.m. and Pink Floyd: The Wall at 11 p.m. Saturday, December 20 is a James Cameron triple feature; The Abyss screens at 4 p.m., the Oscar-winning Titanic at 7 p.m. and Aliens at 11 p.m. Screening on Sunday, December 21, are Top Gun at 1 p.m., Gremlins at 4 p.m. (with actor William Schallert in person), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at 7 p.m. and The Untouchables at 10 p.m. The line-up for Monday, December 22, consists of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at 5:15 p.m. and 1979’s Alien at 8 o’clock. On Tuesday, December 23, Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey screens at 5:15 p.m., followed by The Hunt for Red October at 8 p.m. The Royal Theatre is located at 11523 Santa Monica Blvd., in West Los Angeles. For more information, click here.