The Moviegoer, March 18-24

TCM Big Screen Classics Sixtieth-anniversary screening of Vertigo, director Alfred Hitchcock’s highly influential and haunting thriller about obsessive love, starring Jimmy Stewart as a man consumed by desire and Kim Novak in a complex, dual performance of a woman who is both fantasy and cipher. Selected AMC, Cinemark, Laemmle and Regal theaters, March 18 and 21, 2 and 7 p.m. www.fathomevents.com

A Day Without a Mexican Director Sergio Arau re-made his 1998 short film of the same name in 2004 as a full-length satire about a rapture of sorts in which every Mexican in California mysteriously disappears. The film inspired the Day Without Latinos and Day Without Immigrants protest movements. Discussion with husband-and-wife team Arau and actress and co-writer Yareli Arizmendi between the original 28-minute short and the feature. Apertura Showcase, American Cinematheque, Eastside Arts Initiative, Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 466-3456. March 21, 7:30 p.m. $13-$15. www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/

Behind the Scenes: Dance Documentaries Director Bess Kargman’s compelling First Position (2012) follows six young ballet dancers, ages 10-16, for more than a year as they train and practice for the annual Youth America Grand Prix in New York, the largest classical ballet competition of its kind. The kids are adorable and the competition intense; bring tissue. Norton Simon Museum, 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 449-6840. March 23, 6 p.m. Free with museum admission. www.nortonsimon.org

College Buster Keaton stars in the 1927 comedy as a jock-loathing intellect who gives it the old college try to impress the lovely Mary (Anne Cornwall). He pratfalls through several sports before becoming coxswain for the crew team to much comic effect. Note: There is a scene in which Keaton dons “blackface” to apply for a job. Old Town Music Hall, 140 Richmond St., El Segundo, (310) 322-2592. March 23, 8:15 p.m.; March 24, 2:30 and 8:15 p.m.; March 25, 2:30 p.m. $8-$10. No credit cards. www.oldtownmusichall.org/

Working Girls: America’s Career Women on Screen Provocative artist-photographer Cindy Sherman’s sole feature directorial offering, the 1997 Office Killer, stars Carol Kane as a mild-mannered copy editor who, after accidentally killing a co-worker, becomes an unlikely serial killer, arranging the corpses, Sherman style, in a sort of basement art-installation. Todd Haynes provided some of the dialogue. UCLA Film & Television Archive and Women in Film Los Angeles, Billy Wilder Theatre, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 206-8013. March 24, 7:30 p.m. Author Dahlia Schweitzer will sign copies of her book about the film at 6:30 p.m. $8-$10. www.cinema.ucla.edu/events

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