WOMEN IN FILM FEST STARTS FRIDAY

Linda Gray, Jill Ireland and other actresses will discuss “Is There Gold After 40?” at a Women in Film seminar Saturday morning, leading off two days of discussions and screenings for the organization’s second annual festival this weekend.

Conny Hutchinson of the “Frankly Female” KHJ-TV talk show will moderate the discussion of women’s changing screen image. The panel will also include Estelle Getty, Marla Gibbs and Doris Roberts.

Also under festival auspices, nine feature films will receive their Los Angeles premieres during the three-day festival at the Directors Guild of America, 7950 Sunset Blvd. A tribute to Julie Andrews, including clips from her film and TV work, is set for Saturday afternoon. The festival is co-sponsored by California First Bank. Mayor Bradley has designated Friday as Women in Film Festival Day.

“Last year’s festival was more of a retrospective, focusing on women’s success over the past century,” explains executive coordinator Eden Ashley. “This year we’re looking to the future.”

A premiere of “Defence of the Realm,” a British film produced by Lynda Myles, kicks off the festival on Friday night. Other films include Linda Feferman’s “Seven Minutes in Heaven” and Anne Wheeler’s “Loyalties.”

A Sunday seminar entitled “What I Really Want to Do Is Direct” is scheduled to include Joan Darling, Randa Haines, Katherine Helmond, Coline Serreau, Alexandra von Grote and Anne Wheeler, with Anne Beatts moderating.

In addition, the festival will offer five nuts-and-bolts seminars about producing, marketing documentaries, stunts and safety, cinematography and assistant directing/production managing.

The weekend will conclude with the presentation of the first Luminas Awards. The Los Angeles chapter of Women in Film--composed of approximately 1200 professional women in the film and television industries--has designed the awards “to help break female stereotypes in the media.” The winners will be chosen “for their portrayal of multi-dimensional, non-stereotypical women,” Ashley explains.

Tickets for the entire program or individual events may be obtained at the WIF Festival booth at The Broadway in Century City, the Westwood and Encino branches of California First Bank or the WIF Festival office, 6464 Sunset Blvd, Suite 660. Information: (213) 463-6060.