VIDEO . . . WHAT’S NEW : Festival to Celebrate Much-Neglected Independents

If you’d like to find out what it’s like to be ignored, just try to make an independent video and get it seen. Now 25 local art and media organizations have combined their efforts to do something about that neglect.

Between Oct. 26 and Nov. 19, these organizations will present “L.A. Freeways,” a celebration of independent video consisting of four traveling thematic shows, various screenings and installations, cable shows and panel presentations. The screenings, which begin with the American Film Institute Video Festival (Oct. 26-29), will take place in several locations from Santa Barbara to Pasadena and from Newport Beach to East L.A.

For details, call (213) 664-3073.

THIS WEEK’S MOVIES

If you were deeply moved by the artfulness and strong social commentary of Luis Bunuel’s “Los Olvidados” and Hector Babenco’s “Pixote,” both great films about street waifs, then you should rent “Salaam, Bombay!” (Virgin Portfolio Collection, $79.95, no MPAA rating, Times-rated Mature). Mira Nair’s passionate 1988 film tells the story of a homeless 10-year-old boy who struggles to stay alive amid the prostitutes, pimps, thieves and drug addicts of Bombay.

Nair employed children from the street instead of trained actors, including Shafiq Syed, who plays the lead role. This passionate, assured work won several awards, worldwide critical acclaim, and surprising box-office success. Also available on video disc from Image for $39.95. Both versions are English-subtitled.

So much for the main course this week. Most of the other new movies-on-tape are junk food, including:

“Fast Food” (Fries, $89.95, PG-13) stars Jim Varney (of “Ernest” fame), Traci Lords (of porn fame) and Pamela Springsteen (Bruce’s sister) in a comedy about a secret sauce that turns out to be an aphrodisiac. Really. And, yes, the company releasing “Fast Food” is really named Fries.

“Cyborg” (Cannon, $89.95, R) has martial-arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme as a sword-wielding hero who tries to get the title robot back from a bunch of bad barbarians.

“Out Cold” (HBO, $89.99, R) is a black comedy about a man and woman who try to dispose of her husband’s corpse. Despite starring John Lithgow, Teri Garr and Randy Quaid, it earned less than half a million dollars in its limited theatrical release earlier this year.

“Night of the Demons” (Republic, $89.95, R) is a horror film about a Halloween party held in a funeral parlor.

In “Powwow Highway” (Cannon, $89.95, R) two Cheyennes leave their Montana reservation for a series of adventures.

“Skinheads: The Second Coming of Hate” (New Star, $79.95, R) is, as you might expect, all about young white supremacists with tempers as short as their hair. What you might not expect is that it stars Chuck Connors and Barbara Bain. New Star also has Bain’s old “Mission Impossible” partner Martin Landau in a rape-revenge drama called “Death Blow” ($79.95, unrated).

OTHER NEW VIDEOS

“Beauty and the Beast: Above, Below and Beyond” (Republic, $19.95) is a 100-minute story culled from the cult-loved TV series, in which lion-faced Vincent must save his beloved Catherine from mean old Paracelsus.

On the pop-music front, CMV has two new videos for $19.98 each: “Luther Vandross: Live at Wembley” is a 90-minute concert by the R&B; singer; “Roseanne Cash: Retrospective” is a 60-minute compilation of country-music clips and interview segments.