Saddleback College Film Festival Features Japanese Rarity, ’24 Eyes’

Saddleback College’s International Film Festival continues Friday with “24 Eyes,” Keisuke Kinoshita’s obscure 1954 movie about the life of an elementary school teacher on a remote Japanese island.

On March 12, “Camille Claudel” will screen. Bruno Nyutten’s 1989 film, starring Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani, follows the destructive relationship between sculptor Auguste Rodin and his protege, Camille Claudel.

Up next, on March 26, is Percy Adlon’s dry romantic comedy, “Sugarbaby,” released in 1985 and starring Marianne Sagebrecht and Eisi Gulp.

“Mediterraneo” is scheduled for April 16. Directed by Gabriele Salvatores, the film focuses on the fun-loving maneuvers of Italian soldiers stranded in Greece during World War II. “Mediterraneo” won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1992.

The series ends May 7 with “Cria Cuervos . . . ,” Carlos Saura’s movie about life in Franco’s Spain, as seen from the perspective of children. It won the Cannes Film Festival Special Jury Prize in 1976.

* All films screen at 7 p.m. in the Saddleback College Science/Math building, Room 313, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. Free. (714) 582-4788.