TODAY AT THE AFI

F ollowing are The Times’ recommendations for today’s schedule of the American Film Institute International Film Festival, with commentary by the film reviewing staff. All screenings , unless otherwise noted, are at Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 800 Sunset Blvd. Information: (213) 466-1767. Recommended:

“THE SHADOW LINE”(Poland-Britain, 1976; Andrzej Wajda; 1:50 p.m. & 7 p.m.). The movies often adapt the sea novels of Polish emigre Joseph Conrad (Korzeniowski), but this one marks a rare time when he’s been interpreted by a countryman: Wajda, collaborating with Thames Television, and using another Pole, Marek Kondrat, in the lead as Conrad himself. A semi-autobiographical tale, “Shadow Line” records the nightmarish, becalmed, plague-ridden voyage when Conrad passed from uncertainty to adulthood. Though not a major Wajda work, it’s a fine Conrad adaptation; Wajda gets most of the intellectual and moral currents other directors routinely sacrifice to adventure or suspense.

“A PAINTED DIARY” and “LIFE WITHOUT SHADOWS”(Ireland; David Shaw-Smith; 1:40 & 6:50 p.m.). For devotees of painting or Irish culture: two beautifully shot documentaries on contemporary Erin artists.

“BLACK BOMBER”(Yugoslavia; Darka Bajica; 4 & 9 p.m.). Of all the films we might expect to see from Yugoslavia at this point in history, much less as a huge local hit, this one might surprise us most: an iconoclastic, anti-Establishment, rock ‘n’ roll rebellion blast that’s right in the line of “Streets of Fire” and “Pump Up the Volume.” Bajica’s feverish portrait of a city teetering on chaos, in which skinheads and authoritarian cops in copters chase a mobile talk jock through the streets, with the whole youth culture cheering on the pirate, has all the wild, anarchic, joyously zonked energy of the ‘70s American youth movies--which obviously inspired it. It’s a rocker-mocker-shocker.

Panel: America’s Independent New Wave (Director’s Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd.). The participants for this session include Alison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”), Gregg Araki (“The Living End”), Carl Franklin (“One False Move”), Tom Fucci (“Don’t Call Me Frankie”) and Tiana Thi Thanh Nga (“From Hollywood to Hanoi”). Moderator: Chuck (“Precious Images”) Workman.