Screening Room : Focusing on Gay and Lesbian Short Films

American Cinematheque will present “The Gay ‘90s: Gay and Lesbian Short Films & Videos” this weekend at the Raleigh Studio’s Chaplin Theater, 5300 Melrose.

Tonight will be devoted to eight lesbian-themed works, while Saturday showcases five gay male vignettes. Both evenings will start at 7:30, with both presentations repeated at 10:30. There will be a panel discussion on the portrayal of gays and lesbians in the media after the first program each evening.

Those works available for preview are characterized mainly by a humorous, gentle view of the vicissitudes of romance.

Especially impressive among Friday’s offerings are Megan Siler’s “First Base,” which tenderly pinpoints those last moments of carefree affection expressed between adolescent girls just as their attention starts focusing on the opposite sex, and Lisa Ginsburg and Michal Goralsky’s four-minute “Joystick Blues,” in which two women’s lovemaking goes hilariously awry.

Mark Christopher’s “The Dead Boys’ Club” and Christopher Newby’s “Relax” offer reflective takes on love and sex in the age of AIDS. With images and interior monologues rather than dialogue, Stephen Cummins’ lyrical “Resonance” tells the love story of two young men, one a martial arts instructor who rescues the other from a gay bashing, largely in mime and dance. It is highlighted by a boxing match that becomes a dance, transforming aggression into affection.

Information: (213) 466-FILM.

Wartime Footage: Harriet Eder and Thomas Kufus, the makers of “Mein Krieg” (“My War”) (at the Nuart Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m., this weekend only), were able to locate six German World War II soldiers, all of them veterans of the doomed invasion of Russia and all of them skilled amateur cameramen who preserved their footage. As a result, we’re able to watch their films as we hear them recall their wartime experiences.

All of them emerge as decent types, but only the most reflective speaks of the Holocaust and his sense of being an “accomplice.” Although attention wanders when its archival footage is allowed to become overly repetitive, “Mein Krieg” is an invaluable historical record and a portrait of a seemingly ordinary group of men caught up in a devastating military campaign.

Information: (310) 487-6379.