Sat. Best Bets: 8/1

7:30pm: Film

One of this city’s preeminent film events, the UCLA Festival of Preservation, kicks off Friday with a rare screening of Victor Fleming’s 1948 “Joan of Arc,” rare because UCLA will screen Fleming’s original 145-minute cut. (The film was severely edited in the wake of married star Ingrid Bergman’s affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini.) UCLA preservation officer Robert Gitt will introduce the screening, and Bergman’s daughter, actress Isabella Rossellini, is also scheduled to make an appearance. The monthlong festival showcases more than 35 restored features, including John Ford’s 1939 “Stagecoach,” Robert Flaherty’s 1948 “Louisiana Story” and the little-seen 1934 Spanish-language melodrama “Nada Mas Que Una Mujer (Nothing More Than a Woman).”

* UCLA Festival of Preservation presents “Joan of Arc,” James Bridges Theater, northeast corner of UCLA, near corner of Sunset Boulevard and Hilgard Avenue, Westwood. Festival continues Sunday-Aug. 29. $4-$6. (310) 206-FILM.

1:30pm: Reggae

The newly hatched Spirit of Unity Tour pairs a reggae-heavy musical lineup (and a dash of ska from Let’s Go Bowling) with lifestyle exhibits showcasing renewable energy and environmental themes.

* Spirit of Unity Tour with Steel Pulse, Shaggy, Lucky Dube, Beres Hammond, Let’s Go Bowling, Big Mountain and others, Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive. $22-27. (949) 855-4515.

8pm: Dance

Call it a photo op without cameras: a performance by the locally based Jazz Antiqua Dance and Music Ensemble inspired by the style and imagery of vintage black-and-white photographs. Titled “In Shadow and Light,” this one-night event in the “Summer Nights” series at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre begins with repertory excerpts by choreographer Pat Taylor and composer Marcus Shelby to live accompaniment: “Midtown Sunset,” “The Ballad of Josh Gibson” and “Odysseus Suite.” Set to taped music by Duke Ellington, “Come Sunday” follows and then the premiere of “In the Beginning,” a celebration of the traditions at the heart of the blues.

* “In Shadow and Light,” John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, $15-$20. (323) 461-3673.

8pm: Comedy

“Acme Senseless,” the Acme Players’ new main-stage comedy, offers sketches about a man and his elderly mother in “Motel Hell,” Cinderella’s stepsisters’ “Last Gasp,” a star of TV’s Golden Age whose career wasn’t so golden and other predicaments.

* “Acme Senseless,” Acme Comedy Theatre, 135 N. La Brea. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., through Nov. 28. $14. (323) 525-0202.

9am: Nostalgia

The Starcon ’98 Sci-Fi Horror Convention presents movie previews, giveaways, dozens of celebrity guests including Kevin McCarthy (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”), Laurette Spang (“Battlestar Galactica”) and Warren Stevens (“Forbidden Planet”) and dealers of sci-fi and fantasy collectibles, movie memorabilia, autographs and photos. This year’s event celebrates 30 years of “Planet of the Apes” with a guest appearance by series regular Linda Harrison, stage shows and movie costume and prop exhibitions.

* Starcon ’98 Sci-Fi Horror Convention, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Pasadena Center, 300 E. Green St. Weekend pass, $25-$35; Sunday only, $10. No single-day Saturday tickets available. (626) 793-2122 or (909) 880-8558.

10am: Photography

Seemingly commonplace images of the Brooklyn Bridge, Coney Island and anonymous subway riders become poignant portraits through the lens of acclaimed photographer Walker Evans in “Walker Evans: New York,” which opened this week at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Evans is best known for his brilliant black-and-white Depression-era portraits of the rural South. The Getty survey--drawn from the museum’s collection of some 1,300 works by Evans--will focus on the people, architecture and streets of the vast metropolis between the years 1927 and 1963.

* “Walker Evans: New York,” the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood. Ends Oct. 18. Museum hours: Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Thursdays-Fridays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission free, parking reservations are required. Parking, $5. (310) 440-7300.

FREEBIE: Family program “Creatures of the Lagoon,” Malibu Lagoon State Beach, 10:30 a.m. (805) 370-2301.