Corners of the world illuminated in film

NATIONAL Geographic’s All Roads Film Festival, today through Sunday at the Egyptian Theatre, shines a spotlight on feature films and shorts by and about indigenous groups and minority culture moviemakers worldwide. In its second year, the festival has expanded into a more multimedia event.

“We wanted it this year to be a cultural immersion experience,” festival director Mark Bauman says. So the Egyptian’s courtyard is being turned into an “art market where there are jewelers, carvers, weavers and painters who are storytellers in their own rights,” he says.

The courtyard will also hold a free photography exhibition featuring the work of the awardees of the 2005 All Roads Photograph Program -- photographers who are chronicling the changing culture and landscapes in Mexico, India, Brazil and other countries.

Music will also play an integral part. Friday evening, the Colombian group Sidestepper will perform, and music videos will be screened.

“We did bits and pieces of all of this last year,” Bauman says. “The nicest part for all of us was the dialogue between the filmmakers and the public. I think it provides the greatest context that are getting told on the screen.”

After the L.A. festival, All Roads moves to National Geographic headquarters in Washington for four days.

Besides sponsoring the festival, All Roads gives seed grants to minority filmmakers and photographers, as well as networking sessions for filmmakers.

This year, Bauman says, the festival features a broad range of 21 feature-length and short films from Tibet, Palestine, Vietnam and other countries. “We got a lot more submissions,” he says. “We got two or three times as many new films.”

The festival opens tonight with the drama “Le Grand Voyage” from Morocco and France. Other films include “Planet of the Arabs” from Palestinian territories and the U.S., “The Hunter” from Kazakhstan and “Kerosene Creek” from New Zealand. Though some are documentaries, the majority of the films are fiction. “I think that storytelling is something we all share, and it engages the imagination,” Bauman says.

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All Roads Film Project

Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

When: Today through Sunday

Price: $9 per screening

Info: americancinematheque.com; nationalgeographic.com/allroads/ or (323) 466-FILM