MOVIES - Nov. 30, 2006

UCLA and USC are both noted for their film schools, so it’s worth seeing what each institution has to offer in terms of public screenings and events.

UCLA has long had a beloved place in the film-going community with its Film & Television Archive. Its wide spectrum of moving-image art has made the campus’ James Bridges Theater a popular cineaste meeting ground, but that will be moving to the Hammer Museum with the unveiling of the Billy Wilder Theater in February.

Filmgoers will probably be pleased that the new Wilshire and Westwood venue promises to have cheaper parking than the $8 it costs on campus. But in a larger context, the notion of an accessible cultural nexus was what planners had in mind. “The idea is that it can be more of a destination,” says Kelly Graml, the archive’s marketing and communications officer. “It’ll be easy for someone to see an exhibit at the museum, grab a bite, shop at the museum bookstore, see one of our screenings and spend a whole day immersed in culture.”

As with the Bridges, the Wilder will have the versatility to show everything from nitrate prints to Cinemascope to digital media. The 295-seat theater is slated to open Feb. 9 with a screening of Wilder’s comedy “Some Like It Hot,” with Tony Curtis in attendance, followed the next night by the 1961 best picture Oscar winner “The Apartment.”

Other programs include a centenary retrospective of Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, the archive’s perennial Iranian film mini-festival and a yet-to-be-determined program curated by iconoclastic Canadian director Guy Maddin.

At USC, film programs for the public are varied -- because they are often presented by different departments -- and sometimes last-minute decisions are made about availability after students’ and professors’ needs are met. But they often include showings of new and classic films, and events with international filmmakers.

For instance, tonight, documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick will screen his latest, “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” about the MPAA ratings system, in the George Lucas Building. And on Friday the school’s Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies will hold a screening of the 1947 Paul Henreid-Katharine Hepburn film “Song of Love,” about composer Robert Schumann.

The Visions & Voices initiative also arranges screenings -- Tuesday it hosted a discussion with Spike Lee -- and in January will feature a screening and scholars’ panel for a series titled “Representing the Unrepresentable: Cinematic Approaches to the Holocaust.”

For events: www.cinema.ucla.edu, www.usc.edu