THE REEL LESS TRAVELED

Beyond the American Film Institute and the Los Angeles and Palm Springs film festivals, which offer diverse global lineups, lies a virtually year-round schedule of events with narrower geographical focuses that highlight national and regional cinemas. These festivals and series serve not only as surveys of contemporary world cinema but also as windows into cultures and lifestyles.

Joining their ranks this year is the first Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival, Friday through Sunday at the Landmark. Brazil has become known for stylish urban action fare, such as “City of God” and its recent follow-up, “City of Men,” but one of the benefits of a festival like this is that it exposes us to a wider variety of what is being produced in a country.

Among the genre films, comedies, documentaries and shorts screening at LABFF is Petrus Cariry’s elegiac “O Grao” (The Grain) (1:50 p.m. Saturday). Centering on a peasant family as it indifferently prepares for the marriage of its teenage daughter, the film takes an almost anthropological approach in depicting relationships and day-to-day lives. The portrayal of a dying grandmother preparing her grandson for her departure is given haunting solemnity through a parable that gives the film its title. www.labrff.com

-- Kevin.Crust@latimes.com