A barrel of laughs at the Comedy Shorts Festival
Laughs are king at the second annual L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday and continues through Sunday at the Downtown Independent Theater. You can’t beat the comedy shorts, but there will also be parties, industry panels and an awards event. The festival also plays host to the L.A. Comedy Scripts Screenplay Competition. Missi Pyle is this year’s recipient of the Commie Award, which she’ll receive closing night at the Elevate Lounge in downtown L.A. https://www.lacomedyshorts.com.
Salute to Manny Farber
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s film department pays homage to the late painter, carpenter and film critic Manny Farber beginning Friday night with the rarely screened 1932 drama “Me and My Gal,” directed by Raoul Walsh and starring a very young Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. The second bill is the 1964 Jean-Luc Godard classic “Band of Outsiders” with Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur and Sami Frey.
Scheduled for Saturday is the 1967 short “Wavelength” by Michael Snow, followed by an onstage discussion of Farber’s life and work. The festival continues through April 30. https://www.lacma.org.
Capra on the bill
The Silent Movie Theatre is devoting its Friday programming this month to the great Frank Capra. This week’s offering is the lush 1933 romantic drama “The Bitter Tea of General Yen,” starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther. “Bitter” was the first feature to play at Radio City Music Hall. Another terrific Capra/Stanwyck collaboration, 1931’s “The Miracle Woman,” completes the bill. https://www.silentmovietheatre.com
‘Alice’ times two
The American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre offers a double bill of “Alice in Wonderland” features Sunday — the all-star but dramatically inert 1933 “Alice in Wonderland,” starring Charlotte Henry with cameos by the likes of Cary Grant and Gary Cooper, and Jan Svankmajer’s offbeat 1988 “Alice.” https://www.aerotheatre.com
Indian festival
The eighth annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles kicks off Tuesday and continues through April 25 at the ArcLight Hollywood. The opening night presentation is Dilip Mehta’s comedy “Cooking With Stella,” starring Lisa Ray. The event is also a benefit for the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research. Ray has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. https://www.indianfilmfestival.org
Only good movies
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