Screening Room: Method Fest Independent Film Festival in Agoura Hills

The Method Fest Independent Film Festival, which celebrates the art of the actor, opens Thursday at the Regency Agoura 9 in Agoura Hills with James Ivory’s latest film, “The City of Your Final Destination,” starring Anthony Hopkins. Among the 30 features and 59 shorts at the festival, which continues through Wednesday, will be “The Good Heart,” with Brian Cox, “The Lightkeepers” with Richard Dreyfuss and Bruce Dern, who also will be honored at the festival, and “The Greatest,” with Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon. www.methodfest.com

Song and dance

Gotta sing! Gotta dance! The American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre is celebrating the life and legacy of dancer, singer, actor, director extraordinaire Gene Kelly with a retrospective that kicks off Thursday with the underrated 1948 Technicolor delight “The Pirate,” which also stars Judy Garland. Vincente Minnelli directed this film featuring the music of Cole Porter. The second feature, 1954’s “Brigadoon,” based on the Broadway hit by Lerner and Loewe, was also directed by Minnelli. Kelly’s widow, Patricia Kelly, will introduce the programming.

Another Minnelli classic, 1951’s “An American in Paris,” which won the best film Oscar, and 1967’s “The Young Girls of Rochefort,” directed by Jacques Demy, are on tap for Friday.

On Saturday, Patricia Kelly will discuss the star’s greatest film, 1952’s “Singin’ in the Rain,” which Gene Kelly co-directed with Stanley Donen, and 1950’s “Summer Stock,” which marked the last screen collaboration between Kelly and Garland.

Kelly’s widow will introduce the final day’s program on Sunday: 1949’s exhilarating “On the Town,” the directing debut of Kelly and Donen, and the fun 1945 musical “Anchors Aweigh.” www.aerotheatre.com

Sci-fi writers

Meanwhile, the Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre pays tribute to the late sci-fi writer-director Dan O’Bannon on Thursday with two of his best films, 1992’s “The Resurrected” and 1974’s “Dark Star,” which was co-written by O’Bannon and directed by John Carpenter.

The Egyptian shifts focus Saturday to Charles Beaumont, one of the writers of “The Twilight Zone” series, who died at 38. Slated for the afternoon is the 2009 documentary “Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man,” followed by a discussion. Two 1962 films Beaumont wrote, “The Intruder” and “Burn, Witch, Burn,” co-written with Richard Matheson, screen Satur- day night. www.egyptian theatre.com

susan.king@latimes.com