Guy Maddin, Luc Besson, WACK! Films, Real Estate Horror, Grindhouse, Very Short Movies & More!

Isabella Rossellini Glows Atop Glass Legs in The Saddest Music In the World Curated by… Guy Maddin
Bizarro Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin (Tales From The Gimli Hospital, Careful, The Saddest Music In The World) has been invited to curate a program of films culled from the extensive collection of the UCLA Film Archive. His choices include On Dangerous Ground, Make Way for Tomorrow, Ministry of Fear and a slew of his own short films, all of which will screen over the next couple of weeks. But tonight Maddin will give a talk entitled "Goat Glands, Carpet Underlay And Cinema Sat Backwards" in which he promises to delve into the inner workings of his psyche and recreate his pistol-whipping at the hands of a chimp on his fourth birthday.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Ahmanson Building at the Otis College of Art & Design (9045 Lincoln Blvd.) near LAX

Kill House
Writer/director Beth Dewey has created Kill House a satirical "real estate thriller" about the brutal murder of a San Francisco realtor, which throws the Los Angeles real estate community into a tailspin. Fear and panic spread as more and more agents turn up dead. And the prime suspect is an ex-con hired by one of the property owners. But even when he's caught, the killings don't stop. Death! Taxes! Real Estate! That is a horror movie.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 7, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: American Cinematheque at The Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, (just east of Highland Ave.) in Hollywood

Israel Film Festival
The traveling version of the Israel Film Festival begins a two-week run at Laemmle theatres across Los Angeles with a slate that includes features, documentaries, TV movies, shorts and an appearance by Sacha Baron Cohen (AKA Borat) who will receive the festival's award for outstanding achievement at tonight's gala celebration.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 7-22
WHERE: Laemmle Theaters: the Sunset 5 in West Hollywood, the Fallbrook 7 in West Hills and the Town Center 5 in Encino.

Barbara Loden in Wanda Where Did Our Love Go?
Alongside its WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution exhibit, MoCA presents a series of films by seminal, avant-garde female filmmakers including Barbara Loden (wife of Elia Kazan), Chantal Akerman, Nina Menkes and Zeinabu Irene Davis. For my money the best bets are Loden's Barbara, a film about a depressed woman (Loden) who eventually takes up with a petty criminal after abandoning her husband and children, and Menkes' Phantom Love, a surreal drama about an alienated family set that jumps from Los Angeles and Rishikesh, India. Also check out Anna Miller's Viva, a reworking of vintage sexploitation flicks from a feminist perspective.

WHEN: Thursday, March 8 - Sunday, March 11
WHERE: REDCAT (631 W. 2nd St.) in downtown
TICKETS: $8

Very Short Movies festival
Opening Night of the Very Short Movies festival on March 8 will feature a program of Oscar-winning and nominated shorts followed by an after-party at the Cabana Club. The rest of the four-day festival will feature 48 short films competing in six categories: drama, comedy, documentary, animation, experimental and music video.

WHEN: Thursday, March 8-Sunday, March 11, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: American Cinematheque at The Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, (just east of Highland Ave.) in Hollywood
TICKETS: $10 (standard), $8 (Cinematheque members, seniors 62+ and students)

The Van Grindhouse Festival
Feather your bangs, thrown on your high-waisted denim cut-offs and polish your mag wheels!

Quentin Tarantino's two months of grindhouse glory get rolling with a trio of teensploitation sex flicks from the late 70s: The Van, Pick-up Summer and Summer Camp.

WHEN: Friday, March 9-Saturday, March 10; various times
WHERE: The New Beverly, 7165 Beverly Blvd. (1 block West of La Brea)

The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Ignore the dopey title and check out Ken Loach's latest film, a war drama set in 1920 about two brothers (Cillian Murphy & Padraic Delaney) torn apart by Ireland's war for independence.

WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Melnitz Movies at the James Bridges Theater, UCLA Campus

Luc Besson's Angel-A Angel-A
A sneak preview of Luc Besson's latest film, Angel-A , which stars Jamel Debbouze as Andre, a down-on-his-luck petty criminal whose planning to drown himself in the Seine. But before he can make the leap, a fellow bridge-jumper beats him to the water. Andre saves Angela (Rie Rasmussen) and the two form a bond and venture into the streets determined to sort out Andre's problems.

WHEN: Friday, March 9, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: American Cinematheque at The Aero Theater, 1328 Montana Ave. (at 14th St.) in Santa Monica

The American Cinematheque is doing a Besson tribute March 9-11. Rosanna Qrquette will be on hand for the screening of The Big Blue on Sunday, March 11. Also check out a young Nathalie Portman and a grizzled, deadpan Jean Reno in the wonderful The Professional.