Flux Screening Series

Sept. 15 @ Hammer Museum

Psst ... You like free things, don’t you? Well, head to the Hammer Museum in Westwood, where they will hold their quarterly Flux Screening Series that showcases innovative film and music from around the world. Take pleasure in the Hammer’s beautiful Billy Wilder Theater and courtyard while enjoying the latest works of Mark and Kent Osborne, Michel Gondry, CANADA and more. Filmmakers Ace Norton, Isaiah Seret, DANIELS, Nabil, Suzi Yoonesi and Brainbow will be in attendance for screenings and discussions of their latest projects.

If you’ve always wondered what was going through the mind of David Lewandowski when he made his viral hit, “Going to the Store,” this will probably be your only chance. Then after, dance the night away at the after party to the tunes of a special guest DJ. You won’t even have to pay (with money or your cleavage-bearing dignity) for cover.

Hammer Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information, visit flux.net/flux-screening-series.

Burbank International Film Festival

Sept. 15-18 @ Various Locations

For a city named after a dentist from New Hampshire, Burbank sure is more exciting than it really needs to be. For one, Casablanca was filmed there. Second, it apparently counts Tim Burton as one of its residents (Thank you, Wikipedia. You’re welcome, obsessed Tim Burton fans.). Adding to the roster is the Burbank International Film Festival, which, in its third year, brings more to be thrilled about at the Media Capital of the World.

Star Trek fans will undoubtedly flock to the final theatrical screening of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men on Sept.17. Described by its producers as a “40th anniversary gift” from Star Trek actors to their fans, an event package ticket will also buy a celebrity Q&A post-screening, a sci-fi night after party, a special performance by the Tim Russ Band, a buffet and dancing with celebrities complete with a multi-colored light show. Don’t know who Tim Russ is? Then you are probably not a Trekkie.

Relax and don’t just brush the festival aside. From comedy to animation, they will have you covered with the rest of the diverse film lineup that includes Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the star-studded Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Probe Odyssey.

For more information, visit burbankfilmfestival.org.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Sept. 17 @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Google Sean Penn and nine times out of 10, you will see a photograph of a really angry man. It’s hard to imagine that once he played a young and carefree (although probably because he’s stoned) surfer dude named Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Relive a world where Penn hasn’t discovered the harsh realities of life on the big screen at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery this Saturday.

The genre of teen sex comedy may have been bringing paying movie-goers much annoyance and frustration lately, but Fast Times will have you almost wishing that you had lived through the ’80s. Heavily criticized during its release in 1982, Roger Ebert called Fast Times at Ridgemont High a “scuz-pit of a movie.” Fast forward to 2005, it was selected to be preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

I mean, if the Library of Congress suggests a movie, you go see it. As an added bonus, you will also get a peek of a younger Nicolas Cage, Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz and Anthony Edwards. Gaslamp Killer will DJ before and after the screening.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located 6000 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood. For more information, visit cinespia.org.

Take Shelter

Sept. 20 @ Landmark Theater

It’s almost 2012 and if you have not prepared at all for the impending apocalypse then see Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter. Its synopsis reads, “Plagued by a series of apocalyptic vision, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.”

OK, that is a little ambiguous and the film may not actually dispense practical end-of-the-world advice, but with excellent reviews coming out of Sundance, might as well see a good movie before the world actually ends. You don’t want Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star to be one of the last films you see in your life, do you?

Landmark Theater is located at 10850 Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles. For more information, visit filmindependent.org.