Pan African Film & Arts Festival underway

The country’s largest black film fest, the 18th annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival, is underway, screening movies, documentaries and shorts from around the world at the Culver Plaza Theatres. The festival’s fine arts show, which features well-known and emerging black artists, as well as local, national and international poets, musicians and storytellers, is holding court at the Westfield Culver Plaza.

Among the highlights is the centerpiece presentation Monday evening, “41st & Central: The Untold Story of the L.A. Black Panthers.” A panel discussion follows the screening. There’ll be multiple screenings during the festival, which continues through Wednesday, of the award-winning documentary “Haiti: The Sleeping Giant,” with proceeds from tickets sold going to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. www.paff.org.

Love you more

Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon frolic in the sand Thursday as the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre presents 1964’s “Muscle Beach Party” and 1965’s “Beach Blanket Bingo,” arguably the best of the Frankie and Annette musical romps produced by American International Pictures. Buster Keaton even has a cameo. Costar Donna Loren will sing and discuss the film.

Love is in the air at the Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre with its Films for Romantics fest for Valentine’s. The romance begins Thursday with a double bill of films starring the late Jennifer Jones: the haunting 1948 fantasy “Portrait of Jennie” and the 1945 melodrama “Love Letters,” for which she received a lead actress Oscar nomination.

Two French classics are on tap for Friday: Jean Cocteau’s seminal 1946 film, “Beauty and the Beast,” and Jacques Demy’s 1970 release, “Donkey Skin.” An Audrey Hepburn double bill graces the Aero on Saturday: the 1961 film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and 1954’s “Sabrina.” She received lead actress nominations for both.

The series ends Sunday with an Alfred Hitchcock double bill: The 1940 film “Rebecca,” which won the best picture Oscar, and 1946’s “Notorious.”www .americancinematheque .com.

Look out!

And speaking of Hitchcock, the Alex Film Society presents the 50th-anniversary screening of his classic “Psycho” onSaturday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. The Alex will offer matinee and evening screening of the chiller that made some women think twice before taking a shower. Hilton Green, the film’s assistant director, and Stephen Rebello, author of the book “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho,” are the guests. www.alextheatre .org.

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