A LIMITED RUN AFI 2001 STRIVES FOR QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

The American Film Institute's 2001 Los Angeles Film Festival starts today in Hollywood and expects to unspool 114 movies over its 11-day run. And unlike in many previous, much bigger incarnations of L.A.'s world-class film festival and its predecessor Filmex, most of the movies in this 15th AFI edition should be pretty good.

``Our main mantra is, 'Stronger rather than bigger,' '' explains Christian Gaines, who is in his second year as AFI's director of festivals after stints with the Hawaii International Film Festival and Sundance. ``We're big on quality, and what we really want to try and emphasize in this festival is quality as much as possible. I think people respond to that more than to 700 films.''

Gaines says he's continuing and refining a trend in the city's largest film festival that began a few years before he took over. On paper, at least, AFI Fest 2001 seems to have achieved that goal.

Oscar contenders

With programs divided between juried competitions for short films, documentaries and features directed by first- or second-time filmmakers, and noncompetition feature screenings from more established talents in series that reflect the city's diversity (Latin Cinema, Asian New Classics, European Showcase and American Directions), the festival boasts a number of highly regarded international productions, including at least six official entries in the foreign language Academy Award competition.

The festival opens with tonight's Chinese Theatre screening of the Czech Republic's Oscar entry, ``Dark Blue World,'' a kind of Euro ``Pearl Harbor'' about Czech flyers who escape the Nazis and fight for the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain.

The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre complex (which also serves as festival headquarters), as well as the Vogue and Pacific theaters further east on Hollywood Boulevard, will host most of the festival's shows.

Among many that have won praise this year are: ``Lantana,'' an Australian psychosexual thriller starring Anthony LaPaglia, Barbara Hershey and Geoffrey Rush; ``In the Bedroom,'' a Sundance favorite featuring Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson as parents grieving the loss of their son; ``No Man's Land,'' an absurdist Bosnian War drama; ``ABC Africa,'' Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami's documentary about African AIDS orphans; ``The Devil's Backbone,'' Mexican horrormeister Guillermo del Toro's (``Cronos'') tale of supernatural goings-on in a Spanish Civil War-era school; and ``Lift,'' a culturally acute look at a high-end shoplifter starring acclaimed up-and-comer Kerry Washington (``Our Song,'' ``Save the Last Dance'').

You can also see the latest works from such hot international directors as Taiwan's Hou Hsiao Hsien (``Millennium Mambo'') and Tsai Ming-Liang (``What Time Is It There?''), France's Patrice Leconte (``Felix and Lola'') and Jean-Jacques Beineix (``Mortal Transfer''), Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa (``Pulse''), Argentina's Fabian Bielinsky (``Nine Queens'') and Iran's Majid Majidi (``Baran''), among many others.

The closing-night attraction, back at the Chinese on Nov. 11, is the world premiere of Marc Foster's highly anticipated ``Monster's Ball,'' a study of three generations of prison executioners, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger and Sean Combs.

While some of these films and other festival entries enjoy U.S. commercial distribution deals, many more, including some of the best-reviewed titles, don't. This means that their AFI 2001 screenings may be your only chance to see talked-about movies from 37 countries on the big screen.

``We strive to be a festival of record for international film,'' Gaines says. ``Film festivals have become a kind of ad hoc distribution infrastructure for a lot of films that won't necessarily see theatrical distribution in L.A. or the United States. As far as we go, we believe that Los Angeles really does deserve a big, international film festival - there should be a festival of record for international film in what is supposed to be the film capital of the world.''

Besides what's new and happening, the festival also features a retrospective of the work of Ang Lee (``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''), whose work truly exemplifies the international language of film, at the Skirball Cultural Center in the Sepulveda Pass.

Other programs include premieres of two Japanese anime features, youth- aimed film education programs and, in the revival spotlight, the racy 1931 ``Ten Cents a Dance,'' in which Barbara Stanwyck plays a very pre-Tina Turner private dancer.

Tickets for AFI Fest 2001 events can be purchased at the Egyptian box office (6712 Hollywood Blvd.). Tickets, along with other festival information, are also available by calling [phone] or logging on to www.afifest.com.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Ondrej Vetchy, left, and Charles Dance star in ``Dark Blue World,'' which will open the AFI 2001 Festival tonight at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

(2) Marisa Paredes and Eduardo Noriega share a scene from ``The Devil's Backbone,'' a film from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro.