AFI IS `BEAUTIFUL'; FESTIVAL OPENS WITH BENIGNI SCREENING.

Byline: - Bob Strauss

Roberto Benigni's acclaimed Italian comedy, ``Life Is Beautiful,'' kicks off the 12th AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival tonight. It will be followed by nine days packed with seminars, mixers, book signings, auctions - and even some movies.

``We're trying to sprinkle special events in throughout the festival because we really want it to be fun; we want there to be excitement, and we want it to go beyond just the traditional filmgoing experience,'' says Jon Fitzgerald, now in his second year as director of the AFI L.A. Festival. ``We're trying to do things that are related to film but not necessarily about watching a movie.''

Which is not the same as saying the films this year are no fun. There are just fewer of them, thank goodness, than in previous, unwieldy incarnations of the AFI fest and its gargantuan predecessor, Filmex.

Fitzgerald, who came from the alternative independent film festival Slamdance, has pared down the major feature presentations to a manageable 50 or so and included such acclaimed international productions as ``Dreamlife of Angels'' (France), ``My Son the Fanatic'' (Britain) and ``Waking Ned Devine'' (Ireland). This strategy worked well last year; average per film attendance grew 30 percent over the larger 1996 festival's numbers.

There will also be an official competition of foreign films again this year (last year, the first winner, ``Character'' from the Netherlands, went on to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar), as well as a cash prize for the best low-budget, American independent feature.

The film programs have also been divided into neat, digestible categories: Official Competition, New Directions (U.S. indies), European Film Showcase, World Cinema, Documentary and Special Presentations. Main venues will be the Mann Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Laemmle's Music Hall in Beverly Hills and Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex in Santa Monica. Festival hospitality headquarters will be in a tent next door to the Monica 4-Plex.

As for those film-related things, they'll include a Screenwriters Weekend featuring panels and get-to-know sessions with folks who've actually gotten their scripts produced; a benefit auction of artwork by such movie types as David Lynch, Dennis Hopper and Gus Van Sant; panels on film financing and new computer graphics technologies; a special tribute to actor Donald Sutherland; and an evening with director John Landis.

And, of course, other special surprises.

``It's all about creating focus,'' Fitzgerald says. ``Before last year, I think the festival was kind of all over the place. We're trying to give it a bit more focus.''

Tickets can be purchased at the Westside hospitality tent or by phone. Day-of-sale tickets will be available at each theater for that theater's films only. For information and advance tickets, call [phone].

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Photo

Photo: Young Giorgio Cantarini, Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi star in ``Life Is Beautiful,'' which screens tonight at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival and opens Friday in theaters.