FILM SNEAK PEEK FESTIVAL OF GERMAN CINEMA OPENS TONIGHT.

Byline: - Valerie Kuklenski

``In July,'' a romantic comedy/road movie starring Christiane Paul, is the opening feature tonight at the first Festival of German Cinema in Beverly Hills.

The 6 p.m. screening at Laemmele's Music Hall theater marks the U.S. premiere of the Fatih Akin film, in which a square young physics teacher impulsively hits the road through southeastern Europe with a beautiful woman.

The Export-Union of German Cinema was inspired to establish the festival by the commercial successes of the 1998 thriller ``Run, Lola, Run'' and the 1999 documentary ``The Buena Vista Social Club.''

The festival, which runs at the Music Hall through Nov. 9, will show 14 features, two documentaries and 17 shorts produced in Germany, as well as six shorts made by German students in Los Angeles-area film schools.

Other features include: ``Falling Rocks,'' an adventure thriller set in rugged South Africa, where a group of hikers discovers a dead parachutist with a fortune in raw diamonds on him; ``Marlene,'' a drama about Marlene Dietrich by Joseph Vilsmaier, director of ``The Harmonists''; and Rudolf Thome's ``Paradiso: Seven Days With Seven Women,'' about a man who, on his 60th birthday, brings together the seven great loves of his life, including his wife - as if it were a good idea.

Tickets cost $6 for general admission, $5 for students and seniors and are available at the Music Hall box office, 9036 Wilshire Blvd. Information: [phone] for general festival information, [phone] for the box office.

SILENCE IS GOLDEN: The Silent Movie Theatre, the nation's only movie house dedicated to silent cinema, marks the first anniversary of its reopening this weekend with Charlie Chaplin's final silent movie, ``Modern Times.''

Chaplin takes on the machine age in this classic, which features his own music and co-stars Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Chester Conklin and Stanley ``Tiny'' Sandford.

Theater proprietor Charlie Lustman says the film will be shown with its original soundtrack, which included Chaplin briefly singing in gibberish, even though at last year's grand opening the film's sound inexplicably cut out and an organist had to step in and accompany the film.

The shows open with a vaudeville act - Janet Klein on her ukulele - followed by a Felix cartoon, a short titled ``Cavalcade of the Silent Stars,'' and a Laurel and Hardy short, ``Two Tars.''

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for children, students and seniors. The Silent Movie Theatre is at 611 N. Fairfax Ave. Information: [phone].

LET YOUR 'HAIR' DOWN: It's the Age of Aquarius all over again Sunday with a screening of Milos Forman's ``Hair.'' It's showing as part of UCLA Film and Television Archive's ``Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance'' musicals series.

``Hair,'' choreographed by Twyla Tharp, has Midwestern bumpkin John Savage bound for Vietnam until he gets caught up in a group of New York hippies led by prankster Treat Williams. Sure, its look is dated, but keep in mind that peace symbols and paisley polyester are back.

``Hair'' shares a double bill with ``Head,'' the 1968 satire by Bob Rafelson and starring the Monkees - Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith - in a plot-thin comedy that mocks Hollywood and the Monkees' own prefabrication.

Showtime is 7 p.m. at the James Bridges Theater on the northeast corner of the UCLA campus, near Sunset Boulevard and Hilgard Avenue. Tickets are $6 general admission, $4 for students, seniors and UCLA Alumni Association members. Information: [phone] or www.cinema.ucla.edu.

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Charlie Chaplin's silent classic ``Modern Times'' will help mark the first anniversary of the reopening of the Silent Movie Theatre this weekend.