IT'S THE REEL DEAL IN L.A. AFI FEST ALSO PAYS TRIBUTE TO FILMEX.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

Nostalgia will be the dominant theme at this year's AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival.

Understandably enough, since this is the 20th anniversary of the American Film Institute's sponsorship of L.A.'s most respected movie orgy. But to take the historical theme even further, the 2006 event, in a classy move, is also recognizing 15 years of Filmex, the gargantuan L.A. film festival that, in its voracious way (at its mid-1970s peak, it was the world's largest film festival), brought all the possibilities of international and independent cinema to the movie business' nerve center for the first time.

Until it went broke, and AFI stepped in to keep the party going.

``In celebrating 20 years of AFI Fest, we're really going back 35 years and doing a tribute to Filmex, its precursor, and that has really been a nourishing experience,'' says Christian Gaines, now in his sixth year as AFI Fest director.

``Uncovering information about Filmex and what it meant to people has just been fantastic. We've created some core programs to give both people who remember and loved Filmex a place to go as well as giving people who never heard of it before but are interested in film festivals and the communal experience of going to the movies, something to learn about.''

Hollywood glamour

Tonight's invitational, black-tie festival opener at the Chinese Theatre echoes both the glitzy grandeur and the era longtime Angelenos associate with Filmex. It's ``Bobby,'' Emilio Estevez's star-studded re-creation of the day in 1968 when presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated at L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel.

Regular ticket buyers can catch a screening of ``Bobby'' at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, when the festival proper starts its 11-day run at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood.

``Certainly the premieres that Filmex was responsible for were exceptional,'' Gaines rhapsodizes. `` `A Clockwork Orange,' `Annie Hall,' `A Star Is Born,' `Family Plot.' `The Last Picture Show' was the very first film at the very first Filmex, Nov. 4, 1971, at the Chinese Theatre, almost exactly 35 years ago.''

Peter Bogdanovich's movie-referencing masterwork of melancholy remembrance will also start off AFI 20's revival of a beloved Filmex tradition: the 24-hour Movie Marathon. Beginning at noon Nov. 11 at the Mark Goodson Theater on AFI's Western Avenue campus, the dozen-title eyeball-crosser will offer an eclectic selection of past Filmex and AFI Fest premieres, ranging from a rare screening of David Lynch's personal print of ``Eraserhead'' to ``The Last Wave,'' ``Eating Raoul'' and ``Flash Gordon.'' Attendees can even numb their butts for a good cause, through a sponsorship program that raises funds for fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria with each movie they manage to sit through.

Bogdanovich's live show

And Bogdanovich, himself a major cineaste before he became one of America's most distinguished filmmakers, will be presenting his one-man live show, ``Sacred Monsters'' (Nov. 9), about his personal encounters with such Hollywood giants as John Wayne, Orson Welles and John Ford (in addition, an updated version of Peter B.'s documentary ``Directed by John Ford'' screens Tuesday.

``Peter Bogdanovich is very, very present at our film festival this year,'' Gaines notes. ``He is the hardest-working man at AFI Fest.''

Loads of historical material, as well as a database for all of the more than 6,000 movies that have played at every Filmex and AFI festival, can be accessed at www.afi.com.

A visit to the Web site should quickly disavow any notion that this year's fest is stuck in the past, too. Like previous editions, AFI Fest 2006 is dedicated to bringing a cornucopia of current world cinema to L.A., and program and ticket information is easily accessible at the site.

``This is the 10th year I've been doing this, and it's always the same,'' says the festival's programming director, Nancy Collet. ``It's terrifying at first and I'm afraid that there won't be enough wonderful films to program, and then by the end of the summer we wish we had more slots for all of the wonderful films we find.''

This despite the festival running an extra day this year, mainly to accommodate all of the anniversary festivities.

``I believe we have 14 foreign language Oscar submissions,'' notes Collet.

Among the season's prestige pictures that will have their first public L.A. screenings at the festival are Lynch's ``Inland Empire,'' Pedro Almodovar's ``Volver'' (preceded by a tribute to its star, Penelope Cruz), Darren Aronofsky's controversial fantasy ``The Fountain,'' the movie adaptation of Tony Award winner ``The History Boys,'' the widely acclaimed ``Venus,'' starring Peter O'Toole, and, for the closing night gala on Nov. 12, the world premiere of Zhang Yimou's Chinese historical epic, ``Curse of the Golden Flower.''

World cinema

Much-praised titles such as Germany's ``The Lives of Others,'' Romania's ``12:08 East of Bucharest,'' Iran's ``Offside'' and the French/African ``Days of Glory'' will also make their L.A. bows.

Favorite programs such as the Feature Competition for first- and second-time filmmakers, the Documentary Competition, Latin Cinema Series, Asian New Classics and American Voices make up the bulk of the festival, along with the expanded World Cinema section and two new series, African Voices and the late-night horror/freaky/whatever category, Dark Horizons.

Even though she had nothing to do with this year's retrospective activities, Collet points out that good feelings about the past have helped her pull together a strong slate of new films.

``One of the things that's made it easier is that it's very important to us to take care of the filmmakers and make sure their experience is as good as it can be,'' she says. ``So we have a lot of returning filmmakers; I counted over 30 in the festival this year who've had films in our fest in the past. That's just a wonderful statistic; that means we're doing our jobs right.''

Bob Strauss, [phone]

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AFI LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

What: There are 147 films -- including 22 world premieres -- at the festival, which begins officially Thursday and runs through Nov. 12.

Where: ArcLight.

For information: For information, schedules and ticket purchases, go to www.afi.com, [phone] or visit the festival's Rooftop Village headquarters on the seventh floor of the ArcLight Cinemas parking structure, just south of 6360 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.

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Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color) AFI Fest opens with ``Bobby,'' above, starring Martin Sheen and Helen Hunt in a re-creation of the day in 1968 when presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated at L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel. Also screening at the festival will be Pedro Almodovar's ``Volver,'' starring Penelope Cruz, below right. Zhang Yimou's ``Curse of the Golden Flower'' closes the festival.