Portuguese films are front and center
You could go for months and not find a Portuguese film on the local calendar, and then you get a week like this, with the Provincetown Film Festival adding a four-film "Portuguese Sidebar" to its annual festivities and the Institute of Contemporary Art playing host to a program of "New Portuguese Cinema" that will bring six features and documentaries to its main theater. Fantástico!
The ICA's line up opens on Thursday at 7 p.m. with "O Crime do Padre Amaro" ( " The Crime of Father Amaro " ), a 2005 film based on the 19th-century book of the same name by Portuguese author Eça de Queiroz. ( Another film version of the same story that starred Gael García Bernal came out in 2002.) This Portuguese version was made by television director Carlos Coelho da Silva.
Manuela Bairos, the Consul-General of Portugal, will introduce the series before "Father Amaro " screens. The program continues Friday at 7 p.m. with the family drama "André Valente" and Saturday at noon with three short documentaries. The closing film, at 3 p.m. next Sunday, is Fernando Vendrell's "Pele." It's a drama set in Lisbon in the 1970s focusing on the daughter of a wealthy businessman who's grappling with her role in society.
The program is presented in collaboration with World Music/CRASH Arts and the Boston Portuguese Festival, which stretches from April through June; see bos tonportuguesefestival.org. All films are in Portuguese with English subtitles. For tickets and information call 617-876-4275 or go to worldmusic.org.
Out on Cape Cod , the presentation of "Movimentos Perpetuos: A Tribute to Carlos Paredes" (which won the best Portuguese film award at the 2006 IndieLisboa), "Adriana" (which won the award in 2005), "Alice," and "My Village Doesn't Live Here Anymore" is a new angle for the programming. The selection was funded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences with support from IndieLisboa Festival and The Provincetown Portuguese Festival.
The five-day Provincetown International Film Festival opens on Wednesday and runs through next Sunday. This year it's honoring Todd Solondz, who's getting the "Filmmaker on the Edge" award, and actors Kathleen Turner and Alan Cumming . Director John Waters will be on hand to introduce, with Turner, "A Different Kind of Family Night at the Wellfleet Drive-In" on Thursday at 8:15 p.m. It's a double-feature of two Turner films: "Serial Mom" -- directed by Waters -- and " The War of the Roses." Patron pass holders get to drink champagne with the stars beforehand. And the annual sing a long, next Sunday at 2 p.m., will be to Olivia Newton-John's "Xanadu." It takes place at the Provincetown Town Hall. The complete festival line up is at ptownfilmfest.org, call 508-487- 3456 with questions.
BRATTLE CONTEST: Budding filmmakers have a new opportunity for public recognition: a chance to get their work onto the Brattle Theatre's screen with a goofy competition to make the most compelling trailer possible for an imaginary film. The online registration form explains what elements directors have the option of including in their trailers.
Perhaps your film (everyone has to call it "Miranda") is a coming-of-age (genre) flick, set in a dungeon (location), featuring a puppet (character) taking one good punch (action)? Or maybe "Miranda" really is a musical (genre), set in a girl's school (location), featuring a samurai (character) playing Frisbee (action). You get the idea; the possibilities are endless. Entries are due July 1 and the best will be screened July 19. Details and registration are at brattlefilm.org.
CONVERSATION WITH: How does an actress ever stand out during the audition process? "Casting About" is a documentary that gives a sneak peek into what it's like from the hiring side of the table. It opened this weekend in the screening room at the Coolidge Corner Theatre and director Barry Hershey, who lives in Lincoln, will present it in the Coolidge's big theater on Monday at 7:30 p.m. with a post-film Q&A (617-734-2500 and coolidge.org ).
SCREENINGS OF NOTE: A four-day festival honoring comedian Stan Laurel (the thin one) hits Manchester, N.H., starting Thursday. . The big night , Friday, runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and includes travelogues, cartoons, and a screening of "Sons of the Desert" (1934). The program also includes vintage silent shorts with music by Jeff Rapsis, performed by members of the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra. It all takes place in the third-floor auditorium of the University of New Hampshire-Manchester at 400 Commercial St. (603-624-6094 and looser thanloose.com ).
And the Harvard Museum of Natural History is presenting "Rare Bird," a new movie that tells the true story of a 15-year-old who helped find the Cahow bird, thought to have been extinct for more than 300 years. That's Saturday and next Sunday at 2 p.m., and again June 23 and 24 (617-495-3045 and www. hmnh.har vard.edu ).
Leslie Brokaw can be reached at lbrokaw@globe.com. 
