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Hamburger Dad Local filmmakers Wil Long and Kevin Clarke will attend and help explain the premise of this world premiere. No, wait, we can do that for you: Like a fast-food take on The Metamorphosis, a guy wakes up one day as, yes, a hamburger. Wacky complications ensue among various Seattle locations, probably entailing things not even Kafka could've envisioned. Plays with two bonus shorts from the same team. (NR) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 206-523-3935. $5-$7.50. 11 p.m. Fri. April 21-Sat. April 22.
Island Earth Day Film Fest Vashon Island celebrates Earth Day over the weekend with a dozen-odd films screened at three venues. Topics include salmon farming, sustainable development, organic food, and green architecture. See Web site for full schedule and details. The opening night doc is Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. (NR) Courthouse Square, 19001 Vashon Highway S.W., 206-779-9459, http://filmfest.islandearthfair.org. $5. 7:30 p.m. Fri. April 21.
Les Bonnes Femmes Claude Chabrol's 1960 film defies obvious categorization. It's certainly part of the nouvelle vague, briskly sketching the lives of four "liberated" Paris shopgirls with candor and vigor. Yet the imminent sexual revolution also leads them into darker avenues, portending Chabrol's later, better-known works. Men pursue women like prey, who in turn daydream about true love and deliverance from their clockwatching routine. Each of the four principal characters feels like a rough sketch for a longer movie, and their stories aren't very well integrated. Still, Chabrol nicely conveys the seedy, jazzy energy of the neon-lit nightclub circuit (shot in B&W). Meanwhile you're constantly aware he's got something up his sleeve. The film's vérité slice-of-life approach and matter-of-factness make it less forgotten classic than footnote to the French New Wave. Screened on video; admission includes discussion and snack. (NR) Movie Legends, 2319 N. 45th St., 206-632-2092. $5. 1 p.m. Sun. April 23.
Louis Malle Retrospective First it's Zazie in the Metro (1960), in which a 12-year-old girl (Catherine Demongeot) escapes the clutches of her family—including an adulterous mother and Philippe Noiret as a transvestite uncle—to explore Paris on her own. The city and its denizens are marvelous, of course, in this early document of the French New Wave (based on a comic novel by Raymond Queneau). Child actress Demongeot, however, may prove less endearing to some viewers. (NR) Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th Ave. E., 206-654-3121. $58-$65 (series), $7 (individual). 7:30 p.m. Thurs. April 20. Then it's Malle's 1969 documentary Calcutta, a panoramic survey of the chaotic city of eight million. Running the same week is Place de la République (1974), a kind of candid-camera series of street interviews, with Malle himself asking sometimes provocative questions of complete strangers. Fortunately the French love a good argument. (NR) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 206-523-3935. $5-$7.50. Fri. April 21-Thurs. April 27.
Off Camera Four friends decide to make a movie themselves in this local indie feature. 21 and over. (NR) Jewel Box Theater (Rendezvous), 2320 Second Ave., 206-441-5823. Free. 6 and 7:45 p.m. Sun. April 23.
Panel Discussion Artists Trust's Fidelma McGinn leads an examination of fair use—i.e., when it's okay or not to sample or include a clip of someone else's movie in your own. Among other panelists, she's joined by attorney Robert Cumbow and Arab Film Distribution's Jon Sinno, also the organizer of the invaluable Arab and Iranian Film Festival. 911 Media Arts Center, 402 Ninth Ave. N., 206-682-6552. $10-$15. 4 p.m. Fri. April 21.
Rawstock Some of the comic shorts in this collection are pretty decent; others, well, fall a little short. Bubble & Pick pulls you in with interesting technique and an amusing storyline. It gets a bit too graphic when a man is shot in the knees, and becomes absurd when the shooters start busting a move to an '80s pop song. The final existential moment leaves you unsure of director March De Laurentis' intent. The 3-D animated Welcome to Eden is filled with stale, cheesy jokes and crude effects. The music video Dance Off Royale features a rapper with his legs amputated, getting around the rough city on a skateboard—it's perhaps better suited to MTV2 than MTV. Jake Maymudes' documentary Coastal shows the ironic power of luck; it boasts a simple yet creative manner, cleanly executed, with laughs in all the right parts. In all, the two screenings offer an even balance of amateurism and potential. (NR) KELLIE HWANG Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. $10. 8 p.m. Wed. April 19. Jewel Box Theater (Rendezvous), 2320 Second Ave., 206-441-5823 (21 and over). $10. 8 p.m. Thurs. April 20.
Reel Grrls Videos Teens who've just completed a three-month filmmaking class present their work. (NR) Consolidated Works, 500 Boren Ave. N., 206-381-3218. Under 21 free. $10 adults. 7 p.m. Thurs. April 20.
Refugee A series of three immigration-themed documentaries begins with this account of three Cambodians who venture home from San Francisco, leading to some fraught family reunions and issues of cultural assimilation. (NR) Capitol Hill Branch Library, 425 Harvard Ave. E., 206-684-4715. Free. 6 p.m. Thurs. April 20.
The Sandman This feature-length documentary, directed by Chesley Chen, profiles Bay Area artist Jim Denevan, who creates intricate and ephemeral earth sculptures on sandy beaches. Then, rather like Andy Goldsworthy, he lets the ocean wash over his creations, erasing them from his terrestrial canvas. Preceded by a cartoon short by acclaimed local animator and comic-book artist Jim Woodring. (NR) 911 Media Arts Center, 402 Ninth Ave. N., 206-682-6552. $5-$7. 7 p.m. Fri. April 21.
