Newport Beach and L.A. Children’s Film Festival among highlights

The TCM Classic Film Festival, which takes place Thursday through Sunday in Hollywood, isn’t the only high-profile fest this weekend.

The 14th annual Newport Beach Film Festival kicks off Thursday evening at the Edwards Big Newport with the West Coast premiere of ‘Broadway Idiot,” a documentary on how the Green Day album “American Idiot” became a hit Broadway musical.

The Newport Beach festival, which continues through May 2, will feature more than 350 films from 50 countries, nightly special events, galas, conversations with filmmakers, international spotlight events and seminars.

Other films in the festival include “What Maisie Knew,” “The Iceman” and “Drift.” There are several world premieres including “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Wiener Dog Nationals” and “The Girl on the Train.”

The closing-night feature is the West Coast premiere of “The Way, Way Back,” directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who won the Oscar with Alexander Payne for the adapted screenplay of “The Descendants.” Steve Carrll, Sam Rockwell, AnnaSophia Robb and Toni Collette star.

The American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre is hosting the Los Angeles Children’s Film Festival, which starts Friday and runs through May 4. The two-week festival features animated and live-action shorts and features from around the world.

The festival, which the Cinematheque is presenting in partnership with the New York International Children’s Film Festival, opens with the 2011 Japanese animated film “A Letter to Momo.” Other films to be featured include “Wolf Children,” “A Monster in Paris” and “Meet the Small Potatoes.”

The 2013 United Film Festival, Friday through May 2 at the Los Feliz 3, will feature 52 films including “Your Close Friends, “Be Good,” “Born and Raised” and “Congratulations.” Director John Landis (“National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “The Blues Brothers”) is this year’s lifetime achievement award winner.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art celebrates the L.A. debut of Paris Photo Fair by celebrating two legends of the camera lens. The 2012 documentary, “Miradas Multiples: La Maquina Loca,” which screens Friday at the Leo S. Bing Theater, is a documentary on the cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa (“Under the Volcano”). Screening Saturday evening is the Los Angeles premiere of “Journal de France,” a 2012 self-portrait of French photographer, documentary filmmaker and Gamma agency co-founder Raymond Depardon. Both screenings are free.

The Alex Film Society presents Roman Polanki’s seminal 1974 noir “Chinatown,” starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, Saturday afternoon and evening at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. There will be an exhibit marking the 100th anniversary of the L.A. Aqueduct.

REDCAT presents “Cabinets of Wonder: Films and a Performance by Charlotte Pryce” Monday evening. The program of Pryce’s short films include “Discoveries on the Forest Floor,” “The Parable of the Tulip Painter and the Fly” and “Looking Glass Insects.” There will also be a live magic lantern show.

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