AFI Dallas Fest highlights

A look at event spotlights

By ROBERT KOEHLER

Hollywood from the classical era and the reformist '70s receives the red-carpet treatment during AFI Dallas, capped by a screening of "Chinatown" on its 35th anniversary, with screenwriter Robert Towne in conversation with Time magazine film critic and historian Richard Schickel.

Fri., March 27, 7 p.m.; AMC NorthPark 15

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Complementing Towne's and Roman Polanski's Los Angeles noir is Peter Bogdanovich's ode to small-town Texas life, "The Last Picture Show," another film from the independent-minded early 1970s that tipped its cap to Hollywood's prime studio era.

Thurs., April 2, 7 p.m.; Nasher Sculpture Center

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That period is repped by two masterpieces -- Howard Hawks' "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" -- along with "Gilda," the emblematic film of Rita Hayworth, whose daughter, Princess Yasmine Aga Khan, will receive the fest's Star Award in Hayworth's honor.

Wed., April 1, 7:30 p.m., AMC NorthPark 15 ("Gentlemen"); Thurs., April 2, 8 p.m., AMC NorthPark 15 ("Gilda"); Fri., March 27, 3 p.m. AMC NorthPark 15 ("Double Indemnity")

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More contempo issues will be tackled at several seminars and panels, most set in the Nasher Sculpture Center in the fest's hub at Dallas' arts-oriented Victory Park. "Documentary or VLOG, What's a Documentary Really" is set to address the future of Web-based and vid-based documentary filmmaking, while "Who's Winning the Copyright Copy-Fight?" will discuss "fair use" and artist copyright issues.

Sat., March 28, 1 p.m., Nasher Sculpture Center ("Documentary"); Sun., March 29, 3 pm, Nasher Sculpture Center ("Copyright")

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A gathering about animation will consider if the line between toon work for kids and adults has completely blurred. Other panels are set to focus on the business of film music, horror films in the 21st century and the YouTubification of short films.