Getting reel at Newport libraries

While Hollywood’s galaxy may be the most dazzling of those

represented at this month’s 75th annual Academy Awards, the world of

cinema extends far beyond the constellations of local studios. Find

evidence of distant stars as close as Newport Beach Public Library

shelves.

If you’re looking for a crash course in foreign films, browse

through Elliot Wilhelm’s “VideoHound’s World Cinema.”

With critiques of movies produced in the Far East, Europe, South

America, Latin America and Canada, the Detroit Institute of Arts film

curator illuminates a universe of cinematic achievement. Included are

reviews of epics by such legendary filmmakers as Kurosawa, Truffaut,

Goddard and Fellini. Indexes organized by title, country of origin,

cast, director, writer, cinematographer, composer and category

facilitate finding listings.

Additional testimony about the diversity of films being produced

around the globe is in “World Cinema: Diary of a Day.” Edited by

Peter Cowie to honor cinema’s 100th anniversary, entries document

activities of more than 1,000 filmmakers on a single day in the

mid-1990s. The result is a unique anthology of first-person accounts

from directors, producers, screenwriters, actors and cinematographers

who make films happen.

Numerous volumes concentrate on achievements from specific

regions. They include Lee Servier’s “Asian Pop Cinema,” a visually

explosive volume covering horror, fantasy, gangster and animated

films from the Far East. Far heftier is the “Encyclopaedia of Indian

Cinema,” a guide to one of the world’s largest motion-picture

industries, by Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen.

For those interested in the director’s art, legendary filmmaker

Ingmar Bergman chronicles what went into the making of such

masterpieces as “The Seventh Seal” in “Images.” French journalists

Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana look at another filmmaking

giant in “Truffaut.”

Frank Burke examines the cannon of one of the best known postwar

Italian directors -- from his beginnings in 1950, through the height

of his international fame with “La Dolce Vita” (1960) and to his last

film, “The Voice of the Moon” (1990), in “Fellini’s Films.”

Numerous films by these and other masters are in the Newport Beach

Public Library’s seven-day loan collection. They include such

classics as “The 400 Blows,” “Grande Illusion” and “Das Boot,” as

well as contemporary hits such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”

and “Amelie.”

Titles in VHS and DVD formats, most in original language versions

with English subtitles, are listed in “Foreign Films on Video,” a

bibliography available at all Newport Beach Public Libraries.

Renowned filmmakers, screenwriters, designers and composers will

look at the art and craft of filmmaking closer to home at the Newport

Beach Film Festival Seminar Series, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday,

April 5, and Sunday, April 6, at the Newport Beach Central Library.

For more information, call (949) 253-2880 or visit

www.newportbeachfilmfest.com.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach

Public Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams in

collaboration with Sara Barnicle. All titles may be reserved from

home or office computers by accessing the catalog at

www.newportbeachlibrary.org.