FRIDAY, FEB. 29

THE SEVENTH SEAL Ingmar Bergman's defining film, this existential/medieval fable has often been parodied, yet retains its power. It's reasonable to equate the director with the film's central figure, a knight who forestalls his demise by playing chess with Death, hoping to win more time to discover the meaning of life. "Why can't I kill the God within me?" asks the knight, who's played by Bergman regular Max von Sydow. "Why does he live on in this painful and humiliating way even though I curse him and want to tear him out of my heart?" -- natural questions from the lapsed-Christian son of strict Lutheran minister. Yet there is just as much Bergman in such supporting characters as the painter of the dance of death, who asks "Why should one always make people happy? It might be a good idea to scare them once in awhile." And he's also in the squire, a humane cynic, and the juggler, who is the only one besides the knight who can see the figure of Death. (Bergman derived the title of a semi-autobiographical novel, "Sunday's Children," from the fact that he was born on Sunday, and thus deemed capable by Swedish folklore of perceiving supernatural beings.) (1958, 93 min) 4:45 pm, 7 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE There's always less than meets the eye in the Coen bothers' elaborately art-directed period pieces, but this is their hollowest edifice since The Hudsucker Proxy. Taciturn barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) suffers the daily company of his garrulous brother-in-law Frank (Michael Badalucco), who owns the shop where they work. Ed also must socialize with verbose Big Dave (James Gandolfini), who runs the department store where Ed's icy wife Doris (Frances McDormand) keeps the books. Ed thinks that Big Dave is having an affair with Doris, hut he doesn't seem to begrudge this dalliance, or at least he doesn't resent it any more than he does any other aspect of his life. The disastrous decision to blackmail Big Dave comes when Ed -- who despite his silence is just as big as rube as most of the Coens' protagonists -- is offered an opportunity to invest in technological breakthrough: dry cleaning. Rendered in lustrous black-and-white, the film is a triumph of retro style. The cinematography, however, has more presence than the characters. (2001, 116 min) 7 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

CITY LIGHTS Charlie Chaplin's part slapstick, part sentimental tale of a tramp's love for a blind woman, accompanied by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's performance of a new orchestration of the Chaplin-penned score. (1931, 87 min) 8 pm, Music Center at Strathmore.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI In another of their attitudinal kidnap capers, the Coen brothers update their classic-Hollywood references to a tale of a contemporary Dude. (1198, 117 min) 9:30 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

SATURDAY, MARCH 1

THE SEVENTH SEAL See Feb. 29. 1 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

MEPHISTO A study of accommodation with Nazi evil and corruption, Hungarian director Istvan Szabo's masterpiece is derived from Klaus Mann's angry novel, and based on the career of actor Gustaf Grundgens. (1981, 139 min) 2 pm, National Gallery of Art East Building auditorium. Free.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE See Feb. 29. 3 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

COLONEL REDL Another of Hungarian director Istvan Szabo's studies of power and weakness, this is tale of a man who becomes a military officer and spy, always in fear that his true identity will be revealed. (1984, 149 min) 4:30 pm, National Gallery of Art East Building auditorium. Free.

BLESS THEIR LITTLE HEARTS Scripted by Charles Burnett, director Billy Woodbury's little-known neorealist gem is about a South Central L.A. family's reaction to dad's inability to support them. (1984, 80 min) 5:30 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI See Feb. 29. 10 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

SUNDAY, MARCH 2

THE WILLOW TREE Director Majid Majidi, whose Children of Heaven and Baran were among the most successful Iranian films in American arthouses, has exemplified the Italian-neorealist wing of Iranian cinema: documentary-influenced tales of peasant life, emphasizing the struggles and dreams of little boys. His latest drama has a different sort of protagonist. Like the young hero of Majidi's The Color of Paradise, Yusef is blind. But he's a middle-aged poetry professor who faces not lifelong acceptance but a second chance at vision when a specialist manages to restore his sight. Blind for 38 of his 45 years, Yusef is overwhelmed by being able to see. His initial wonder soon turns to bitterness at what he's missed, and his marriage to faithful but not especially pretty Roya is threatened when he starts noticing more attractive women. While Majidi is not the most complex of Iranian directors, this film benefits from his decision to relinquish his usual child's-eye view. Sponsored by Cinema Art Bethesda. 10 am, Landmark Bethesda Row, Woodmont & Bethesda Aves, Bethesda.

THE VIRGIN SPRING Another of Ingmar Bergman's medieval tales, this is take of a father's quest to revenge his murdered daughter, set in a Europe still torn between paganism and Christianity. (1960, 89 min) 1 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

AGAINST THE TIDE Set in 1989, during the now-resumed Sri Lankan civil war, Sudath Devapriya's film is about a young boy whose father disappears, forcing the realization that this remote forest area has been drawn into the conflict. (2004, 103 min) 2 pm, Freer/Sackler Galleries, 12th & Constitution Ave SW. Free; tickets distributed one hour before screening.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI See Feb. 29. 3 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

HANUSSEN In the third collaboration of director Istvan Svabo and actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (following Mephisto and Colonel Redl), the title character is again a minor player in 20th-century European history who sacrifices his soul to malignant political powers. Hanussen (Brandauer) is a World War I veteran who makes a name for himself as a psychic, especially after he predicts Hitler's rise to power. Eventually, however, he delivers a prophecy that antagonizes the new government. (1987, 130 min) 4:30 pm, National Gallery of Art East Building auditorium. Free.

BLESS THEIR LITTLE HEARTS See March 1. 5:30 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

THE SEVENTH SEAL See Feb. 29. 7:15 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE See Feb. 29. 9:15 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

MONDAY, MARCH 3

FRAULEIN See item at right. 6:30 pm, Part of the series, Michael Haneke: A Cinema of Provocation. 6:30 pm, Goethe-Institut, 812 Seventh St NW. $6.

THE VIRGIN SPRING See March 2. 7 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

THE CHAMPAGNE SPY Nadav Schirman's documentary is the story of a Paris-based Mossad agent who gradually disappeared into his alter ego, an ex-Nazi millionaire living in Cairo. (2007, 91 min) 7:30 pm, Washington DC Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th Street NW. $10.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE See Feb. 29. 9 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

TUESDAY, MARCH 4

THE CITY OF WASHINGTON Made by the Treasury Department, this silent film surveys the city's first 129 years of history. (1929, 25 min) Noon, National Gallery of Art East Building auditorium. Free.

THE SEVENTH SEAL See Feb. 29. 7 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

LEMMINGS - PART 2: VERLETZUNGEN The conclusion of Michael Haneke's TV drama about the members of his generation follows them into failed adulthood. 7:30 pm, Part of the series, Michael Haneke: A Cinema of Provocation. 7:30 pm, Austrian Embassy, 3524 International Court NW. Free, but reservations required; RSVP to rsvp@austria.org

THE BIG LEBOWSKI See Feb. 29. 9 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5

BLESS THEIR LITTLE HEARTS See March 1. 9:30 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.

THURSDAY, MARCH 6

ORIGINS OF CINEMA: GEORGES MELIES This selection of the pioneering French director's special-effects short films includes the 1902 A Trip to the Moon,, his best-known work. 1902. 8 pm, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 7th St & Independence Ave SW. Free.

SEARCHERS 2.0 Alex (Sid and Nancy) Cox's new film, introduced by the director. This screening begins the 10th Annual D.C. Independent Film Festival. 8 pm, Jack Morton Auditorium, George Washington University, 805 21st St NW.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI See Feb. 29. 9 pm, American Film Institute Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd.