Filmforum Season Ends With Solstice

Filmforum concludes its spring season tonight at 8 at LACE with its Summer Solstice Celebration featuring two highly impressionistic documentaries by British filmmaker Richard Phillpot followed by a pot-luck party.

In both the 58-minute “Spirit of Albion” (1987) and the 10-minute “The Flora Faddy Furry Dance Day” (1989), Phillpot reveals his fascination with ancient pagan rituals and celebrations.

The first film chronicles the recent British phenomenon of nomadic groups of people traveling in convoys in brightly painted trucks and vans--shades of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters--staging medieval fairs and desiring to revive solstice celebrations at Stonehenge.

The British media have labeled them “hippies,” which contributes to the film’s aura of deja vu ; it’s as if the summers of love have returned. Naturally, there are clashes with authorities and locals, yet these hippies are persuasive in their concern for ecology and in establishing a more humane lifestyle and economy.

The second film chronicles the largest and oldest ancient ritual dance still performed in Britain, a kind of cross between a parade and a reel, that is part of a Celtic spring festival. Information: (213) 663-9568.

The harrowing “Opening Night” (1977), one of John Cassavetes’ finest but least-known films, opens Wednesday at the Royal for an anticipated three-week run.

Gena Rowlands stars in yet another of her remarkable portrayals as a glamorous stage star having difficulty connecting with her latest role because it deals with a woman coming to terms with aging.

“Opening Night,” which features Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, Joan Blondell, Paul Stewart and Zohra Lampert, also conveys with force and clarity the often-excruciating demands placed upon the actor by the craft. Cassavetes illuminates a world and its people he knows so well that we can recognize ourselves in them. Information: (213) 477-5581.

As a benefit for Beyond Baroque’s film series, the Venice literary/arts center (681 Venice Blvd.) is presenting at 8:30 p.m. on Friday a one-hour section of Andy Warhol’s 1966-67 “” (“Four Stars”) plus Greg Barrios’ half-hour 1967 “B.O.N.Y.” (“Boys of New York”).

”,” which takes its title from the New York Daily News movie rating system, was shown only once in its original 25-hour version before being carved up into such other Warhol films as “Imitation of Christ” and “Nude Restaurant” with unused portions either shelved or lost. Although decidedly a fragment, this “” is of interest to any Warhol admirer--even though few would give it four stars.

As a record of what was happening in the ‘60s, it is an invaluable reminder of how Warhol invited his subjects to indulge themselves, allowing narcissists enough footage to hang themselves. There’s a great deal of vaguely polysexual lolling on beds, a Warhol trademark that Madonna has admitted influenced her in sequences of “Truth or Dare.”

Featured are such Warhol superstars as the late luminously beautiful singer Nico (of Velvet Underground), Brigid Polk, Joe D’Allesandro, International Velvet, Alan Midgett and Julian Burroughs, who was to appear in “Lonesome Cowboys” but is here a cogent anti-war activist. For most of the film, two portions unreel side by side in emulation of Warhol’s landmark “Chelsea Girls.” For one extremely tedious section--featuring the late designer Tiger Morse rambling on in her trendy boutique, Paraphernalia--the images are superimposed.

Barrios’ “B.O.N.Y” is a blithe, jagged record of a day in the life of such Warhol Factoryites as poet Gerard Malanga and free-spirited transvestite Rene Ricard. Information: (213) 822-0006.

Also notable: At the New Beverly Cinema are Jean Vigo’s “L’Atlante” (Wednesday through Saturday) and “Zero de Conduite” and “A Propos de Nice” (Friday and Saturday only). Information: (213) 938-4038.

At the Silent Movie Wednesday only: the rarely seen “The Winning of Barbara Worth” (1926) with Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky and Gary Cooper. Information: (213) 653-2389.

“Three Caballeros “ (1943) highlights an evening of south-of-the-border entertainment at the Million Dollar Wednesday as part of “The Last Remaining Seats V” series. Information: (213) 623-CITY.