Screening Room : Nuart Offers a Delightful Look at Early Campion

Now that New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion has received international acclaim with “The Piano,” the Nuart will present, today only, three short films Campion made as a student at the Australian Film and TV School. They were first shown locally by Filmforum in 1991.

They are a delight, showing that from the start Campion paid a great deal of attention to the everyday world, seeking to discover what makes seemingly ordinary people tick.

At the same time, we see her discovering--with the support of extraordinarily acute cinematographer Sally Bongers--fresh ways of expressing other people’s emotions and concerns, and her own bemused feelings about them. That she deals with commonplace situations and individuals only underlines her distinctive style and sensibility, which is suffused with equal parts humor and compassion.

The nine-minute “Peel” (1982) is a hilarious take on a child’s disobedience. Freckled, redheaded Ben throws orange peels from the car, and his father, Tim (also freckled and redheaded), stops the car and orders him to pick them up.

The somewhat more conventional 27-minute “A Girl’s Own Story” (1984) is a recollection, shot in black and white, of growing up in a girls’ school in the ‘60s, enamored of the Beatles, curious about sex and boys, and dealing with parents who have refused to speak to each other.

The 13-minute “Passionless” (1984) is the gem of the trio, a lovely experiment in dipping into the imaginations of other people at those moments when their random thoughts are free-associating.

Playing with Campion’s films are two shorts by “Orlando’s” Sally Potter, “Thriller” and “The London Story.”

Information: (310) 478-6379.