Screening Room: An evening with Blake Edwards at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Blake Edwards has been the guiding force on such comedic classics as 1959’s “Operation Petticoat” and 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” not to mention the “Pink Panther” films with Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. On Thursday, Edwards will be on hand to talk about his career at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater. A screening of his 1981 Hollywood satire, “S.O.B.,” starring Edwards’ wife, Julie Andrews, and William Holden in his final film, will follow the discussion. https://www.oscars.org.

Lennon’s 70th

The American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre is throwing a 70th birthday party this weekend for the late, great John Lennon. The festivities start Thursday with the L.A. premiere of “Nowhere Boy,” a poignant retelling of Lennon’s teenage years. On tap for Friday are three rare documentaries, 1964’s “What’s Happening! The Beatles in the USA,” 1976’s “Mighty Good! The Beatles” and 2002’s “Things They Said Today: Reflections on ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’ ”

Beatles historian Martin Lewis will introduce Saturday’s screenings of the 1965 Beatles classic “Help!,” as well as 2000’s “Two of Us,” Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s dramatization of the last encounter between Lennon and Paul McCartney. The birthday party ends Sunday with the 1988 documentary “Imagine: John Lennon” and 2006’s “The U.S. vs. John Lennon.” https://www.americancinematheque.com

From the Emerald Isle

The Los Angeles Irish Film Festival dances over to the Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre on Friday evening with the West Coast premiere of the coming-of-age drama “My Brothers” and the U.S. premiere of 2009’s “Swansong: Story of Occi Byrne.” Each film’s director, Paul Fraser and Conor McDermottroe, respectively, will discuss his work. The festival continues through Sunday. https://www.lairishfilm.com

Black cinema

UCLA Film and Television Archive offers “Paint It Black: Revisiting Blaxploitation and African American Cinema of the 1970s” at the Billy Wilder Theater, beginning Friday with 1972’s “Super Fly,” which stars Ron O’Neal as a charismatic drug dealer trying to get out of the trade. Marvin Van Peebles’ 1971 seminal drama about the radicalization of a hustler, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” will complete the night’s double bill.

Diahann Carroll earned a lead actress nomination for her tough, tender turn in 1974’s “Claudine,” screening Saturday, as a working-class single woman with five children. James Earl Jones plays the garbage collector who loves her. Also screening is Gordon Parks Jr.’s 1975 teen romance, “Aaron Loves Angela,” starring Kevin Hooks and Irene Cara. https://www.cinema.ucla.edu

Bravo, Bellocchio

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art spotlights the films of contemporary Italian director Marco Bellocchio (“Vincere”), commencing Friday evening at the Leo S. Bing Theater with his first feature, 1965’s “Fists in the Pocket,” a drama about an epileptic teen who plots to kill his parents. Following is 1968’s satire “China Is Near.”

Scheduled for Saturday is Bellocchio’s adults-only 1987 romantic drama, “The Devil in the Flesh,” with Maruschka Detmers. Following is 1999’s “La Balia” (“The Nanny”). https://www.lacma.org.

susan.king@latimes.com