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FILM & TV:

“Sunset Story”

Arclight Cinemas

Through Aug. 28

This documentary examines the lives of two elderly women living in Sunset Hall, a retirement home for political radicals in Los Angeles. Directed and produced by three UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television and Digital Media alumni, the screenings will qualify the film for Oscar consideration. And if it doesn’t win, the feisty residents of Sunset Hall may go on strike.

Go to www.arclightcinemas.com or www.moviefone.com for tickets and info.

Facets of the Diamond: 75 Years of Best Picture Winners

Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Monday nights through Dec. 8

In May of 2002, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences began its “Facets of the Diamond” program, chronologically churning through screenings of all 75 Oscar Best Picture winners. Each week, the Academy screens a Best Picture, with “The Last Emperor,” the 1987 winner, making its appearance tonight, followed by “Rain Man” and “Driving Miss Daisy” in the coming weeks leading into the 1990s. Get tickets online in advance, though, because they do sell out. Unless you're going to see “Gladiator.”

$5 general admission, $3 w/student ID. Check out www.oscars.org for more info.

“Wings of Desire”

LACMA

Aug. 29 and 30, 7:30 pm

Two screenings commemorate the 15th anniversary of director Wim Wenders visually stunning meditation on loneliness and desire. Set in Berlin before the wall came tumbling down, “Wings of Desire” seems even more relevant now as it explores issues of identity from an “us vs. them” perspective through the eyes of both human beings and angels here on earth.

Tickets are $8, or $6 w/student ID. Visit www.lacma.org for details.

“Carnivàle”

HBO

Premieres Sept. 14 at 9:30 p.m.

HBO’s newest original series follows a carnival wandering the midwest during the Dust Bowl of 1934. Nick Stahl (“In the Bedroom,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”) stars as a fugitive who turns out to have some sort of mystical powers and Clancy Brown (“The Shawshank Redemption”) is the evangelist who needs to figure them out. Besides Brown, we can be sure HBO is also praying, as this series will take over the coveted Sunday at 9 p.m. time slot once “Sex and the City” ends. But if the tantalizing teasers currently airing are any indication, “Carnivàle” should be just what the doctor ordered.

Check local listings, or go to www.hbo.com/carnivale for more info.

MUSIC:

Kenny Burrell and the UCLA Jazz Band

Lunaria Restaurant and Jazz Club

Aug. 25

UCLA Director of Jazz Studies Kenny Burrell worked with jazz legends John Coltrane and Billie Holiday and was, in fact, Duke Ellington’s favorite guitar player. If you miss your chance to see the man who is sure to reach legendary status himself this time, Burrell and the UCLA Jazz Band play at Lunaria every Monday in September.

Go to the Web site www.lunariajazzscene.com/august.htm for info and reservations.

Dave GahanThe Wiltern

Aug. 25 and 26

The voice of Depeche Mode has gone solo. After working with multi-instrumentalist Knox Chandler and producer Ken Thomas, Gahan released his debut solo album “Paper Monsters” early last June. The album was influenced by his experience in addiction and recovery and leads the way for a newborn optimism.

Tickets are $45.50 and available through Ticketmaster. Call The Wiltern at (213) 380-5005 for more information.

Mum

Henry Fonda Theater

Aug. 29

Combining digital experimentation with organic sounds and delicate melodies, indie electronic act Mum is taking its music on the road again for another North American tour. Expect music from Mum’s 2002 release “Finally We Are No One” as well as a few new tunes, and watch these Icelandic sprites frolic on their sonic playground with none of the sepia-toned pretentiousness of their regional neighbors Sigur Ros.

Tickets are $12.50 and available through www.ticketweb.com. All ages.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Warlocks

Henry Fonda Theater

Sept. 6

L.A. based Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are on tour in promotion of its sophomore release. “Take Them On, On Your Own” is the follow-up to the group’s acclaimed self-titled debut album, which showcased a noisy abandon that drew comparisons to Velvet Underground and Jesus and the Mary Chain. Supporting the group is another local act, the underrated and underexposed Warlocks, whose dirty, druggy, psychedelic rock provides a fitting opening act for the B.R.M.C.

For tickets, call Aron’s Records or Sea Level Records.

Natalie Cole

Los Angeles Tennis Center

Sept. 13

Daughter of jazz legend Nat “King” Cole, this R&B gone jazz-pop singer has a voice with as much magic as her father’s. Although the song that perhaps gained her the most acclaim was the “duet” she sang with her deceased father using his original recording of “Unforgettable,” Cole is sure to bring a night of tranquility and melancholic bliss to the UCLA campus.

Tickets are available through www.ticketmaster.com.

THEATER & ARTS:

Girl Culture

Skirball Cultural Center

Sept. 4 through Jan. 4

Photographer Lauren Greenfield takes an often startling look at some of the more private moments of the lives of women in her show in the Skirball’s Ruby Gallery. Greenfield’s work, which can also be seen in her new book of the same name, depicts a generation of young girls obsessed with body image and growing up way too fast.

Admission is free. Visit www.skirball.org or call (310) 440-4500 for details.

“I Just Stopped By to See the Man”

Geffen Playhouse

Sept. 9 through 0ct. 19

Geffen Artistic Director Randall Arney will bring Stephen Jeffreys’ “I Just Stopped By to See the Man” to Westwood for its West Coast premiere. Set in the Mississippi Delta in the mid-70s, the play explores race and its role in popular music. Donovan Leitch, lead singer of British rock group Nancy Boy, will play a British rock star seeking the truth about the man who inspired his career. The play will also feature Tony Award nominee Clarence Williams III and JoNell Kennedy.

Tickets are $28 and available at www.geffenplayhouse.com.

“Varekai”

Staples Center

Premieres Sept. 12

Cirque du Soleil will be pitching its tent in the Staples Center parking lot next month when its North American tour for “Varekai” kicks off in Los Angeles. Cirque newcomer and theater director Dominic Champagne directs this interpretation of the Icarus myth. But the real star of the show may be Academy Award winning costume designer Eiko Ishioka, who playfully brings her flair for the macabre, evident in films like “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” to the Cirque stage.

Tickets range from $42 to $80. Call 1-800-678-5440 or visit www.cirquedusoleil.com.

“Shame and Desire”

Stella Adler Theater

Through Sept. 20

Writer-director Kuros Charney brings his own blend of witty banter, neurosis and drug-induced paranoia to Human Zoo Theatre’s current residency on the 2nd floor of the Adler. And just when you thought staged romantic comedies had gone the way of the typewriter.

Tickets are $15. Call (323) 860-6572 or check out

www.humanzootheatre.com.