When Varsity Theater closed last year, that left Doris Duke Theatre as the last art house standing. Honolulu Academy of Arts film curator Gina Caruso (pictured here) is going full steam with innovative programming. On Feb. 8 she launches Friends of Film Friday, a "members-only" evening where fans and pros alike can mix and dish about celluloid. She'll have a one-time only screening for FFF night, along with punch and dessert. Each session will have a guest host and Edgy Lee kicks things off. Caruso isn't not telling what the selection is until one week before the screening date but I'll give you a hint: Joan Chen cited it while she was in Honolulu last fall for HIFF (yes, it's Chinese). If films such as "There Will Be Blood" are too few and far between at the multiplexes for you, join Friends of Film Friday (you can do it online!). Even without FFF, there are don't miss films most nights of the week. On Friday at 7:30 pm the theater screens the mesmerizing documentary "Forever" by Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigman. Anyone who made Père Lachaise Cemetery their first stop on a Paris visit will want to see this. And the first Bollywood Film Festival breaks into song on Saturday, Jan. 26.

—LesaG, 01/24/08