The Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts is spicing up the filmscape with a variety of documentaries and foreign features — never mind that the signature fall Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival is happening across town.

For your viewing pleasure:

• The Friends of Film Friday Series 3 begins tonight with "America, The Beautiful" (2008, 105 minutes), a documentary that considers our obsession with physical beauty. Director Darryl Roberts will be in attendance.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a pre-screening reception (food and drinks available for purchase); screening at 7:30 p.m. Walk-in admission is $15 general, $12 museum members, $8 students, if available; free for FFF members (www.friendsoffilmfriday.com).

Other films this month are "In Search of a Midnight Kiss" (2008, 90 minutes) Oct. 17; and "Viva" (2007, 120 minutes), with director/lead Anna Biller, Oct. 24.

This FFF series continues through May 15.

• "The Grocer's Son," a French coming-of-age film, begins Sunday. Critic Roger Ebert, who gave it HHH, had this to say:

"Antoine (Nicolas Cazale) left his village 10 years ago, but returns home reluctantly to help his mother run the only grocery store. He's angry and self-centered, but driving a grocery van through the painterly landscapes of Provence and meeting the elderly customers has an effect on him. So does the merry young woman from Paris (Clotilde Hesme) who he seems to be fleeing from. Humor, warmth, kindness, insight and scenery. That's enough."

It screens at 1 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday. Admission is $7 general; $6 seniors, students and military; $5 museum members.

• The Asian Adoptee Film Festival is hosted by the nonprofit Korean Adoptees of Hawai'i, offered in conjunction with the Asian Adult Adoptee Gathering this weekend.

Hours are from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday.

The shorts and films are "Searching for Go-Hyang," "Jagadamba: Mother of the Universe," "My Great Grandfather," "Missing" and "Tracing Trades" at the afternoon screening; and the trailers from "Resilience" and "Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam," the feature "Adopted" and "Annie Ong: Lost and Found" in the evening.

Admission is $10 general; $8 students, seniors and military; $6 museum members and Korean Adoptees of Hawai'i members. Details: www.KAHawaii.org/mini08.