Short takes

*Another current Frances Coppola presentation is The Perfumed Nightmare, a Filipino film by Kidlat Tahimik. A clever blend of documentary and fiction, contrasting life in Eastern and Western cultures, it has been showing at the new James Agee Room operated in New York by the Center for Public Cinema. With its rugged charm and intelligence it makes a timely reminder of the provocative cinema being generated in areas usually thought of as movie outposts -- places as diverse as Senegal and Algeria, Iceland and the Philippines. Thanks to Mr. Coppola for bringing yet another valuable import to American screens.