A new series celebrating the spirit of independent filmmaking kicks off this weekend at the Hollywood Theater, 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont.

Called "Indies on Indies," it's part screening series, part ongoing festival "designed to bring to Pittsburgh films that wouldn't otherwise get here, mainly the best undistributed films out there," says organizer Lucas McNelly.

Each week will bring a different film, screened at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Monday and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, and paired with a short. Admission is $6 and, when possible, filmmakers will talk about their work.

The series opens Saturday with the world premiere of Amir Motlagh's "Whale," a scripted and improvised story about an unpublished Iranian-American novelist who returns home to Orange County, Calif. It will screen with David Lowery's short, "A Catalog of Anticipations."

March 13-16, Jarrod Whaley's feature "Hell Is Other People" will be paired with Peet Gelderblom's "Out of Sync." Selections for March 20-23 will be announced at a later date while the Butler brothers' "Confusions of an Unmarried Couple" will show March 27-30 with Clay Liford's short, "My Mom Smokes Weed."

Pericles Lewnes' "Loop" will screen April 3-6 with more titles to come. See indiesforindies.com for more information.

Visitors to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium will see an advance showing of "Barbie in a Mermaid Tale" at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Free with admission or membership. See www.pittsburghzoo.com for details.

Duquesne University has rescheduled a free screening of "Flow" for 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 105, College Hall, 600 Forbes Ave. It's part of an annual Human Rights Film Series and deals with the global water crisis. Karen Piper, a Fellow at CMU's Humanities Center, will introduce the film.

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