A celebrated new documentary on the early-20th-century Parisian avant-garde joins some films from the period in this quick look back at the Left Bank and its habitues in the years before the Depression. The series opens with a program of short films from the ’20s, including such defining works as Fernand Leger’s Ballet Mechanique, Marcel Duchamp’s Anemic Cinema, and Luis Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou (Dec. 21 at 2:30 p.m.). The new film is Greta Schiller’s Paris Is a Woman, which depicts the Parisian avant-garde through the eyes of such female Paris-based writers, artists, and performers as Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, Nathalie Barney, Josephine Baker, Janet Flanner, and Berenice Abbott (Dec. 22 & 29 at 6 p.m.). Also featured is a new print of Nicole Verdes’ 1946 film Paris 1900 that captures the heady spirit of the city in the years leading up to World War I (pictured, Dec. 26-28 at 12:30 p.m., Dec. 29 at 1 p.m.). At the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium, 4th & Constitution Ave. NW. FREE. (202) 737-4215. (Mark Jenkins).