Inspired by reports that Robert Rodriguez’s film El Mariachi cost a mere $7,000 (a misleading number), satirical journalist Joe Queenan set out to make a movie for $2 less, using his upscale Tarrytown, N.Y., neighbors as actors and himself as star. In his book about the experience, The Unkindest Cut, Queenan reveals that he did not grow up with any great desire to become a filmmaker. What is clear is that Queenan undertook the stunt largely to prove how clever he is and how stupid everyone in the entertainment industry is—especially anyone who would dare be sincere about filmmaking. Queenan is clever, but—as he admits in the book—he is also a “heartless, cynical dick.” His opus, Twelve Steps to Death, is a relentless attack on the recovery movement, and it set Mr. HCD back more than 10 times his budget. Queenan will appear at this screening to sign his book and take whatever heat he deserves. At 8:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Center’s American Film Institute Theater. $6.50. (202) 785-4600. (DN)