By Lavanya Ramanathan
Saturday, September 15, 2007; C12

Working in inch-size bites ourselves, we empathize with filmmakers who create shorts, those 100-calorie-packs of cinematic exploration that rarely stretch beyond 15 minutes.

The ever-growing D.C. Shorts Film Festival is bringing nearly 90 of these morsels our way over the next week. Some of the offerings of the international fest, which continues through Thursday:

Today, follow up the Arts on Foot festival with the screenwriters competition. The event, which is fairly offbeat for movie festivals, will have actors reading live from seven scripts. $12. 6 p.m. (Also at 6 p.m. is a separate screening of shorts that includes the local flick "Barberin,' " Ben Crosbie's seven-minute look at a day in a District barbershop. A 3 p.m. screening features "Truth or Dare," about friends trying to catch a peep at a topless sunbather.)

At 9 p.m. is a screening of the eight-minute flick "The O Word," and the totally epic (it's a whole 15 minutes!) Colombian movie "20 mil," both of which we hear are worth seeing. In "O," a bride's mother locks up her daughter to prevent her from making a huge mistake. "20 mil" follows a pair of 7-year-old friends whose bond is tested . . . when they begin selling cookies on the school bus.

The festival also features all kinds of affiliated parties and a free family screening today at 1 (get tickets at 11 a.m. at the D.C. Shorts Arts on Foot booth, Eighth and F streets NW). Film tickets, $12. All at the E Street Cinema near Metro Center. 555 11th St. NW. For a full schedule and tickets, visit http://www.dcshorts.com.

FOR FAMILIES: Spare Your Kids the Boo at the Zoo Heartache It's very cutthroat, raising children today. Even Halloween is about the haves and the have-nots -- you either have your tickets for this always-sold-out event at the National Zoo or you're Bad Mommy, frantically dialing everyone you know for spares. Here is our advice: Mark your calendar. Tickets for the Oct. 26-28 festivities go on sale to non-FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) members Tuesday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. They are a whopping $25, but that covers all the food and crafts and entertainment (kids younger than 2 are free and don't need tickets). 5:30-8:30 p.m. each day. 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-397-7328 or visit Ticketmaster outlets or http://www.ticketmaster.com.

ON STAGE: Patti LuPone Thinks She "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda" The Tony Award-winning actress has built a career of late playing vicious femmes in New York productions of "Sweeney Todd" and "Gypsy," but it's the Broadway songs she hasn't sung that inspired her one-woman show. Expect selections from "Hair," "Funny Girl" and "West Side Story" when she visits Strathmore on Oct. 5. $32-$82. 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. 301-581-5100.

LITERATURE: The National Book Festival Despite iPods and iPhones and all the other iDistractions that seem to undermine reading, many thousands of people find their way to this annual event celebrating writers and their craft. About 70 well-known authors (including Ken Burns, Jennifer Holm, M.T. Anderson), illustrators and poets (including new Poet Laureate Charles Simic, a Pulitzer Prize winner) will talk about their books and meet-and-greet when the festival returns to the Mall on Sept. 29. Free. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Mall between Seventh and 14th streets NW. 888-714-4696 or, for a full schedule, visit http://www.loc.gov/bookfest.

FOR FAMILIES: Preview the New Theater As part of the Arts on Foot Festival the Shakespeare Theatre Company is previewing its new Sidney Harman Hall today. The schedule includes performances by CityDance Ensemble, Afro Bop Alliance, open rehearsals of the Shakespeare Theatre Company's upcoming productions of "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Tamburlaine," and demonstrations of stage combat and stage blood. Free. 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. (Performances are on the hour.) 610 F St. NW. 202-547-1122.

FESTIVALS: H Street Festival Whether you love it because it's your favorite place to spend Saturday night (come on, where else can you see a flea circus?) or you abhor it as a symbol of gentrification and crass "newcomer" commercialism, the revamping of H Street is underway. And the H Street Festival today celebrates the neighborhood's new culture and entertainment focus with live music, a DJ booth, a fashion show (at 3 p.m.) and two stages featuring theater and dance performances. Free. Noon-7 p.m., H Street NE between 12th and 14th streets. 202-256-5335.

EXHIBIT: "Driven" VSA Arts and Volkswagen joined up for this exhibition, a collection of works by young artists with disabilities (ages 16-25) competing for a whopping prize: $20,000. The winner has already been named, and it's Jacolby Satterwhite, 21, a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, for his work titled "Remission & Resilience." The show opens today. Free. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Dec. 31. S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Dr. SW. 202-628-2800.

CLOSING: "Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries" This collection of nearly 300 artifacts documents Portuguese explorers' trading and colonization efforts. It's the largest show in the 20-year existence of the Sackler Gallery and a showcase of what the gallery's director has called "the first moment of globalization," with items from Japan, Sri Lanka, Brazil and Southeast Asia. Free. Through tomorrow. 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Jefferson Drive and 12th Street SW. 202-633-1000.

FOR KIDS: Children's Day at Brookside Gardens The park's biggest child-friendly event of the year has the theme "Tree-rific" and features crafts and games and science-themed entertainment, including "the Natural Science Song and Dance Man." Best for youths through elementary-school age. Free. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton. 301-962-1400.

FESTIVALS: Takoma Park's Annual Blowout The Takoma Park Folk Festival turns 30 this year with a lineup that features dozens of folk, roots and world music performers (lest anyone feel left out) on seven stages. And as always, there are crafts and storytelling to get your socially conscious little ones thinking about recycling, poverty and the like. Free. 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Takoma Park Middle School, 7611 Piney Branch Rd., Silver Spring. (There's no on-site parking, but shuttle service is available from the Takoma Metro station.) 301-589-0202 or visit http://www.tpff.org for a full schedule and parking information.

FILM: Latin American Film Festival at the AFI The 18th installment of the festival offers 30 modern and compelling movies from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. The festival officially begins Tuesday, but the first screening is Wednesday, and it's the Spanish film "Azuloscurocasinegro" ("Darkbluealmostblack"). The 2006 flick, directed by Daniel S?nchez Ar?valo, follows a man who gives up his ambitions after his father becomes ill, and then is asked to impregnate the girlfriend of his imprisoned-and-unable-to-procreate brother. (So it's a family drama.) For the full schedule of films, visit http://www.dclatinamericanfilmfestival.org. $6.75-$9.75. 7 p.m. 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. 301-495-6720.

FESTIVALS: The 18th-Century Craft Fair The annual festival at Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens returns for the weekend, an old-timey convergence of crafters from across the country. They'll don Colonial dress and demonstrate their crafts, from woodcarving to leatherwork, but also on the schedule is quirky entertainment, including fire-eaters and sword-swallowers. You can also take free, 30-minute Potomac sightseeing cruises at Mount Vernon's wharf. $13; seniors, $12; ages 6 through 11, $6; younger than 6, free. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. today and tomorrow. 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Hwy., Alexandria. 703-780-2000.

FESTIVALS: Celebrate Virginia Wine Out in Leesburg, the Virginia Wine Festival is giving itself over to the grape, with 60 wineries, food, live music (the Brindley Brothers, Bio Ritmo, the Grandsons) and crafts all weekend. $25 for admission with tastings (ID required); no tastings but unlimited nonalcoholic drinks, $12; younger than 3, free. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. both days. 41793 Morven Park Equestrian Center, Leesburg. Park at Belmont Country Club (43675 Russell Branch Pkwy.) and take a free shuttle bus. 703-823-1868.

FOR KIDS: The Great Zucchini It's very little people with a penchant for kiddie toilet humor who make up the bulk of the audience for the popular local magic act the Great Zucchini (real name: Eric Knaus). If you can't fork over the hundreds to have him perform at your home, you can always catch him at Arlington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse, where he has a semi-regular gig on weekend mornings. $8. Noon, doors open at 11:30 a.m. 2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington. 703-486-2345.

LITERATURE: Wesley Clark Clark, a retired general, for a brief time in 2004 had plenty of backers as a Democratic presidential candidate. It didn't work out, needless to say, but he has continued as a political activist. He visits Borders bookstore next week to discuss his new autobiography, "A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country." Free. 7:30 p.m. 5871 Crossroads Center Way, Baileys Crossroads. 703-998-0404.