Thursday, July 17th

When New Yorkers invade the Midwest with their fancy movin’ picture cameras, stuff happens! Tonight, Nanette Burstein’s American Teen plays at Lincoln Center, telling the tale of a senior year of high school in Warsaw, Ind., a Midwestern town that sounds much worse than the one where we were raised. “I was looking throughout the Midwest; I wanted to choose a small town with one high school that was economically mixed,” said Ms. Burstein. “I hoped to have one that was racially mixed, but that was hard to find in the Midwest. Then I had to find a high school that was willing to cooperate. We cut it down to 10. Honestly, Warsaw actually had the best restaurants.” Ms. Burstein hastened to add that her film “is not like Juno or Napoleon Dynamite; it’s pensive and sophisticated.” (Phew—those films tanked!) Of her life away from the camera, Ms. Burstein said: “I also run the restaurant, Half King, with my husband [Scott Anderson] and Sebastian [Junger], on 23rd and 10th Avenue.” Later, damn that glisteningly efficient halcyon paradise—otherwise known as the Apple Store—always trying to lure us in and convince us to fling more money on the floor. Today, it dangles the ultimate geek-bait: director Chris Carter and producer Frank Spotnitz of the hotly anticipated X-Files movie, The X-Files: I Want to Believe (we have a feeling we prefer David Duchovny as a louche novelist on Showtime), will discuss the film and show clips. We’re just hoping the clips aren’t shown on an iPhone.

[American Teen, Walter Reade Theater, 6:30 p.m., www.filmlinc.com; Meet the Filmmakers, Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, Apple Store Soho, 103 Prince Street, 7 p.m.]

mbryan@observer.com