Michael Apted

It's possible at this point to consider Yo La Tengo as a musical version of Michael Apted's long-running "The Up Series," documentaries that since 1964 have followed the same 14 children as they've grown and changed. Started in Hoboken, N.J., by guitarist husband Ira Kaplan and drummer wife Georgia Hubley, Yo La Tengo has been documenting lives through music for a quarter of a century now, creating solid, virtually unimpeachable rock 'n' roll that offers a model for dual creativity. On the 13th Yo La Tengo album, the couple works through complicated emotions with as much elegance and grace as ever.

The second International Documentary Congress will be held Oct. 25-28 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Scheduled participants include directors Michael Apted, Richard Leacock, Allie Light and Marina Goldovaskaya.

Following are The Times' recommendations for today's schedule of the American Film Institute Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFIFEST), with commentary by the film reviewing staff. Information: (213) 480-3232 or (213) 520-2000. Highly recommended: "THE BEEKEEPER"(Greece; Director: Theo Angelopoulos; Cineplex Century Plaza). Like all of Angelopoulos' work, this one--a contemporary drama and road movie, starring Marcello Mastroianni--is hauntingly sad, mysteriously beautiful.

As executive producers of "Bram Stoker's Dracula," we find Fred Fuchs' comments in "Such a Production," by Robert W. Welkos (Dec. 8), both fascinating and enlightening. In the role of producer, neither Fuchs nor American Zoetrope had any involvement in the original design and conception of the project, no role whatsoever in the engagement of Jim Hart as the writer, no participation in raising the necessary financing for the original screenplay, no role in the development of the script, no role in securing the rights and negotiating with Wilshire Court (the original television financier)

Films going into production: A FISH CALLED WANDA (Prominent/MGM). Shooting in London. John Cleese writes/co-directs/stars in a look at the love-hate relationship between the Brits and the Yanks. Executive producer Steve Abbott. Producer Michael Shamberg. Directors Cleese and Charles Crichton. Also stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. Distributor MGM/UA Distribution Co. GORILLAS IN THE MIST (Guber-Peters/Universal/Warner Bros.). Shooting in Kenya and the U.K.

Mayor Art Agnos got rave reviews for his performance after the Oct. 17 earthquake, but it will be months before critics can review his big screen debut. Agnos played himself Thursday in a scene that required that he arrive outside Mission Dolores to join a crowd mourning the death of a character in the film "Class Action." Agnos certainly sounded like an actor when he said, "I'm a little dissatisfied. My part's not big enough. I'm not talking, just walking."

Michael Apted's compelling BBC documentary, "From 7 to 28 Up," highlights tonight's television schedule. The 90-minute film, airing at 9 on Channel 28, documents the changes in the lives of a group of British youngsters over the course of two decades by splicing together interviews with children and young adults when they were 7, 14, 21 and 28 years old. On Sunday, Robert Urich, Ben Cross, Dirty Harry and the "Masterpiece Theatre" gang will battle it out for the bulk of the prime-time audience.