Don't cry: It's a free showing of 'Rudy'

Maybe it's another way to keep the idea of a pro football stadium built near the L.A. Convention Center alive, and give the impression that perhaps AEG as the real underdog in all this -- a free screening of the 1993 movie "Rudy" will take place at LA Live near Staples Center on Sunday at 8 p.m., complete with bleachers, a beer garden, outdoor grills and a DJ.

The event is "presented" by Farmers Field, which doesn't exist, and the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Actor Sean Astin, who pre-Hobbit portrays Daniel Ruettiger in the story of the Notre Dame 5-foot-5, 165-pound walkon that got a chance to play in a game in 1975, will also be there along with "special athletic appearances."

Which translates into more athletic supporters. Watching a movie about Notre Dame football. Less than a mile from the USC campus.

Meanwhile, the L.A. Film Fest, which started last Friday and runs until this Sunday, includes several more screenings of sports-related movies.

Including:

== "Renee" (tonight, 7:40 p.m., Regal Cinema at L.A. Live), a documentary by Eric Drath about the life of the sex-changed women's tennis player Renee Richards, who used to be Dr. Richard Raskin.

== "Salaam Dunk" (tonight at 7:10 p.m., Wednesday at 4 p.m. and Friday at 7:40 p.m. at the Regal Cinema at L.A. Live), a documentary about the Iraqi women's basketball team at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani in Kurdistan.

== "Once I Was A Champion" (Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at 7:20 p.m. at the Regal Cinema at L.A. Live), a documentary on 2008 UFC star Evan Tanner found dead in the desert after a life of searching for meaning.

== "Senna" (tonight at 10:10 p.m. at the Regal Cinema L.A. Live), a documentary about Formula One driver Ayrton Senna.