NEW YORK, NY.- From a pair of urban farming documentaries to a tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes to the U.S. premiere of a cult French ’60s pop film, November at the Film Society is packed with one-of-a-kind events. The Walter Reade Theater plays host to music programs in particular this month, with the North American premiere of “Puccini and the Young Girl,” a biopic of the composer straight from the Venice Film Festival; the U.S. premiere of “Les Idoles,” director Marc’o’s pop music tour-de-force starring Pierre Clémenti; a special celebration of Frank Sinatra’s film career; and a one-night-only screening of Josef von Sternberg’s classic “The Docks of New York,” with live musical accompaniment.

Iranian-American filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian will introduce and discuss “Be Like Others,” her fascinating look at several men on the fringes of Iranian society, at Independents Night, Thursday, Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. The intimate and unflinching chronicle follows transsexual men — an identity legally allowed in Iran, unlike homosexuality — as they pursue gender reassignment surgery and, as one man says, “a decent life.” A reception will follow the event. Independents Night is programmed by Marian Masone.

The Film Society will present the North American premiere of “Puccini and the Young Girl” on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 8:00 p.m. As Gabriele Barcaro wrote in Cineuropa, “A discerning filmmaker-investigator, Pisan-born Benvenuti…was not interested in making just another biopic for music lovers. Instead, he explores a rather more private chapter in the life of the composer (played by orchestra conductor Riccardo J. Moretti): the suicide of his maid Doria Manfredi (Tania Squillario).” The film is shown in collaboration with NYU’s Casa Italiana Zerillo-Marimò.

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 6:30 p.m., the Film Society hosts Film London Chief Executive and Sinatra-aficionado Adrian Wootton for Frankly Celebrating: A Sinatra Centennial, an overview of Sinatra’s life and work through the prism of his adventures in Hollywood. Commemorating ten years since the Chairman of the Board’s passing, Wootton’s talk will feature extracts from such renowned titles as “On the Town,” “From Here to Eternity,” “The Man with the Golden Arm,” “The Manchurian Candidate” and “The Detective.” A 50th-anniversary screening of Vincente Minnelli’s “Some Came Running” — starring Sinatra, Dean Martin (their first film together), and Shirley MacLaine — will follow at 8:30 p.m. Tickets for the talk include complimentary admission to the screening of “Some Came Running”: $15; $13 for seniors (62+); $12 for Film Society members and students. Tickets for the screening are also available at regular price.

The year-round Golden Silents program will welcome award-winning silent film accompanist Donald Sosin and his wife, singer Joanna Seaton, for a live performance of their score for Josef von Sternberg’s “The Docks of New York,” screening in a new 35mm print from the UCLA Film and Television Archive, Friday, Nov. 21, at 7:00 p.m. “‘The Docks of New York’ is one of the finest studies of black and white photography in the history of the cinema and one of the most poignant love stories,” wrote scholar Janet Bergstrom in the festival notes for the 2008 Cinema Ritrovato restoration festival in Bologna. “Nowhere, not even in the best Dietrich films, is Sternberg in better command of dramatic tempo, alternating action with nearly motionless tableaus cut through with conflicting emotions.” A reception follows the screening. Tickets are $15; $13 for seniors (62+); $12 for Film Society members and students. Golden Silents is programmed by Sayre Maxfield.

The editors of Film Comment magazine will present a tribute to French leftist poster boy Pierre Clémenti on Tuesday, Nov. 25, with a Film Comment Selects screening and the U.S. premiere of “Les Idoles,” at 7:30 p.m. Best known as the brooding young gangster who falls for Catherine Deneuve in Buñuel’s “Belle de jour,” Clémenti was an icon of the Gallic underground and spurned movie stardom for collaborations with directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Phillippe Garrel, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Dusan Makavejev, and others. Clémenti plays a member of a pop music trio, backed by a band called Les Rollsticks, struggling to come to terms with success in Marc’o’s frenetic, yé yé music film.

Finally, the Film Society’s Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery will host the exhibit Ivan Chermayeff: Collages from Nov. 5 – Dec. 1. “I like to bring things together that absolutely don’t belong together,” says Chermayeff, a legendary artist and designer who has created some of the world’s most iconic brands. The seductive results recall the elegant compositions of Matisse and Joseph Cornell. The Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery is adjacent to the Walter Reade Theater. It is open to the public daily from 1:30 to 6:00 p.m.