"[A]lmost as long as there's been a Hollywood in Los Angeles, there has been an off-Hollywood too, the provenance of those toiling at the edge and far outside the mainstream," writes Manohla Dargis in a historical overview for the New York Times. "It's possible to follow one thread in the off-Hollywood story, its histories, productions and personalities in Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles 1945-1980, a six-month series coordinated by Filmforum, the longest-running avant-garde film organization in Los Angeles, and one of several moving-image programs in Pacific Standard Time. (Another, LA Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema, was coordinated by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, where it runs until Dec 17.) An initiative of the Getty Institute, Pacific Standard Time is a sprawling collaboration of more than 60 Southern California cultural institutions that aims, as a Getty news release puts it, 'to tell the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world.'"
If Bill Simmons's survey of Eddie Murphy's career and his assessment of "why we have so much trouble remembering it quite the right way" over at Grantland demands more time than you're inclined to give it this weekend, Tom Shone's pulled the money quote.
Don't miss: Martin Arnold at DC's and Catherine Grant's roundup "On 'Affect' and 'Emotion' in Film and Media Studies."
In the works. Abbas Kiarostami began shooting The End this week in Japan and MK2 International is already shopping it around at the American Film Market. "MK2 is also selling three enticing titles in post-production, on which the French company handled production," reports Fabien Lemercier for Cineuropa. "Brazilian director Walter Salles's eagerly-awaited On the Road; French helmer Olivier Assayas's Something in the Air, starring Lola Créton (Goodbye First Love); and Laurence Anyways by Canada's Xavier Dolan (starring Melvil Poupaud and Nathalie Baye)." They're "also hoping for success with Belgian director Jonathan Zaccaï's Play It Like Godard [and] will kick off sales at the AFM for Marion Lainé's A Monkey on My Shoulder, which has just started shooting with Juliette Binoche and Edgar Ramírez."
"Plans for the London 2012 Festival — a national explosion of arts events to run alongside the Olympic Games — have been unveiled," reports the BBC. "The list of names of those already signed up to take part includes: Damon Albarn, Alan Ayckbourn, Cate Blanchett, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Jude Law, Mike Leigh and Leona Lewis." Leigh's film is A Running Jump, "reflecting on sport in everyday life — not to mention taxis and dodgy second-hand cars," and features Eddie Marsan, Sam Kelly and Samantha Spiro.
With Sam Mendes all tied up directing the 23rd Bond (Skyfall), Mike Newell will be taking over Ian McEwan's adaptation of his Booker Prize-winning On Chesil Beach, reports Andreas Wiseman for Screen. Meantime, at Deadline, Tim Adler's got two images of Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham in Newell's new adaptation of Dickens's Great Expectations. I usually ignore these "first look" "stories," but these two portraits are something else.
Image at the top: Pat O'Neill's Sidewinders Delta (1976). For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @thedailyMUBI on Twitter and/or the RSS feed.