"The Italian political landscape frequently makes our own look flat as a Kansas cornfield. Unsurprisingly, then, that the 13th edition of San Francisco Film Society's New Italian Cinema festival finds the political and personal mixing more frequently than you'd find in any assortment of US narrative films." An overview from Dennis Harvey at SF360.
An Alain Resnais retrospective rolls on in Berkeley and Chicago for a few more weeks (for further cities and dates, see Moving Image Source) and, at the House Next Door, Veronika Ferdman writes about three that are otherwise tough to catch: "Although vastly different in terms of genre - Je t'aime, je t'aime (sci-fi [1967]), Stavisky... (crime [1974]) and Mon oncle d'Amérique (documentary/drama [1980]) - all three films contain a similar obsession with the deconstruction and fragmentation of time (a Resnais hallmark), wrapping these later films within the same thematic cloak as Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and, of course, Last Year at Marienbad (1961)."
At the Edge of the World: The Cinema of Lisandro Alonso is on through November 19 and Sean Axmaker considers all four films in the series for the Stranger. Plus: "In addition to putting together this Seattle series, Northwest Film Forum has taken up the mantle of distributor for Liverpool in the United States. As fewer foreign films find traction in stateside theaters, this may be the future of international cinema."
Christoph Huber in LA Weekly: "The Cinefamily's monthlong Sexfilmrevolution series graciously provides an opportunity for reappraisal of [Koji] Wakamatsu's early work, films whose stylistic brio few filmmakers could match. Of particular note: two double bills, each pairing an (in)famous sexploitation classic with an absolute rarity. All clock in around the one-hour mark, although they spew enough ideas for several movies."
Michael Guillén has an overview of the 16th Annual Filipino American Cine Festival, "the longest-running festival of its kind in North America that showcases independent short films produced by Filipino American artists and other films made in the Philippines," happening November 20 and 21 in San Francisco.
"Speed of Life is a bracingly honest examination of the human condition in the age of technologically assisted emotional and physical disassociation," writes Marc Savlov in the Austin Chronicle. The film opens the Austin Asian American Film Festival (today through Sunday; Kimberley Jones capsules the highlights) and Savlov interviews filmmaker Ed Radtke.
For the New York Press, Matt Connolly previews the New York City Horror Film Festival (November 18 through 22).
Cartoon Brew's Amid Amidi: "The Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema is back for its 9th edition, and festival organizer Joseph Chen has compiled another fantastic line-up of foreign animated features that can’t be found anywhere else in North America." November 19 through 22.
Britspotting and the Asia Filmfest both open tomorrow in Berlin, where the promising series Around the World in 14 Films runs from November 27 through December 5.
Saturday at the Vinyl Factory Gallery in London: Poland Street Underground.
Park Chan-Ok's Paju will open the International Film Festival Rotterdam (January 27 through February 7). Newly opened in the city, by the way: the SIR Cinema at Coolsingel.
IN OTHER NEWS
Grazing off @theauteursdaily (RSS): Martin Scorsese will be presented with the Cecil B DeMille Award for career achievement at the Golden Globes on January 17.
You have to ask yourself: What do these guys know, or at least sense, about the future of film criticism? And have they seen that John Nichols video posted at the Nation? At any rate, as noted earlier, former Variety critic Robert Koehler is now the programming director at AFI Fest; David Ansen, who's been leaving Newsweek for some time now, has been named artistic director of the Los Angeles Film Festival; and now, LA Weekly film editor Scott Foundas will be crossing the continent to take on a new job as associate program director at the Film Society for Lincoln Center. Brian Brooks asks him about the movie for indieWIRE.
Paul Roquet introduces an interview for Midnight Eye: "Nobuhiko Obayashi (1938- ) is perhaps best known outside of Japan for the audacity and sheer randomness of his debut feature, the youth-horror escapade House (Hausu, 1977). But while House continues to circulate in the confines of a cult cinema context, the film is but one hinge in a remarkably multifaceted career."
"So how does [Robert] McKee get away with being repeatedly wrong while still charging $250 for his daylong course and $645 for four-day seminars?" asks Jason Zinoman in Vanity Fair.
You've seen this one, right? Andrea Hyde at the Walker Art Center on "Godard's Intertitles."
Sonic Youth picks their top 10 (or 12) Criterions.
Image: Marco Risi's Fortapàsc opens the New Italian Cinema series.
Updates, 11/13: Peter's right, of course. There is a festival going on in Denver and he's already posting reviews. It opened yesterday and runs through November 22. Elisabeth Rappe has an overview at Cinematical.
The Chicago Reader previews the Festival of New Spanish Cinema, running at Facets Cinematheque from today through Thursday.