The Auteurs Daily: Fest and Events

While the New York Film Festival runs on through the weekend, a slew of other festivals around the world are suddenly kicking into gear.

Let's start with the Pusan International Film Festival, running through October 16. "Organisers lay out the red carpet at Asia's biggest film festival later Thursday hoping the opening movie - a comedy about Korean political intrigue - will inject some light relief in a gloomy climate for global cinema," reports the AFP. The AP's Min Lee: "Jang Jin's Good Morning President playfully examines the personal lives of three successive heads of state - a former dissident conflicted by what to do with a winning lottery ticket; a dashing young politician who juggles a kidney transplant and a standoff with North Korea; and the country's first female leader whose husband's real-estate investments beget a scandal that threatens the presidency and her marriage."

The ongoing Vancouver International Film Festival (through October 16; take a look at these terrific spots) will be staging its Dragons & Tigers Awards and Gala tonight. In the meantime, Jim Emerson and David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson have been posting dispatches and Hollywood Bitchslap's been interviewing directors with films screening up there. Elsewhere in Canada, Cinematheque Ontario's Fall Season opens tomorrow and runs through December 6.

The Chicago International Film Festival opens today and runs through October 22. Roger Ebert's gathered all the Sun-Times capsule reviews into one handy entry while, at Hollywood Bitchslap, Peter Sobczynski offers a guide to the first week - as does Time Out Chicago. Look to Nick Davis and Marilyn Ferdinand for more. And keep an eye, too, on the CINE-FILE / Blog. Update, 10/9: The Chicago Reader's now posted its guide to the first week as well.

To the Bay Area. The Mill Valley Film Festival opens today and runs through October 18; Michael Hawley's got a big preview (and he's also previewing the San Francisco Film Society's French Cinema Now series: October 29 through November 4). More on Mill Valley from Erik Morse in the Bay Guardian, where Matt Sussman has an overview of Pink Cinema Revolution: The Radical Films of Koji Wakamatsu, a series also opening today but at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Through October 29. On a related note: "Japanese films from the 1960s that used erotic themes as allegories for left-wing political themes - the Pinku Eiga, or Pink Film - will be the focus of a special tribute at next month's 50th Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece," reports Nick Holdsworth for Variety. November 13 through 22.

The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia rolls on through Monday; a steady stream of reviews has been coming into Twitch.

Ken Jacobs heads to Los Angeles for a series of events so intertwined, I'm simply going to have to cut-n-paste from the end of Scott Foundas's fine profile for the LA Weekly: "Ken Jacobs presents Toward The Depths of The Even Greater Depression, a Nervous Magic Lantern performance, REDCAT on Mon, October 12, at 8:30 pm. An evening of Jacobs' new and recent work screens at the UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater on Thurs, October 15, at 7:30 pm. The Whirled screens together with Aza Jacobs's The GoodTimesKid at Los Angeles Filmforum at the Egyptian Theatre on Sat, October 17, at 7:30 pm. Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks) screens at Los Angeles Filmforum at the Egyptian Theatre on Sun, October 17, at 7:30 pm." Meanwhile, in the Los Angeles Times, Susan King surveys this weekend's local repertory action.

"The Philadelphia Film Society has revealed its lineup for the upcoming 18½ Philadelphia International Film Festival," announces Andy Lauer at indieWIRE. That'll be running from next Thursday through October 19. Why so short, and why the "½"? The Philadelphia Weekly's Matt Prigge explains.

In the Austin Chronicle, Ashley Moreno notes that you'll need to head out to a campsite if you want to take part in this weekend's Art Outside Festival; and Mark Savlov previews the series From the Shadows: Greek Independent Cinema, running October 13 through November 10.

And finally for now, back to New York. "BAM testifies to a national genius, displaced by the 20th century, with Hungarians in Hollywood," writes Nick Pinkerton in his preview for the Voice. Through October 27. Opening tonight: "The time has come to stop taking Spike Jonze for granted," declares Benjamin Strong, who elaborates in the L Magazine. Spike Jonze: The First 80 Years runs through October 18 at MoMA, and of course, by no coincidence whatsoever, Wild Things Week NYC will be happening October 12 through 16. At any rate, more on this particular series from Nick Pinkerton in the Voice and from the New York Press.

Updates, 10/9: Vancouver's 16th annual Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema goes to Jang Kun-Jae's Eighteen.

Reviews of Good Morning President: Derek Elley (Variety), Elizabeth Kerr (Hollywood Reporter) and Darcy Paquet (Screen).

Image: Good Morning President.