Fests, 11/2.

The 21st Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema opens in San Francisco tomorrow and runs through November 9; Brian Brooks picks out a few highlights at indieWIRE.

GreenCine's Jonathan Marlow will be introducing the screening of Wellstone! (more), the story of the senator from Minnesota, on Saturday at 8:20 pm at the Roxie. GC's also co-presenting Sunday's screening of Romántico (more), about the underground community of illegal immigrants in the US.

Johnny Ray Huston picks a few highlights in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and Rita Felciano focuses on one: "Ballets Russes is a great yarn, well spun."

Also in the SFBG: Dennis Harvey on the "Sin in Soft Focus: Paramount Pre-Code" series at the Balboa, tomorrow through November 24.

Also opening tomorrow is the Three Rivers Film Festival in Pittsburgh, running through November 17 with an excellent lineup that seems to have a little something for everyone. The Movie Review Query Engine has set up sort of a portal to reviews of the films on offer.

Barry Paris, author of Garbo, Louise Brooks: A Biography and Audrey Hepburn, has a piece in the Post-Gazette on the opening night event, a screening of the recently restored Beyond the Rocks, the only film that Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson made together, with live accompaniment by Philip Carli.

The film is vital enough for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival to present a screening for the first time outside its own schedule. The "West Coast Premiere Revival Screening" of Beyond the Rocks takes place on Sunday, November 13.

The Undiscovered Gems Film Festival: IndieWIRE has unveiled the seven films it'll be taking to nine cities from November 7 through December 4 via digital technology.

You may remember George the Cyclist's coverage of Cannes this year and last at Rashomon. As we learn in Patrick McGavin's profile for the Hollywood Reporter, he's George Christensen and: "I am a bicyclist who likes movies much more than I am a moviegoer who likes to bicycle."

Also: Sheri Linden opens the HR's AFI Fest package. Tomorrow through November 13.

There Goes the Neighborhood: Gentrification on Film, in Brooklyn on Sunday.

In the Voice: Joshua Land on the CinemaEast Film Festival, November 4 through 10, and Michael Atkinson on the "New Czech Films" series, tomorrow through Sunday. Meanwhile, Dennis Lim looks back to Vancouver.

At Cinematical, Kim Voynar previews the High Falls Film Festival (Rochester, NY, November 9 through 14).

Cinema For Everyone is a festival that aims to draw the deaf, the hard of hearing and the hearing alike for two days of movies, November 18 and 19, in Seguin, Texas.

Bill Viola: At the James Cohen Gallery in New York, November 5 through December 22.

At Kamera, John Atkinson on London (wraps tomorrow) and Marcelle Parks on Oldenburg (back in September).

The Alternative Film Guide rounds up lots more festival news.

Online listening tip. Cathy R Fischer, senior editor for PBS's Inside Indies, moderates a discussion among festival programmers, talking about what their jobs are really like. The participants: Matt Dentler (SXSW), Brian Gordon (Nashville Film Festival) and Rachel Rosen (Los Angeles Film Festival).

Posted by dwhudson at November 2, 2005 2:18 PM