Fests, 11/4.

Scott Foundas introduces the LA Weekly's preview of 36 of the films screening at AFI Fest: "[T]he next 10 days will bring with them a sampling of worthy films from all corners of the globe, most screening locally for the first time. But I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't say that something strikes me as fundamentally wrong-headed about a supposedly international film festival in which 34 of the 92 features are American productions or co-productions; in which the country with the second largest number of films in the program, Germany, hasn't been a vital player on the world cinema stage in decades [the Los Angeles Times's Kevin Crust would disagree on that one]; and in which a sidebar of five Johnny Depp films qualifies as a retrospective."

Also, looking back to Pusan: "[T]he 10-film retrospective 'Lee Man-Hee: The Poet of the Night'... was a potent reminder that, even in an age when it would appear no cinematic stone remains unturned, there are still major careers waiting to be reclaimed from obscurity.

Kim Ji-seok, PIFF's Asian programmer, is interviewed by Davide Cazzaro and Darcy Paquet at Koreanfilm.org.

The 11th Biennial of Moving Images runs November 11 through 19 in Geneva.

Pete Scholtes offers a few recommendations for the Get Real City Pages Documentary Film Festival, tonight through November 10 in Minneapolis.

Martha Fischer at Cinematical: "Every year for the last quarter century, New York's Museum of Modern Art has run Kino!, a short, thorough program of recent German cinema; the 2005 edition has just begun."

Jim Ridley looks ahead to the Nashville Jewish Film Festival (Sunday through November 12) in the Nashville Scene.

Brian at Hell on Frisco Bay: "In honor of the Paramount pre-code series that begins at the Balboa tonight [i.e., last night] and runs through November 24th, here are my current ten favorite Paramount feature films from the period, each accompanied by a favorite quote."

Via Alison Willmore at the IFC Blog, a roundup on the Tokyo International Film Festival. First, the award winners. Then, In the Japan Times, Mark Schilling explains why he and fellow members of the jury for the Japanese Eyes section chose to give its Best Picture Award to Mitsuo Yanagimachi's Kamyu Nante Shiranai (Who's Camus Anyway?), and Mark Thompson: "Having viewed all 15 of the films in the competition division of this year's TIFF, including [Yuki ni Negau Koto (What the Snow Brings)], I would have to say I didn't foresee this film picking up not only the Sakura Grand Prix but also the Best Director prize and the Best Actor award, given to [Koichi] Sato."

Films don't compete at the London Film Festival, which closed last night, but some awards are given out. Lindesay Irvine has a list in the Guardian.

Matt Dentler traces the happy fates of many of the films that screened at SXSW last year.

Posted by dwhudson at November 4, 2005 10:47 AM