Fests and events, 3/21.

Charles Masters for the Hollywood Reporter: "With a month to go before the Festival de Cannes lineup is unveiled, dozens of films have yet to be seen by selectors, but some certainties about what will be screening on the Croisette have emerged." Among the likelies:

• Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette.
• Aki Kaurismäki's Lights in the Dusk.
• Pedro Almodóvar's Volver.
• Nicole Garcia's Selon Charlie.
• Nanni Moretti's The Caiman.
• Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel.
• Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes the Barley.
• And David Lynch's Inland Empire ("99 percent certain," says an "associate").

"Another raft of titles look certain for inclusion," continues Masters, "though for which section of the festival's various options remains in the balance." Examples:

• Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth.
• Nuri Bilge Ceylan's The Climate.
• John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus.
• Rachid Bouchareb's Indigènes.
• Stephen Frears's The Queen.
• Michel Ocelot's Azur and Asmar.
• Picha's Snow White, the Sequel.
• Anders Morgenthaler's Princess.
• Joon-ho Bong's The Host.
• Wang Chao's Luxury Car.
• Lou Ye's Summer Palace.
• Jia Zhangke's Still Life.
• Volker Schlöndorff's The Heroine.
• Maria Speth's Madonnas.
• Jean-Claude Brisseau's Exterminating Angel.
• Anders Rønnow Klarlund's How to Get Rid of Others.
• Kirby Dick's This Film is Not Yet Rated.
• Ahmed A Jamal and Ramesh J Sharma's The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl.
• And possibly Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation and Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain.

With the full lineup to be announced on April 20 (the fest itself runs May 17 through 28), the only formally confirmed titles so far are festival-opener The Da Vinci Code; Un Certain Regard-opener Paris, je t'aime; screening in the Critics' Week section, Jean-Christophe Klotz's doc, Return to Kigali; and, in the Directors' Fortnight, Julian Goldberger's The Hawk is Dying.

Brian Darr carries on previewing the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (through March 26). More at SF360 and from Jeffrey M Anderson at Cinematical.

SFIAAFF reviews at SFist:

• Rita on The Achievers and Chinese Restaurants: Latin Passions and No Sleep Til Shanghai and the Music Video Asia 2006 program.

• Eve on Grain in the Ear and Rules of Dating and Americanese. Related: Michael Guillen caught the panel discussion, "From Novel to the Big Screen: American Knees to Americanese."

Tobias Peterson wraps up his substantial SXSW Film Festival coverage at PopMatters; so, too, does Alison Willmore for the IFC Blog. And David Lowery has a one-fell-swoop massive roundup.

By way of Harry Knowles, Blake has the latest at Cinema Strikes Back on QT7 in April, a "best of" fest, and a review of Jennifer Kent's short, Monster, which screened at SXSW.

At indieWIRE:

• Erica Abeel on the recently wrapped Rendez-Vous with French Cinema: "[I]ts star attraction, perhaps, was the ensemble, the dazzling breadth of offerings, ranging from the character studies associated with French cinema (Not Here to be Loved), to mainstream comedy (Orchestra Seats), to a surreal tease (La Moustache), to a rejuvenated policier (Le Petit Lieutenant). Related: "At the moment, I consider L'Enfer to be one of the best films I've seen this year," writes Filmbrain. "But the question remains - will I feel the same way nine months from now?" As his preceding discussion of critics' subjectivity reveals, the question is neither flippant nor rhetorical. Also, acquarello on Vers le sud.

• Michael Gibbons on Cinequest, which ran during the first half of this month: "[T]he lack of a media frenzy means filmmakers look to exploit the festival's other strengths while trying to make the most of the experience: namely Cinequest's new multi-tiered model of DVD, internet, media and mobile distribution."

• Eugene Hernandez picks "10 Films to Watch from SXSW 06." Related: At Cinematical, Karina Longworth on LOL and Jette Kernion on Hard Candy and 2AM and The Cassidy Kids.

The European Independent Film Festival: March 25 and 26 in Paris.

In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert unveils the lineup for his Overlooked Film Festival (April 26 through 30). Via Movie City News.

New Directors/New Films (tomorrow through April 2): Dennis Lim introduces the Voice's generous package on the series. Also: Martha Fisher at Cinematical on First on the Moon and Texas. And don't forget Slant's big special on the series.

With just a week left in the National Film Theatre's Krzysztof Kieslowski season, Edward Lamberti wonders, "[W]hen he died, did he take the age of the director with him?" Also in Kamera: Antonio Pasolini on The Double Life of Veronique.

Mark Pfeiffer's been filing dispatches from the Cleveland International Film Festival (through March 26).

Queer as Film: Classic Gay & Lesbian Movie Posters is an exhibition at the Posteritati Gallery in NYC running from March 28 through April 30 (though not yet online).

The Nashville Film Festival (April 20 through 26) has announced its lineup.

The Reeler's got more Tribeca titles.

Looking way ahead: The San Francisco International Festival of Short Films runs from August 10 through 12; looking not so far ahead: the deadlines for submissions range from the end of March to the end of June.

Posted by dwhudson at March 21, 2006 12:49 PM