May 5, 2006

Fests and events, 5/5.

Brian Brooks has the list of the San Francisco International Film Festival award-winners at indieWIRE, where Cheryl Eddy wraps the fest's closing days.

Directors' Fortnight 06 Also: "Since 1969, the French Directors Guild has programmed a selection of films in Cannes from around the world, known as the Directors' Fortnight that is independent from the Cannes Official Selection." Brian Brooks introduces this year's lineup (May 18 through 28).

The Guardian opens its Cannes 2006 special section, where Mark Brown previews Free Jimmy, an animated film about an elephant on drugs, set to close Critics' Week.

Acquarello posts a slew of reviews from the New York African Film Festival.

Michael Atkinson, who also previews the series The Road to Damascus: Discovering Syrian Cinema (May 5 through 18 at the Walter Reade), on the appeal of the B Noir series at Film Forum, running through mid-June: "With only a fraction of an A's studio control and budget, a B could afford to risk expressionism, nihilism, subtext, and other uncommercial indulgences." Also in the Voice, Elliott Stein on the real star of the series, John Alton, "film noir's major cinematographer, a great creator of shadows and foreboding images."

Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times: "Beginning [last night] and running for eight days, VC Filmfest 2006: The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival continues to chart the rise of Asian American filmmakers, reflecting the increasingly diverse presence of the community in the Southland. With more than 140 films, including 16 Asian American features, the festival offerings vary in scope from the intimate to the epic."

EMAF 06 The European Media Art Festival: May 10 through 14 in Osnabrück.

Lech Majewski: Conjuring the Moving Image, at MoMA through May 14. The Reeler comments.

The San Francisco Documentary Film Festival runs from May 12 through 21.

Posterwire.com has details on Bond, James Bond, an exhibition opening on May 23 at Posteritati.

Zach Campbell offers his impressions on a few of the films screened over the weekend's Aerodynamics of the Hovering Hummingbird evening.

Jim Ridley in the Nashville Scene: "The box-office verdict on last week's Nashville Film Festival is in: high on celebrities and Tennessee, mixed on Central Europe and cancer."

At Twitch, Paolo Gilli offers quick takes on the nearly twenty films he caught at the Udine Far East Film Festival.

Online viewing tip. The International Herald Tribune's Joan Dupont previews Cannes.



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Posted by dwhudson at May 5, 2006 7:44 AM

Comments

I'm just back from being on the Fipresci jury at the Indielisboa festival. Perhaps the youngest international film festival in the world, this third year of the festival of independent films in the wonderful city of Lisbon has already developed a distinctive personality. It attracts large and enthusiastic young audiences to over 200 screenings on six screens in three cinemas all within walking distance. IndieLisboa should certainly figure as an important date on the annual festival calendar. What is clear from the films in competition and from the other wide-ranging sections of the festival, is that they reflect the personal tastes of the three passionate and knowledgeable 30-something directors of the festival – Miguel Valverde, Nuno Sena and Rui Pereira – whom I dubbed ‘les triplets de Lisboa’. We gave the prize to a remarkable Chinese film called, awkwardly in translation, Grain In Ear. The only disappointments were the Portuguese films, because the best ones were being kept for Cannes. There were a few programmes of Swedish shorts which included the TV commercials made by Ingmar Bergman in the 50s for a soap called Bris. They are very Bergmanesque.

Posted by: Ronald Bergan at May 6, 2006 3:40 AM

Many thanks for that quick report, Ronald. Just so others can look into a bit deeper, the site for Indielisboa is here. Thanks again!

Posted by: David Hudson at May 6, 2006 6:07 AM