Weekend fests and events.

"Despite being in the firing line of Hamas Qassam rockets hurled daily from Palestinian Gaza territories, [Sapir College] holds the Cinema South Film Festival every year with a particular orientation towards the graduation films of its students and invited guests from around the world," writes Roger Clarke in the Independent. "Sapir is the largest public college in Israel and does its best to encourage the admission of Muslim students. This is the Israel you never hear much about."

Congrats to Matthew Clayfield! The Brisbane International Film Festival will be screening his Firelight.

For The Love of Movies: The Cinema of Benoît Jacquot is a series running at the Walter Reade in NYC through July 11; in the Voice, Michael Atkinson considers this "troublesome but fascinating figure in contemporary French film." Also, Elliott Stein previews Vittorio De Seta: A Retrospective (today through June 30 at MoMA). In the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (and in German), Martin Lejeune talks with De Seta.

And: On Photography: A Tribute to Susan Sontag is an exhibition at the Metropolitan open through September 4, and "one could hardly imagine a more fitting memorial to the writer, who died two years ago, than this show of photographs organized around her reflections," writes Leslie Camhi.

In the Los Angeles Times, Margaret Wappler previews the REDCAT International Children's Film Festival, "a program of 38 animated and live-action shorts and features representing 15 countries, including Mexico, Japan and Iran," running through next Thursday. Also: Susan King on the exhibition, It's Alive! Bringing Animatronic Characters to Life on Film, through August 20 at the Grand Lobby and Fourth Floor galleries of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Lumière Reader launches its coverage of the Telecom New Zealand International Film Festivals.

From the Sydney Film Festival:

• James Russell on Secuestro Express and The President's Last Bang.

• Matt Riviera on Battle in Heaven and The President's Last Bang.

"How many film masterpieces is it possible to absorb in a two-month period?" Brian Darr peeks ahead to what'll be showing in July and August in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Jette Kernion rounds up Austin-area goings on at Cinematical, where Ryan Stewart wraps Film Forum's B Noir series and reviews The Brothers Rico. Also, Martha Fischer on Don Siegel's The Lineup and Irving Lerner's Murder by Contract.

Stephen Holt looks back to the Newport Film Festival at Movie City News.

Kim Adelman: "The jury had no trouble deciding that director Greg Spottiswood's Genie-nominated short Noise should take home the award for Best Canadian Short Film at the 2006 Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival, which took place June 13th - 18th in Toronto, Ontario."

Also at indieWIRE, Sarah Jo Marks wraps Silverdocs.

Online viewing tips. SXSW's 2002 trailers will put a smile on your face.

Posted by dwhudson at June 24, 2006 9:49 AM