Fests and events, 7/12.

Beefcake Babylon: The Iconography of Sword and Sandal Epics from DeMille to Fellini is an exhibition opening at the Drkrm Gallery in Los Angeles on Friday and running through September 23.

Johnny Ray Huston in the San Francisco Bay Guardian: "The treats at this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival include Frank Borzage's Seventh Heaven and Madonna muse Dita Parlo in Au Bonheur des Dames with live music by the Hot Club. But all of this city's imps of the perverse will be gathering for The Unholy Three (screening Sun/16 at 5 pm), if only to pay homage to [Tod] Browning, 'Man of a Thousand Faces' Lon Chaney, and mein liebchen, the one and only Harry Earles (real name: Kurt Schneider), who later approached Browning with the idea of turning the Tod Robbins story 'Spurs' into what became 1932's nightmarish and unforgettable Freaks." More from David Jeffers at the Siffblog. Related: the cinetrix on Pandora's Box.

Ozon at the Beach is a brief tribute (today and tomorrow at MoMA). Dennis Lim: "A onetime enfant terrible, [François] Ozon has been moving toward more conventional material - even if, as in 5x2, this maturation is in the service of destabilizing conventions. But Time to Leave amounts simply to a semi-thoughtful disease-of-the-week weepie, admirable in its restraint but shying from the terror of the situation." (More from Scott Tobias in the AV Club.) Also, a peek ahead at the Asian American International Film Festival (tomorrow through July 21).

And also in the Voice:

• "Love does not conquer all in the films of Frank Borzage, but it is the sole value capable of transcending the indignities of an ugly world." Jessica Winter on Frank Borzage, Hollywood Romantic, July 15 through August 20 at the Museum of the Moving Image.

• Ben Kenigsberg previews Premiere Brazil!, opening tomorrow at MoMA and running through July 23.

• Michael Atkinson on Heroic Grace: The Chinese Martial Arts Film, Part II, through July 20 at the Walter Reade. More from Keith Uhlich at Slant.

Matt Dentler to his fellow Austinites: "See Luke Savisky on Thursday!"

The Philadelphia Weekly spotlights a few selections from the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (tomorrow through July 25).

Ronald Bergan hits the highlights of Karlovy Vary, "one of Europe's largest and most vibrant film festivals," including, "Most refreshing of all, from Norway, Joachim Trier's first feature, Reprise, a sort of Norwegian Coupling or Seinfeld with tragic overtones." More from Dave Calhoun at Time Out, where Mark Salisbury reports on the first International Screenwriters' Festival.

For the Jerusalem Post, Hannah Brown reports on the Life Achievement Award presented to Roman Polanski at the Jerusalem Film Festival; via André Soares, who quotes fest director Lia Van Leer's frisky poem.

The Guardian's Xan Brooks: "The 60th Edinburgh film festival [August 14 through 27] will kick off with the world premiere of The Flying Scotsman, a homegrown Scottish production starring Jonny Lee Miller, Brian Cox and Billy Boyd."

Online viewing tip. "30 brilliant shorts selected out of 616 entries from 54 countries" can be viewed in the Third Festival Screening Room of the Con-Can Movie Festival. Via Coudal Partners, now working on 72°.

Posted by dwhudson at July 12, 2006 4:17 PM