Weekend fests and events.

"It wasn't too many years ago that March was considered a relatively quiet month for North American film festivals, but these days there may not be such a thing as a 'quiet' month, given the proliferation of important festivals spread throughout the year," writes Jonny Leahan, who covers a slew of docs premiering this month at indieWIRE, where Michael Lerman surveys the many current goings on in New York alone.

The government has been giving the New York Arab and South Asian Film Festival a pretty hard time, reports Sharon Waxman. One guest, "Khaled Chouket, the director of an Arab film festival in Rotterdam, a Dutch citizen of Tunisian origin and a guest of the festival, was held by immigration officials for five hours at John F Kennedy International Airport." Abdullah al-Muheisin, director of Shadow of Silence, was unable to get a visa. Festival director Ahmed Issawi: "One of the things about this whole experience is that there is no predictability. You can't say, 'Well, okay , if Fed Ex picks it up, they send it.' That's not guaranteed. Or, 'If he gets a visa, will he get in.' That's not guaranteed. It takes its toll."

Updated.

"As co-director of the New York International Children's Film Festival, which he founded with his wife, Emily Shapiro, [Eric] Beckman has been on a mission to extend children's tastes beyond a steady diet of Disney and Pixar," writes Laurel Graeber, also in the New York Times. More from Elena Marinaccio at the Reeler.

Slant opens its coverage of the upcoming New Directors / New Films series (March 21 through April 1 in New York). Ed Gonzalez's reviews so far:

• "Glue is no landmark, but there's a striking candor to Alexis Dos Santos's artful doodle about a boy and his seething hormones in Argentina's dreary Patagonia region that recalls some of the seminal works of the New Queer Cinema movement."

• "Peter Schønau Fog's Dutch hot-potato The Art of Crying is a failure, mostly for its desperate sense of trying."

• "Though it ends on an impressively relaxed note of uncertainty, [Cowboy Angels] feels oddly detached, never capturing that vital sense of historical connection and spiritual camaraderie between people that is apparent in Wim Wenders's best movies."

• "[I]n spite of fusing elements from some of the most potentially hysterical genres of film - including the road movie, the reconciliatory father-son drama, and the disease-of-the-week melodrama - with relative ease, [Salty Air] never grapples with its familiar parts in a particularly vivacious or unique fashion."

And Nick Schager: "Red Road feels disingenuously committed to sympathetically portraying [Jackie's (Kate Dickie)] situation."

Nick Schager also reviews The Lookout, which will open the SXSW Film Festival on Friday. 2½ out of 4 stars for this "straightforward genre piece bolstered by a sterling lead turn from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and a sincere, respectful interest in the emotional and psychological fallout from severe head injuries."

Speaking of SXSW, B-Side has launched its "(Unofficial) SXSW Other Side Guide."

Online listening tips. The True/False Film Festival "is one of the most congenial and fun gatherings during the festival year where doc makers and doc lovers can connect and celebrate film without so much of the sales & marketing focus that permeates the A-List festivals," writes Joel Heller, introducing his Docs That Inspire interview with co-founder David Wilson. Also: A talk with editor Yana Gorskaya (Spellbound, Rocket Science).

Updates: The Chicago Reader is writing up highlights of the ongoing European Union Film Festival (through March 29) and the Chicago Irish Film Festival (site; through Wednesday).

"The Nigerian film Ezra has won the top prize at the biennial African Film Festival, Fespaco, in Burkina Faso." James Copnall reports for the BBC.

Geoff Manaugh: "I'm super-excited to announce that Materials & Applications and BLDGBLOG have teamed up to curate an architectural film fest, as part of this year's Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles." May 3 through 12.

Posted by dwhudson at March 3, 2007 12:04 PM