Fests and events, 4/4.

"The avant-garde has always had its aprés element, a tendency toward ancestor collecting," writes Ed Halter. "The latest backward glance is On the Collective for Living Cinema, an ambitious tribute to a long-running downtown exhibitor of alternative film that closed its doors in the early 90s after almost 20 years. At both Anthology and the Orchard Street Gallery, the show raises the question of how to revive not simply the older films themselves, but a whole history of experiencing them." Through April 29; and you'll want to read this one.

Also in the Voice: "Fourteen years strong, the New York African Film Festival resonates as a rallying call," writes Ed Gonzalez. "Flaunting grace and outrage, the films, shorts, and panel discussions organized for this year's program... reveal the multitudinous ways in which a continent of people insists on being heard." For the Reeler, Elena Marinaccio talks with festival director Mahen Bonetti. Through May 28.

And among the recommendations J Hoberman has for New Yorkers this week: Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz at MoMA, April 10 through 15: "The miniseries is fueled and consumed by the 33-year-old filmmaker's identification with the material."

ST VanAirdale has his fellow Reelers pick "The Best of BAM's Best of 2006." Through April 24.

David Bordwell sends another great dispatch from Hong Kong.

Gerald Peary alerts Boston Phoenix readers to "Sophie Fiennes's three-part BBC video series The Pervert's Guide to Cinema, a sampling of [Slavoj] Zizek's more accessible pronouncements on movies. This mindful, entertaining trio are being shown at the Harvard Film Archive April 6 and 8, though as one slightly numbing 150-minute piece... Zizek regards cinema as a Freudian boiling cauldron, with, in a typical narrative, a hidden war among the superego, the ego, and the id. Zizek cheers when the amoral id runs amok." Also: "For The Bergman Trilogy, April 7 and 19 at the MFA, the great octogenarian filmmaker invited Marie Nyreröd (and us) to that wonderful hidden house where he's in retreat from his five ex-wives and eight grown children, and from the rest of the world."

The 20th edition of the Images Festival opens today in Toronto and runs through April 14. E-Flux has the best overview and it is quite a program.

Robert Koehler is sending dispatches from the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (through April 15) to filmjourney.org.

The Philadelphia Film Festival opens tomorrow and runs through April 18. The Philadelphia Weekly offers a "guide to the best and worst of week one."

At Lucid Screening, Andrew has news regarding the Chicago Anarchist Film Festival (April 28 and 29).

Peter Martin turns in another slew of reviews from AFI Dallas at Twitch.

Online viewing tip. Matt Dentler posts video from the "extravaganza known as Zellner Vs Duplass: a Sibling Rivalry in Short Form." Don't let the antics give you the wrong idea, by the way; the films themselves are amazing. Also: "SXSW Video Highlights."

Posted by dwhudson at April 4, 2007 12:03 PM