Other fests, other events, 5/3.

You may remember Alison James's report in Variety on what promises to be quite an opening bash for this year's Director's Fortnight, running May 17 through 27, parallel to Cannes. Now at indieWIRE, Eugene Hernandez has the full lineup. And this year's Cannes Classics program is also complete.

"I've often thought that Brooklyn-born filmmaker Paul Mazursky was overdue for a retrospective on his home turf, and thanks to the Film Society, he's finally got one, from May 4 - 10," writes Robert Cashill. More from Scott Foundas in the Voice: "By the time of [Blume in Love], which was his third feature film as a writer-director, Mazursky had already hit upon his great subject - namely, the institution of marriage in an age when the divorce rate was ticking up faster than the price of gasoline."

Also, The Films of Emile de Antonio runs tomorrow through May 13 at Anthology Film Archives. "The 'year of the political documentary' arrives annually now," writes Rob Nelson, "but none of them has brought a film with the raw force and visionary disturbance of de Antonio's toughest work, which verily strangled the myths of Richard Nixon, the Warren Commission, the Vietnam War, and American democracy in general."

More from Matt Peterson in the New York Press, where Eric Kohn writes: "Film Forum's remarkably comprehensive Vintage 007 retrospective has been programmed to run alongside a 60s Spies A-Go-Go line-up that pretty much speaks for itself: Entries in the genre sans James Bond that were released when the superstar agent was in his prime create a fascinating dialogue with the natural appeal of spy movies. Hollywood's most perseverant heroic bad boy receives some serious cross-examination."

"Has gay cinema become a mere ghetto nowadays, of interest to its sexual demographic and no one else?" asks Michael Atkinson in the Boston Phoenix. "Today, and for whatever it's worth from a hetero critic whose own fashionably thorny rebel days are officially behind him, the bite seems to have gone out of the blow job.... At this year's Boston Gay & Lesbian Film/Video Festival, the crop continues to explore what are apparently seen as the only exploitable assets of gay culture in general: chick-lit-style romance, identity transitionism, and burlesque performance." May 9 through 20.

"I would happily rank Schindler's Houses alongside [Thom] Andersen's [Los Angeles Plays Itself], Michael Mann's Heat and Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep on the short list of essential modern movies about our city's physical and social geography, but as of this writing, there's no guarantee that anyone in Los Angeles will have a chance to watch it, at least not anytime soon," writes Scott Foundas, segueing to the point at hand. With the departure of programming director Nancy Collet, AFI Fest organizers "find themselves sitting on an extraordinary opportunity for reassessment and renovation. Here's hoping they make the most of it."

Also in the LA Weekly, Holly Willis previews and evening at REDCAT: Danièle Huillet: The Last Resistance, Monday at 8. Ron Stringer notes the highlights of the VC Filmfest, opening today and running through May 10.

Sam Adams in the Philadelphia City Paper: "Film festivals don't get more compact than the Trenton FF, which from its opening night to its closing party runs a little more than 24 hours. But from Friday night to Saturday night, the TFF packs in a bevy of shorts by local filmmakers and festival alumni, as well as a handful of noteworthy area premieres."

Francis Ford Coppola will be in Austin on Monday to screen CODA: Thirty Years Later. Matt Dentler has more.

Jon Gries will be on hand for screenings of Joysticks and Napoleon Dynamite on Saturday at the Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Austin; Carson Barker talks with him for the Chronicle. Also, Anne S Lewis: "10 Under 10, the brainchild of UT Radio-Television-Film professor Ellen Spiro, is celebrating its fifth anniversary on May 9 with five new films and five previously shown films, one from each of the program's first five years."

From Indianapolis, Nathaniel R reviews Adrift in Manhattan ("a mixed bag"), Disappearances ("my lone walkout so far"), Summercamp! ("more than a little unfocused") and Away From Her: "[E]verything you've heard about Julie Christie's performance is true." Also: Son of Man ("I am shocked that no studio has picked this up for distribution stateside"), Das Fräulein ("must recommend") and The TV Set ("feels flat and slack").

Charlotte Cripps previews Sci-Fi-London for the Independent. Through Sunday.

Harry Smith: Hobbies and Films is on view at the Reg Vardy Gallery in Sutherland through June 8, while Harry Smith Anthology Remixed runs through June 30 at alt.gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne. John Coulthart has more.

Salla Tykkä's Zoo screens at the Bonniers konsthall in Stockholm through June 17.

Deimantas Narcevicius's Revisiting Solaris: May 12 through June 17 at the daadgalerie in Berlin.

Susan King covers local goings on in the Los Angeles Times.

Flickhead: "In honor of an upcoming John Ford retrospective, Vincent at the French Inisfree has proposed an international John Ford Blogathon to be held from June 29 through July 9."

"It's SXSWclick time once again!" The call for entries has been issued. Deadline: June 15.

At the Dayton Art Institute through June 24: Marilyn Monroe: Life as a Legend.

July in Connecticut: 50,000 Beds.

"At the same time IndieWire's Anthony Kaufman was reporting, in a widely read article, how pushy Tribeca was strong-arming titles away from regional festivals - including ours - the Nashville Film Festival was quietly doing the heavy lifting of building a movie culture between the coasts," writes the Nashville Scene's Jim Ridley. "The mission for next year seems clear: find more big sponsors, use the attendance figures and press coverage to lobby distributors and producers for more hot titles - and do this without spoiling the festival's uniquely laid-back bustle."

At Twitch, Mack hears that The Living and the Dead has won Best Picture and Best Actor at the Weekend of Fear in Erlangen, Germany.

Kazuo Hara is "perhaps one of the most striking yet unknown directors spawned from cinema vérité," writes John Lichman, who's attended a screening of The Many Faces of Chika for the Reeler.

Filmfest DC winners: The Cats of Mirikitani, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Gypsy Caravan, Vinicius and Armenia. The Capital Focus Award goes to Red Road.

At indieWIRE, Sarah Keenlyside wraps Hot Docs. More from Josef Braun in Vue Weekly: "I found myself looking over my notes on the most memorable or exciting films I saw and realizing that the vast majority of them, each in their distinct way, repeatedly called into question the whole notion of just what a documentary is and, perhaps, what it isn't."

At the Austin Movie Blog, Chris Garcia has the list of award-winners from the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival.

Jim Emerson's got lots of pix snapped at Ebertfest. Notes and reviews: Kristin Thompson and Cinematical's Kim Voynar.

Posted by dwhudson at May 3, 2007 9:21 AM