Other fests and events, 5/17.

At Cinema Strikes Back, Blake has the first round of titles announced for Austin's Fantastic Fest (September 20 through 27).

Mike at Bad Lit has the lineup for the Montreal Underground Film Festival, opening today and running through Saturday.

"I'm not sure if this is what Nathan Lee had in mind last week when he encouraged the New York Film Festival selection committee to 'get funky,' but nobody can argue that its recruitment of J Hoberman and Scott Foundas isn't at least a nod toward a more intergenerational way of doing things," writes ST VanAirsdale at the Reeler. "The pair replace Philip Lopate (whose term expired) and John Powers (too busy), joining Richard Peña, Kent Jones and Lisa Schwarzbaum in their estimable programming capacities."

On the eve of the retrospective at Film Forum, Eric Kohn talks with Werner Herzog for the New York Press: "Documentaries today are dated. I compare it to a medieval knight who would go to battle for centuries, and all of a sudden gets confronted with cannons and firearms. We have to ask questions about reality in a different way. We have to answer. I've been one of those who has come up with answers." Related: Dave Micevic on Little Dieter Learns to Fly.

"Is it the sweet tart of Ball of Fire? The ruthless femme fatale of Double Indemnity? The savvy go-getter of Meet John Doe?" asks Hazel-Dawn Dumpert in the LA Weekly. "You might have your favorite, but for every great [Barbara] Stanwyck role, there's another to match, and for every standout performance, there's a movie around it that Stanwyck - unlike Katharine Hepburn or Bette Davis, or even Doe's Gary Cooper - refuses to steal.... With a few notable exceptions - the all-Stanwyck super-soaper Stella Dallas, the pre-Code firecracker Baby Face - Stanwyck shone brightest in pictures made by men who had creative agendas of their own and who knew how to play her as an instrument rather than set her off as a star." A Lady to Talk About: The Films of Barbara Stanwyck runs at the UCLA Film & Television Archive through June 10.

"Ron Mann's Imagine the Sound (1981) has been revived and thrown back into circulation for the event of its 25th birthday," notes Josef Braun. Screens Saturday and Monday in Edmonton. Also in the Vue Weekly, Carolyn Nikodym previews Saturday's Fair Trade Fair Film Fest.

The Boston Phoenix's Gerald Peary congratulates the San Francisco International Film Festival on its 50th.

In the Philadelphia City Paper, Sam Adams looks back to the highlights of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Posted by dwhudson at May 17, 2007 8:56 AM