Weekend fests and events.

At Twitch, Kurt is wowed by Tekkon Kinkreet, which has just opened the Fantasia Festival in Montreal: "Paradoxically, Tekkon Kinkreet is both a melancholic and relentless fantasy which careens at breakneck speed through a sprawling metropolis on the verge of significant change. It is puberty viewed through the eyes of an old man." More from Paul Schrodt at Slant. The fest runs through July 23. Update: Kurt on The Signal.

For the Baltimore Sun, Chris Kaltenbach talks with Todd Hitchcock, who's programmed Totally Awesome! Films of the 1980s, running at the AFI Silver Theatre through September 6. Via Movie City News.

David Bordwell sends along more notes and observations from Cinema Ritrovato.

Eddie Muller's brought Noir City to the northwest and Vince Keenan is there, taking in a "dead-of-night double feature," Thieves' Highway and Deadline at Dawn.

"Nearly 40 years after his death, the National Film Theatre is urging us to take Mikio Naruse very seriously. To which the obvious question arises - what have we been doing for nearly 40 years?" David Thomson in the Guardian.

The Lumière Reader posts more dispatches from the Telecom New Zealand International Film Festivals.

MediaBridge: Global Exchanges in Youth Filmmaking, Monday through August 12 in Chicago.

Agnes Varnum looks back on the Flaherty at MoMA series for indieWIRE.

"Owl and the Sparrow is one of those movies that you hope you'll run into at a film festival," writes Kevin Kelly, catching with the Los Angeles Film Festival for Cinematical. "The kind that you wander into, not knowing much about, maybe something from the logline in the festival guide caught your eye, maybe you liked the poster, or maybe it just filled a time slot nicely and you thought you'd check it out. However, once the film starts rolling and the story gets going, you count yourself lucky for having found it."

Posted by dwhudson at July 7, 2007 9:14 AM