Other fests, other events, 8/30.

"When I first learned that the Indian director Shyam Benegal would be the subject of a tribute at this year's Telluride Film Festival (August 31 - September 3), I had seen exactly none of his films," writes Scott Foundas in the LA Weekly. "Now, I have seen nearly a dozen, and I hunger for more. Benegal is a giant of India's 'parallel cinema' movement, sometimes referred to as 'new cinema' or 'middle cinema' - in short, films whose style, subject matter and themes run quietly alongside, but rarely intersect with, the dominant concerns of mainstream Indian cinema (aka Bollywood)." Three films by Benegal will be screening at the Pacific Film Archive on September 5, 6 and 7.

Meantime, surprise: As Mick Jones reports in Variety, Telluride has "announced a lineup heavy with Telluride regulars and echoes from this year's Cannes fest."

On Wednesday, September 5, Filmmaker will host a special screening of Ronald Bronstein's Frownland at the IFC Center in New York. For the magazine, David Lowery talks with Bronstein about his "grimy, manic masterpiece of black comedy that buries its humor beneath layers of egregious discomfort." It's "one of the most confrontational and uncompromising visions to emerge from the American independent scene in recent memory."

"Following its successful Mods & Rockers Film Festival in July, the American Cinematheque is back this weekend with Rock Doc: A Celebration of Rock Documentaries at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica," writes Susan King in the Los Angeles Times. "It kicks off tonight with the Los Angeles premiere of actress-filmmaker Rosanna Arquette's 2005 movie All We Are Saying."

"Cinematexas will be greatly missed," writes Marc Savlov, "though that festival's passing alleviates, if only to a small degree, the annual scheduling nightmare that awaits legions of both local and visiting cinephiles, industry pros, and anyone else with plans to attend Fantastic Fest (Sept 20 - 27), the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (Sept 28 - Oct 6), and the Austin Film Festival & Conference (Oct 11 - 18), plus, this year only, the nonprofit National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture Conference (Oct 17 - 20)."

Also in the Austin Chronicle, Josh Rosenblatt looks ahead to the six-film series Blokes 'n' Birds: British Realist Cinema (1958 - 1965) - Tuesdays, September 4 through October 9 - and Toddy Burton previews a September 6 program of William Wegman shorts.

In Variety, Tatiana Siegel reports that Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs will open this year's AFI Fest (November 1 through 11) and Darcy Paquet announces, "The Pusan Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Feng Xiaogang's epic Chinese war movie Assembly on Oct 4 and end with the international preem of Japanese anime Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone on Oct 12."

"Documentarian Stanley Nelson, one of the most prolific nonfiction filmmakers working today, will attend SXSW 2008 next March to take part in a discussion of his work and his process." Matt Dentler has details.

"Clear and balmy nights have only heightened the jubilant atmosphere around the first week of the Montreal World Film Festival, rebounding from the funding ordeal in 2005 that nearly sounded (erroneously it turned out) the death knell of the 31-year fest overseen by the tenacious Serge Losique," reports Robert Avila for indieWIRE. "Unusually high attendance, full theaters, and enthusiastic crowds are all cheering signs that the controversies of 2005 are history."

The news isn't new, but the quote's worth noting: "My film was requested by every single film festival, but I didn't want to send it to any of them. I think film festivals are a thing of the past, completely obsolete. All they are good for is stirring up controversy. There's no real interest in the movies; they're just the film critics' sacrificial victims. On the contrary, in Rome there seems to be a sincere desire to choose and screen films for the audience." That's Francis Ford Coppola, telling an Italian monthly in an upcoming interview why he's decided to come to the RomeFilmFest with his Youth Without Youth. And he won't be alone: "Along with Coppola, in attendance at the RomeFilmFest there will be the leads Tim Roth and Bruno Ganz as well as the director's family: his wife Eleanor, his son Roman (who has taken part in the making of the film) and his daughter Sofia." Read on for more titles screening October 18 through 27.

Posted by dwhudson at August 30, 2007 2:15 PM