Fests and events, 11/7.

"The capstone of Film Forum's Pietro Germi mini-retrospective is the director's most popular work, his mid-career turn to wheeling commedia all'italiana ([Divorce, Italian Style] gave the genre its moniker) after compiling an eclectic filmography with roots in Neorealism," writes Nick Pinkerton in the Voice.

In her overview for the Reeler, Miriam Bale focuses on Stefania Sandrelli. "Her beauty is less bold and sometimes almost ethereal, but she wiggles across the screen with the best of them. There's a feline quality to her movements, even her face, and when her nostrils flare expressively, she looks like she might pounce." Through November 22.

Back in the Voice: You know all about the Iranian New Wave. "The CinemaEast Film Festival - which runs November 8 to 15 at the IFC Center - wants to combat such stereotyping by presenting a fuller-bodied portrait of the region's films," writes Saul Austerlitz. "This requires highlighting the silly as well as the high-minded, the crowd-pleasing as well as the brain-stimulating."

"The Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival, the Museum of Natural History's annual documentary showcase, often gravitates toward the anthropological," writes Ed Halter. "With a focus on cross-cultural music, ranging from Cambodian psych- rock to American paleo-folk, this year's lineup includes sounds that wouldn't seem out of place on a WFMU playlist."

And J Hoberman recommends Panoramas of the Moving Image: Mechanical Slides and Dissolving Views from 19th Century Magic Lantern Shows, Ernie Gehr's five-screen installation at MoMA.

And back at the Reeler: "The idea is simple - take some leading directorial talent from France, a class of aspiring filmmakers from the United States - and mix." Mat Newman notes that this year's On Set With French Cinema program is off and running with Benoit Jacquot.

"I don't know whether Croatia makes high-quality films, or whether the Croatian series at the Walter Reade is unusually well curated, or whether I'm just having good luck. But my nearly random sallies into Croatian film culture keep coming up roses," writes Dan Sallitt.

"This year the 10th Annual San Francisco Asian Film Festival joins forces with the 5th Annual San Francisco Korean American Film Festival to provide Bay Area audiences a spectacular selection of films from Hong Kong and South Korea, running November 8 - 18 at both the Four Star and the Castro Theatre," writes Michael Guillén. "The full schedule for both festivals can be found here. Synopsizing his portion of the program, Adam [Hartzell] writes: 'San Francisco audiences have not had an opportunity to watch older South Korean films from the 50s, 60s and 70s that preceded the recent wave of dynamic South Korean cinema in the 00s and late 90s. That is, until now.'" And Michael has a good long talk with Adam.

More from Cheryl Eddy in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, where you'll also find Garrett Caples on Bruce Conner - Works: 1961 - 2002, at the Gallery Paule Anglim through November 24.

Eve O'Neill: "SF360 caught up with Sean Uyehara, who has programmed the San Francisco International Animation Film Festival for both years it has been running, to talk about his personal influences, upcoming trends in animation, and what to look forward to when the festival opens this November 8th."

"The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is presenting a special one day event on December 1, 2007 at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco." Anne M Hockens has a preview at the Siffblog.

"Botched opportunities, bad acting and misguided directorial decisions seem to be recurring themes among the premieres at this year's AFI Fest," reports Michael Lerman at indieWIRE. "Though boasting quite an impressive array of great cinema out of the North American festivals from the last six months, the AFI programmers seem to be struggling to keep it together when it comes to newer material."

Susan King previews two docs screening tomorrow at AFI Fest, Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, "a lighthearted look at the wizard of ballyhoo who never met a gimmick he didn't employ," and The Man in the Shadows: Val Lewton, "produced and narrated by Lewton champion Martin Scorsese."

Also in the Los Angeles Times: Geoff Boucher previews the After Dark HorrorFest, hitting 300 screens in the US this weekend.

Film as a Critical Practice: a symposium (Thursday and Friday) and a screening program (Saturday) in Olso; Caitlin Jones has details at Rhizome.

The Tempo Documentary Festival: Thursday through Sunday in Stockholm.

Posted by dwhudson at November 7, 2007 11:42 AM