Fests and events, 11/23.

"French director Philippe Garrel is one of the true enigmas of the film world," writes Josh Rosenblatt in the Austin Chronicle. "Born in Paris in 1948, an up-and-coming director by the time he was 21, friends with Godard and other big names in the New Wave, a longtime lover and collaborator of singer and Velvet Underground icon Nico, an award-winning director of more than 25 movies over the last 40 years, and still he's essentially unknown here in America." French Maverick, Rebel Auteur: Four Films of Philippe Garrel runs from Tuesday through December 18.

In Paris, through December 1, the 14th Rencontres Internationales will create during 10 days a space of discovery and reflection between new cinema and contemporary art at the Centre Pompidou, the Palais de Tokyo, the Jeu de Paume national museum, the movie theatre l'Entrepôt, the Beaux-arts de Paris, the Laboratoire." Quite the guest list, too.

"The City of the Future consists of 68 pieces of film footage, assembled after deep delving in the National Film Archive, shot around the turn of the 20th century," writes Robert Hanks in the Independent. "Most of the footage consists of single shots, lasting perhaps a minute, of street scenes in London, Bradford, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Dublin and elsewhere. Crowds waving at trains, a ship being launched, the mayor of Halifax entering his carriage; or, more usually, crowds and traffic obliviously going about their business. It is, as you will know if you have seen any of Mitchell and Kenyon's films of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain, utterly riveting." Through February 3 at the BFI Southbank Gallery.

"The African Diaspora Film Festival has grown each year since its genesis in a kitchen-table conversation between a couple of film fanatics frustrated by the shallow pool of black films in New York," writes Felicia R Lee in the New York Times. "Starting today the 15th edition of the festival will offer something for just about anyone interested in the global black experience: 102 films from 43 countries in a 17-day feast of documentaries, comedies, musicals, dramas and romances." Through December 9.

Posted by dwhudson at November 23, 2007 7:51 AM