Fests and events, 12/16.

"Helen Hunt's feature directing debut will receive its US premiere at the 19th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival as the opening-night feature on January 3," notes the Hollywood Reporter's Gregg Kilday. "Then She Found Me revolves around a New York teacher (Hunt) encountering a midlife crisis. Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick also star." Ryan Stewart sent an early impression of the film to Cinematical from Toronto; more from Joe Leydon in Variety.

Michael Guillén has the lineup for Noir City 6, happening January 25 through February 3 in San Francisco.

"The Dubai International Film Festival, like the city itself, does not want for extravagance," notes Charlie Olsky in his latest dispatch at indieWIRE. "Every night, there's a major gala screening followed by a lavish after-party, one for each section of DIFF's programming."

"Filmmaker's Managing Editor, Jason Guerrasio, returned from the film festival in Dubai this weekend and, like most visitors, he was knocked out by the pace of construction there," writes Scott Macaulay, pointing to his photo-essays (1 and 2). "In fact, a discussion of Dubai's explosive growth - the political, social and design repercussions of such - is a hot topic at the moment, and two very different takes on the build-up of Dubai can be found online." He then quotes from and links to pieces by Stephen Zacks in Metropolis and Mike Davis in the New Left Review.

More on the festival itself from Stephen Garrett at Variety's Circuit: "[T]he festival is doing a commendable job not only representing cinema of the Middle East but also creating opportunities for these filmmakers.... 'All the world comes to Dubai,' says Nabil Ayouch, whose debut feature, Mektoub, won the top prize at the Cairo Film Festival and whose charming romance Whatever Lola Wants had its world premiere on Tuesday night. 'The city is a crossroads; it's the Hollywood of the Arab world. And the festival is really putting a spotlight on Arabic cinema as we try to build an identity for ourselves and show our complexity.'"

"Music by the Velvet Underground, the band Warhol launched from his famous Factory, accompanies visitors as they roam through a film landscape that includes Screen Tests, Sleep, Blow Job, The Chelsea Girls, Kitchen [not this one] and Mrs Warhol [not this one]." Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms is on at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam through January 13.

For the Guardian, Ronald Bergan looks back on two festivals in Spain: "Valladolid, whose symbol is Marilyn Monroe's inviting red lips, has been going for 51 years and is still the perhaps the broadest shop window for Spanish films.... Gijon, in its 45th year, is almost as old as its sister in the north of Spain, but gets a youthful spirit from its past as a children's film festival."

Posted by dwhudson at December 16, 2007 10:57 AM