Series and fests, 1/16.

"The critic Philippa Hawker once offered an amazingly accurate and concise definition of the actor Jean-Pierre Léaud's unique performing style: 'He is himself, he is his character Antoine Doinel, he is New Wave incarnate, he is the past-in-the-present, the past remembered and re-evaluated.'" A fine introduction to Maria Komodore's San Francisco Bay Guardian overview of Jean-Pierre Léaud: The New Wave and After, running from Friday through February 29 at the Pacific Film Archive.

Related: Abby Lustgarten at the Lipp.

"The fleeting few years between the very early talkies (1927 - '29) and the institution of Hollywood's self-imposed censorship in the form of the Production Code in 1934 produced some of the liveliest and most adult entertainment in the history of the movie industry," writes Steve Vineberg in the Boston Phoenix. "Nothing remotely like it would be seen again until the Code finally fell apart in the 60s, exhausted by repeated challenges from filmmakers. Inspired by Brandeis film-studies professor Thomas Doherty's new book, Hollywood Censor: Joseph I Breen and the Production Code Administration, Vice vs Virtue in Pre-Code Hollywood, at the Harvard Film Archive this weekend, is the latest entertaining series to pay tribute to this fascinating era."

At the Reeler, Miriam Bale salutes Film Forum's Otto Preminger retro, wrapping tomorrow.

"The International Film Festival Rotterdam 2008 will be starting next week, and the press office has just released the list of all premieres this year, be it World premieres, European premieres or International (first time shown outside of their own countries) premieres," notes Ardvark at Twitch.

The San Francisco Independent Film Festival has its program set for its 10th edition. Susan Gerhard at SF360: "The festival opens February 7th with the David Gordon Green-produced Shotgun Stories, set in Southeast Arkansas, and directed by Jeff Nichols. The festival closes 12 days later with Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park, with Van Sant - who's in San Francisco shooting the Harvey Milk biopic - expected to attend."

The Berlinale's Panorama section unveils 17 more titles.

"The 29th edition of the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival in Saarbrücken (January 14 - 20) opened yesterday with the screening of Love Made Easy, the second film by young Zurich-born director Peter Luisi (32), who won the festival's Promotional Award in 2004 for his debut feature Verflixt verliebt," reports Bénédicte Prot for Cineuropa.

"Marco Mueller has been officially reappointed Venice Film Festival topper for four additional years in a move that will give the Lido stability and bolster its status as it undergoes an infrastructural makeover," reports Nick Vivarelli in Variety.

Posted by dwhudson at January 16, 2008 10:55 AM