Fests and events, 3/31.

The theme of this year's British Silent Cinema Festival, running from Thursday through Sunday in Nottingham, is Rats, Ruffians and Radicals: The Globalisation of Crime and British Silent Film. "[T]hanks to the work of the excellent film historian Matthew Sweet, there is a general waking-up to the richness of Britain's silent cinema heritage," blogs the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw. "One of the most intriguing aspects of the festival is a showing of The Rat (1925), a wildly excessive melodrama starring the most under-remembered figure in British cultural history, Ivor Novello, perhaps now known chiefly for being (sympathetically) impersonated by Jeremy Northam in Robert Altman's Gosford Park." And Bradshaw suggests that Novello's own life would make for great biopic material.

"Bernardo Bertolucci's Before the Revolution has kickstarted the Pacific Film Archive's homage to The Clash of '68," writes Michael Guillén at the Evening Class. "The series provides a fascinating and eclectic dedication, presented in conjunction with the Berkeley Art Museum's exhibition Protest in Paris 1968: Photographs by Serge Hambourg." The series is on through April 23; the exhibition, through June 1.

Earlier: Gilbert Adair in the Guardian on Pop Goes the Revolution at BFI Southbank from April 11 through 30.

S James Snyder previews the final edition of New York Underground Film Festival for the New York Sun. Wednesday through April 8.

At Twitch, Stefan talks with Eng Yee Peng about her documentary, Diminishing Memories, set to screen at the Singapore International Film Festival (Friday through April 14).

"Documenta Madrid s opening a slot in its program schedule to revitalize and share old home movies, thus vindicating at the same time the validity and charm of the format that best represents this amateur, free-and-easy, homemade cinema: Super 8." May 2 through 11.

Chris Hansen's seen a handful of films at AFI Dallas. David Lowery's there, too.

David Bordwell is still in Hong Kong.

Mike Everleth notes that the Independent Feature Project/Midwest may acquire has acquired the Chicago Underground Film Festival. (See comment below.)

Posted by dwhudson at March 31, 2008 8:50 AM