Fests and events, 5/7.

For Helen Sims, writing for the Lumière Reader from New Zealand's traveling Human Rights Film Festival, Maquilapolis makes for "intriguing viewing for those that have wondered why there are campaigns against free trade."

"[G]ay cinema is by its very nature subversive, and the selection in the 24th annual Boston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is the first in a few years to capitalize on that potential," writes Peter Keough in the Phoenix. Tonight through May 18.

Starslyderz screens tonight at 8 in San Francisco; Dennis Harvey in the Bay Guardian: "Song interludes, heavy-metal twins, gleefully cheesy FX, and a whole lot more are thrown into this giddy campsterpiece, which pays snarky homage to everything from Star Wars, Star Trek, Transformers (natch), the Power Rangers, anime, TV commercials, 1980s video games and... er, Biography."

In the Voice, J Hoberman has quick yet enticing overviews of The Cinematography of Ed Lachman, Friday through May 20 at BAM, and Peter Hutton, through May 26 at MoMA. Related: "In At Sea, Hutton takes the same patient and painterly approach to his material as he always has, producing another grand, sweeping meditation that is equal parts tone poem, cultural history lesson, and personal essay," writes Michael Tully in Hammer to Nail.

Karina Longworth notes at the SpoutBlog that Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy opens at the Metropolitan Museum of Art today and runs through September 1.

A new book, Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi, is just out and an accompanying exhibition at Animazing Gallery is open through May 28. Edward Champion talks with Bakshi for New York's Vulture.

"CineVegas will open with the world preem of Peter Cattaneo's comedy, The Rocker [trailer] starring Rainn Wilson as a failed drummer who joins a high school rock band," reports the Circuit's Michael Jones. June 12 through 21.

"The British comedy Faintheart has been confirmed as the closing night gala at this summer's Edinburgh international film festival," reports the Guardian's Xan Brooks. "The complete lineup for the festival, announced this morning, makes room for 142 features, including 15 world premieres." He also notes that the festival "runs June 18 - 29, the first time it has been separated from the wider festival that runs through August."

Matt Prigge rounds up local goings on for the Philadelphia Weekly.

More from Boston at Not Coming to a Theater Near You: Rumsey Taylor on Big Man Japan and Katherine Follett on The Linguists.

Posted by dwhudson at May 7, 2008 12:19 PM