Fests and events, 5/8.

San Francisco braces for Another Hole in the Head, "two weeks of horror, sci-fi and fantasy," June 5 through 22.

"The upcoming Austin Film Society Documentary Tour presents three exemplary films, the latest to emerge from the [University of Texas] MFA pipeline," writes Anne S Lewis. May 14. Also in the Chronicle, Jardine Libaire on the Marfa Film Festival's just-wrapped inaugural edition.

In the LA Weekly, Ernest Hardy offers a brief overview of Visualizing the Sacred: Islam on Film, running through June 7.

"The not-in-my-backyard issue of garbage, and what we do with our waste, is another unwelcome visitor about to knock on our front doors - we need to face up to it before it suddenly confronts us, as the oil peak and food prices are doing," writes Brian Gibson in Edmonton's Vue Weekly. "So the Reel Waste Festival, in a city that's become pretty good at waste management, is a timely collection of films that should serve as, if not a call to action, at least a 'can't say we didn't show you.'" Sunday through Wednesday.

Throughout June, BFI Southbank will be celebrating the David Lean centenary. Andrew Collins in the Observer: "The people may look like ants when first glimpsed against the vast sand dunes of an exacting Lean composition, or the icy Russian mountains, or the concrete façade of a dam, but we are soon invited to alight upon individuals, and through the use of simple, visual clues, wonder about them and care about them."

Cinemambiente, the Environmental Film Festival, runs October 16 through 21 in Turin. Ellise Fuchs talks with founding director Gaetano Capizzi for PopMatters.

"'Last year we celebrated our past, but tonight we begin our future,' commented San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Graham Leggat in his opening night remarks of the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival," writes Matt Sussman in a wrap-up for indieWIRE. "Leggat was referring to the Film Society's plans to expand its identity into a more far-reaching and consistently present local force in terms of education outreach and year-round exhibition. But the promises, and more pointedly, the potential perils of what lies ahead in the larger scheme of things, seemed to be on many filmmakers' minds as well."

Susan Gerhard reports on the Golden Gate Awards for SF360.

At the House Next Door, Fernando F Croce looks back on Robert Towne's night.

Also from San Francisco: "With only a handful of films to his credit, Sixth Generation Chinese director Jia Zhangke has become one of the world's great master filmmakers, and he has the lack of distribution to prove it." Jeffrey M Anderson at Cinematical on Still Life, "by far the best film I've seen in this year's fest." Also, Johnnie To's Linger "moves beyond the standard romance claptrap and into the supernatural realm, which will help make it a reasonable date movie for lovestruck girls and geeky guys."

More from Boston at Not Coming to a Theater Near You: Victoria Large on At the Death House Door.

Stephen Saito has another Tribeca interview for the IFC: Tracey Hecht (Life in Flight).

Posted by dwhudson at May 8, 2008 3:02 PM