Fests and events, 5/27.

"What makes a novel great are often those qualities unique to the form: the ability to portray someone's interior life, to move fluidly between past, present and future, to render the ordinary magical through language," writes Stephanie Merritt in the Observer. "None of this can't be done on screen, but it is rarely achieved with the same subtlety.... [N]ow the ICA in London is giving book and film lovers the chance to debate the issue with its The Booker at the Movies season. Every Sunday in June it will screen the film of a Booker-winning or shortlisted novel, accompanied by a panel discussion from eminent screenwriters and novelists."

"As people arrived from all over the world to attend the opening weekend of the Reykjavik Arts Festival and participate in Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Olafur Eliasson's Experiment Marathon Reykjavik, the mood resembled a summer camp - albeit one attended by Björk, who was on my flight from London, and the country's president, Olafur Ragnar Grímsson." Among the other attendees: Jonas Mekas and Brian Eno. Cathryn Drake writes a diary entry for Artforum. Through June 5.

"Filmmaker Naomi Kawase has unveiled plans to launch the Nara International Film Festival." Jason Gray reports.

"What's wonderful about the third annual Sundance Institute at BAM, which begins its 10-day program of selections from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, is that its titles have already been run through a few major filters," writes S James Snyder in the New York Sun. "Only 22 features and 36 shorts will make the trip eastward for the event - still too much to absorb in a week and a half, but the filtration process ensures any ticket to the series is a safe bet." Thursday through June 8.

Frameline32 runs June 19 through 29 and Michael Hawley's got a big preview at the Evening Class, where Michael Guillén talks with Diana Lee Inosanto (The Sensei).

"Rare is the film which deals with pre-pubescent sexuality and even rarer that which does it well." Matt Riviera on Let the Right One In, slated for the Sydney Film Festival, running June 4 through 22.

At Slant, Fernando F Croce takes a long look back at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Posted by dwhudson at May 27, 2008 1:42 PM