Fests and events, 6/17.

"Canadian filmmaker Paul Gross's Passchendaele will open the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival with its world premiere on September 4, 2008," reports indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez.

"With Frameline Artistic Director Michael Lumpkin leaving his post after this year's San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, SF360.org felt it appropriate to ask an equally storied figure in LGBT film to help mark the occasion. Strand Releasing President Marcus Hu graciously agreed to speak with his old friend Lumpkin about Frameline, queer cinema and the future of this niche festival."

The festival opens Thursday and runs through June 29; at the Evening Class, Michael Hawley previews two docs, Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band and The Kinsey Sicks: Almost Infamous.

"It may not get the biggest audiences or hype amongst umpteen local film festivals, but Another Hole in the Head surely must have the most dedicated viewership of them all," writes Dennis Harvey at SF360. "To make a crass generalization: Either you're a horror/fantasy fan, or you're not. And if you are, you can watch a lot of the stuff - even the more low-budget, formulaic or simply not-so-good stuff - back-to-back. Many Hole Head patrons would probably just live at the Roxie for two weeks if there was room for sleeping bags."

"On Thursday, the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre will honor [producer Walter] Mirisch with screenings of The Apartment and In the Heat of the Night," notes Susan King in the Los Angeles Times. "Mirisch will introduce the program and sign copies of his new memoir, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History."

Andy Horbal posts takes on a handful of films he caught at the Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival.

"Steve McQueen's British drama Hunger took the cake, winning the inaugural award of the Sydney Film Festival last night." More from Matt Riviera. More from Shane Danielsen at indieWIRE.

"Every Saturday night you'll find the second-floor auditorium of the Bank of America on West Irving Park Road in Portage Park packed with movie lovers." Chicagoist Rob Christopher talks with programmers Mike King and Mike Phillips.

Harriette Yahr looks back on the Maui Film Festival for indieWIRE.

Posted by dwhudson at June 17, 2008 1:38 PM