Fests and events, 7/5.

Film Threat's Jeremy Knox caught "two great films" the night Fantasia opened in Montreal. Through July 21.

"A film festival unlike any other, Bergmanveckan (or Bergman Week), now in its fifth year in operation and its first incarnation since the death of the man at its center last July, is a celebration of location as much as film." Michael Koresky reports for indieWIRE.

In the Los Angeles Times, Randy Lewis talks with Tony Palmer, whose 17-hour TV series All You Need Is Love, showing this weekend as part of the Mods & Rockers Film Festival, rolling on through July 9.

Sonjia Hyon, director of the Asian American International Film Festival (July 10 through 19), offers a preview at the POV Blog.

Memories of Underdevelopment screens at the Barbican in London from July 11 through 14. Michael Chanan in the New Statesman: "By the time the Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea died in 1996 he was widely regarded, at home and abroad, as the doyen of Cuban cineastas, and over the next few years several Cuban filmmakers, established figures and newcomers alike, dedicated new films to his memory. For some, he had been a personal mentor. For all of them he was a role model, for his commitment to the revolution's ideals, combined with his criticism of its failures."

"Want to see the new flick from Spike Lee? Come to Toronto. Got a thing for Michael Cera or Viggo Mortensen? Come to Toronto. Guy Pearce? Ralph Fiennes? You get the point..." Twitch's Todd Brown has info on six films added to the lineup.

Weaving Worlds screens Wednesday at the Alamo Drafthouse, so Anne S Lewis talks with filmmaker Bennie Klain, whose "subtle and beautifully shot (by UT's Nancy Schiesari) portrait of the co-dependent relationship between a group of Navajo weavers and its longtime Anglo trader - the guy who buys their rugs cheaply, marks them up substantially, and pockets a tidy profit at his trading store - is really the story of the uneasy, always tenuous interface of the artist with the marketplace and the exploitation that frequently accompanies a lopsided balance of power."

Also in the Austin Chronicle, Kimberley Jones "trundl[es] down Highway 71 West toward the San Saba River in search of flatheads. [Okie Noodling director Bradley] Beesley not too long ago premiered Okie Noodling II at the Marfa Film Festival (the film will play July 7 at the Alamo Ritz on a double bill with Summercamp!, Beesley's 2006 documentary made with Sarah Price)."

For the Vue Weekly, David Berry previews the DIY Generation series at Edmonton's Metro. Friday through Monday. Related: Josef Braun on The Guatemalan Handshake: "If [Todd] Rohal's next film works better than this one, it will likely be because his eccentricities are the icing on the cake rather than the cake itself."

Eric Kohn visits Dalí: Painting and Film (through September 15) and returns to Cinematical with thoughts and pix.

Brian Darr looks ahead to local goings on at Hell on Frisco Bay.

CineKink's in San Francisco from July 10 through 12.

Scott Kirsner announces: The Conversation. "The basic idea is simple: let's get together a really interesting group of people to talk about new technologies and the entertainment industry." October 17 and 18 at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.

"Here's an obvious statement: James Bond films are some of the most patently offensive, profoundly anti-feminist vehicles around." Tracy Moore in the Nashville Scene: "And yet, given the dearth of good solid female roles in the action movies out this summer, it's surprising that revisiting this batch of retrograde romps - playing each weekend through Aug 4 at The Belcourt - unearths a rare treasure trove of fascinating and damn-near complex women."

Londoners: Owen Hatherley has your next Kino Fist program. July 20.

Chicagoans: Check the CINE-FILE.

Once Upon a Time: Sergio Leone runs at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles from July 24 through 27, and you know who's all over this one: Dennis Cozzalio.

Maysles Institute has opened a new theater in Harlem devoted to docs. And here's the calendar.

The New York Asian Film Festival rolls on through Sunday. Picking up from the last entry:

• "Adrift in Tokyo has the kind of low-key, effortless charm that most movies sweat for," writes David Austin. "It is a perfect example of what have been called 'hanging out' movies - movies where the pleasure is less about plot or story and more about spending time watching an entertaining group of characters interact." Also: Tokyo Gore Police and Dainipponjin. And also at Cinema Strikes Back, Jeff on Strawberry Shortcakes and Fine, Totally Fine; and on United Red Army.

• Love on Sunday and Love on Sunday 2: Last Words "seem to me to have serious weaknesses on the scenario level, but they are beautifully directed," writes Dan Sallitt in the Auteurs' Notebook. "My guess is that Hiroki [Ryuichi] has enough prestige to exercise some control over his scripts, in which case I'd opine that his dramaturgical instincts aren't impeccable. But Hiroki is second to none in his ability to create a bemused, drifting ambiance to amplify his characters' philosophical melancholy."

"Having just spent three invigorating days in Niles watching crowds cheering as world-class musicians improvised brilliantly to films from the years between 1903 and 1917, I can report that silent films are alive and well." Mary B Scott at SF360.

Dawn Chan reports on the Provincetown International Film Festival for Artforum.

Ilya Tovbis looks back on Frameline32 for indieWIRE.

For the IFC, Stephen Saito looks back to several docs screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Posted by dwhudson at July 5, 2008 12:07 PM