Fests and events, 8/4.

"A hybrid of city symphony, travelogue, nature film, and personal essay, flâneur films are often distinguished by their use of personal, idiosyncratic narration and a comparably intimate scale of production," writes Livia Bloom, who then focuses on films by Louis Malle, Agnès Varda, Chantal Akerman and Jean Vigo. Bloom has curated the series Strangers in Strange Lands: The Explorations of Great French Directors, which concludes tomorrow Wednesday [see comment] at Maysles Cinema.

Also in Moving Image Source: Martin Rubin on Gold Diggers of 1933, part of the Sex and the Single Girl: The Escapades of Busby Berkeley series at UCLA through August 12: "The 'Remember My Forgotten Man' number is noteworthy because it makes explicit the implicit subtext of the fallen women films; it sets the record straight. Rather than countering a real fall (the Depression, male unemployment) with a compensatory, mythical fall (the moral status of women), it puts the 'fall' back where it belongs."

"As part of the ongoing River to River Festival, the nation's largest free arts festival, the Elevated Acre will present a special outdoor screening on each Tuesday evening in August, beginning tomorrow," notes S James Snyder in the New York Sun. "And thanks to the Acre's isolated locale, organizers captured the opportunity to plan the Movie Nights on the Elevated Acre program in a unique way."

Toronto's blogs are rolling: Colin Geddes (Midnight Madness) and Thom Powers (Docs). Related: 1st Thursday.

Speaking of Thom Powers, he's got a dispatch at indieWIRE: "The Traverse City Film Festival, headed by Michael Moore, concluded its fourth edition on Sunday, bringing a large dose of cinematic excitement to this lakeshore town, otherwise known for its cherry crop. Moore, wearing a scruffy beard, had his celebrity eclipsed by another homegrown star Madonna, who appeared to present the documentary I Am Because We Are."

Streets of No Return: The Dark Cinema of David Goodis runs through August 23 at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Michael Guillén's got extensive notes on curator Steve Seid and novelist Barry Gifford's introductory remarks. And more.

Germany's Fantasy Filmfest opens in Berlin on August 12 and then runs overlapping programs in seven other cities through September 10. Via Twitch's Todd Brown.

Posted by dwhudson at August 4, 2008 1:03 PM