Fests and events, 8/23.

Related: "On a sweltering Chicago evening early this month, two 60s radicals - veterans of the '68 convention - gathered with a diverse crowd of journalists, progressive activists and students on the city's North Side to contemplate the past and future of the Democratic Party." For In These Times, Laura S Washington talks with Don Rose and Marilyn Katz: "Over dinner at Yoshi's Café, the two reflected on political lessons learned and previewed Obama's coronation in Denver." And, in the New York Times Book Review, Paul Berman: Norman Mailer's Miami and the Siege of Chicago "has just been republished with an admirably self-effacing preface by Frank Rich. I have read it anew, and it gives me the willies."

Update, 8/25: A miniseries of photos from Tom Sutpen.

BAM's Tribute to Richard Widmark runs Monday through Wednesday. Bruce Bennett in the New York Sun: "Like his contemporary, Robert Mitchum, Widmark had an easy way with the camera and did a lot with a little. But unlike Mitchum, Widmark's stock-in-trade characters personified the anxieties of leadership, love, lawlessness, masculinity, and the other boilerplate themes common to the genre pictures that both actors made. Mitchum was a cool, deep reservoir. Widmark was a riptide."

Also in the New York Sun: The New York Korean Film Festival, on through August 31, "is delivering the latest offerings from Asia's most vibrant movie industry while they're still hot," writes Martin Tsai. "Indeed, 11 of the 14 titles to be screened are making either their international, North American, or American premiere at the festival."

"Capturing the city as few other films could, LA Plays Itself (1972), [Fred] Halsted's first film, has come to be regarded as a classic within the genre of gay porn." William E Jones will be presenting the feature and the short Sex Garage (also 1972) at Light Industry in Brooklyn on Tuesday. For Artforum, he profiles the filmmaker.

"With the Slamdance Film Festival turning 15 in 2009, the fest has announced they will be having a series of special events to celebrate," notes Jason Guerrasio at Filmmaker. "The first will be next month as they screen Steven Soderbergh and Christopher Nolan's Slamdance-debuted films, Schizopolis and Following."

The Telegraph's David Gritten offers a quick preview of the Venice Film Festival. Wednesday through September 6.

Twitch's Toronto 08 category is hopping with previews. September 4 through 13.

"The 27th annual Vancouver International Film Festival will be held from September 25 to October 10, 2008." A preview.

"Thirteen years after it first launched when mortars and sniping firing were still raining down on the besieged city, the Sarajevo Film Festival is reaching a synergy as both showcase and motor for regional film production." Nick Holdsworth in the Circuit.

Online viewing tips. Unnecessary Sequels!. The Austin Chronicle, which has last year's winner of the contest, explains. This year's winner will be announced on Sunday.

Posted by dwhudson at August 23, 2008 1:33 PM