Fests and events, 10/28.

The L Magazine's Mark Asch: "Far from Vietnam is a movie from 1967 that's screened, watched, discussed, far less than you'd think it would be given that it's directed by Jean-Luc Godard (at the height of his formalist Marxist influence), the poetic documentarian Joris Ivens, the livejournalist of the French New Wave Agnes Varda, the American-in-Paris photographer William Klein, the modernist-chic time traveler Alain Resnais, the New Wave also-ran Claude Lelouch (there were always a bunch of second-tier directors attached to these kinds of projects), and the mercurial international man of semiotic mystery Chris Marker." Tonight at Light Industry.

"When It Was Blue, Jennifer Reeves's new 16-mm film performance with live musical accompaniment, will be presented at the Kitchen in New York this week, marking the culmination of a work that took more than four years for the artist to create." Ed Halter for Artforum.

"A big shout out to the Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art and Australian Cinematheque for programming five George A Romero zombie films for this forthcoming Halloween weekend." Ben Goldsmith also notes that GoMA's Out of the Shadows: German Expressionism and Beyond rolls on through November 30.

"Where there has been much focus on the formal qualities of film production and the evolving nature of film criticism, in my opinion not enough attention has been paid to reception studies and the sociocultural dimensions of global cinema as reflected through film festival culture, in contrast - let's say - to the sociocultural dimension of online discourse about film studies, which lately has begun to remind me of a high school popularity contest," writes Michael Guillén. "With transnational aplomb, the current issue of Film International (Vol 6, Issue 4) is a specially-themed issue on 'Genre Films & Festival Communities' that seeks to redress that oversight. This issue has been indispensable in helping me articulate my continuing position within this cine-phenomenon."

"Never a stranger to the silly side of rock 'n' roll, the Sound Unseen Music and Film Festival will wrap up its ninth year on Thursday night with Anvil!, a documentary portrait of the titular Toronto headbangers that's almost too funny - too Spinal Tappin' - to be true," writes Rob Nelson.

"Simply crafted but powerful and involving, veteran Burkina Faso director S Pierre Yameogo's new Delwende, which opens this Friday on the SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki, shows an isolated society still vulnerable to superstition," writes Dennis Harvey at SF360.

Peter Nellhaus takes a first glance at the lineup for this year's Denver International Film Festival, running November 13 through 23.

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Online viewing tips. "The Portable Film Festival is excited to announce the launch of its showcase of the extraordinary work of British video maverick, Woof Wan-Bau. Beginning Monday October 27th, www.portablefilmfestival.com will feature five of this London based director's innovative music videos and short films."

Posted by dwhudson at October 28, 2008 1:34 PM