Fests and events, 1/1.

By David Hudson on 01/01/2009

"The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood will be rocking and rolling Saturday evening when the 1974 disaster flick "Earthquake" rumbles in its original Sensurround sound system that mimics a real cataclysmic event." From Susan King of the Los Angeles Times, a preview of "Masters of Disaster: The Golden Age of Cataclysmic Cinema," running Friday through January 11. Also, more local goings on.

At the Siffblog, David Jeffers looks ahead to a season of silent films screening all up and down the west coast.

"Bigger Than Life" screens at Film Forum from tomorrow through January 8. Darrell Hartman for Artforum (and the new issue's out today, by the way): "Controversial in its time as an apologue on drug addiction, Nicholas Ray's midcentury melodrama actually speaks more to the hidden manias of its staid decade than to the dangers of pharmaceuticals."

New York's Walter Reade Theater will be screening a 70mm print of Jacques Tati's "Playtime" on Monday and, in Interview, Alexandria Symonds recommends catching it if you can.

At the Babylon in Berlin: "Unknown Pleasures: American Independent Film Fest," through January 27.

"This year's TOKYO FILMeX featured a retrospective on Koreyoshi Kurahara," writes Nick Palevsky in the Auteurs' Notebook. The series focused on "films about and for an angry and confused generation, growing up in the wake of Japan's defeat and during the American occupation."

"The third Austin Underground Film Festival was a truly epic short-film event. It took place all in one night (Dec 19), but it included enough short films for almost a week." Mike Everleth presents his first round of reviews.

Online listening tip. The Walter Reade again: "Under the Sign of Fincher" runs through Sunday, so Evan Davis and Kent Jones (Film Comment) and Nathan Lee (New York Times) discuss the films of David Fincher for 43 minutes or so.

Tags: IFC News, Matt Singer, Morgan Spurlock, Podcast, Sundance 08, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden