Fests and events, 5/5.

By David Hudson on 05/05/2009

"The case for Julien Duvivier, who's enjoying what may be his first serious American retrospective ever at the Museum of Modern Art, is something of a standing riposte to the methodologies, such as they are, of auteurist criticism," argues Michael Atkinson at Moving Image Source. "I've rarely come across such a yawning discrepancy between the virtually unanimous critical dismissal of a bygone filmography and the films themselves--which, I dare say, fairly leap and swoon with visual cogency, surprising compositional drama, and an epitomically French embrace of narrative life, equal parts funeral and fete." Through May 25.

"'Vacant, vacuous Hollywood was everything I ever wanted to mold my life into. Plastic. White-on-white,' Andy Warhol writes of Tinseltown in 'POPism' (1980)." Melissa Anderson for Artforum: "Obsessed with Shirley Temple as a child, Warhol continued his fascination with luminaries of the silver-screen (the more tarnished their legends, the better) in his films, in the process creating his own stable of movie stars at the Factory - a reimagining of Hollywood archetypes on view in MoMA's eleven-film series, 'The West: Myth, Character, and Reinvention by Andy Warhol.'" Tomorrow through June 26.

The latest from Acquarello: "Part of the 'Morality and Society' program in the 'Clandestí: Forbidden Catalan Cinema Under Franco series, Enric Ripoli i Freixes and Josep Maria Ramon's 'Happy Parallel' emulates the familiar format of official 'Noticias Documentales' newsreels - the only shot footages of 'real life' permitted by Franco under a 1942 ban on non state-sponsored documentary filmmaking - to capture a decidedly more candid, unofficial view of the rhythm of life in El Paralelo, a once bustling entertainment district in Barcelona during the 1920s and 30s that had fallen into hard times after the war." Friday through Tuesday at the Walter Reade in New York.

"The Cannes Film Festival has added two helming debuts, Eduardo Valente's 'No meu lugar' ('Eye of the Storm') and Ounie Lecomte's 'A Brand New Life,' to its Official Selection lineup," reports Jordan Mintzer for Variety. "Both have been allocated out-of-competition Special Screenings slots."

"The Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival, which has given the Three Rivers Film Festival stiff competition for the honor of being 'the highpoint of the Pittsburgh movie calendar' for three years running, kicks off on Friday with a Red Carpet Gala and a screening of the Korean film 'My Dear Enemy' (2008)," notes Andy Horbal.

"'Diary of a Mad Housewife, screening at 7 pm on Thursday at U of C's Doc Films, is a comedy that makes adjectives like 'blistering' and 'astringent' seem hopelessly toothless, and its humor is so dark it could serve as cover for a midnight air raid," writes Chicagoist Rob Christopher.

"Director Tze Chun's 'Children of Invention' took the grand jury prize at the 2009 Independent Film festival of Boston, while Joe Berlinger's 'Crude' won best documentary." Brian Brooks has the full list of winners. Also: "SilverDocs will screen the world premiere of ensemble documentary, 'Convention' as its Centerpiece screening, the festival, which takes place June 15 - 22 in Silver Springs, MD."

And also at indieWIRE: Basil Tsiokos sends a first dispatch from Hot Docs and Peter Knegt reports that the 50th edition of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival will honor Werner Herzog, who'll be conducting a Master Class there, with a retrospective and "the fest's Golden Alexander Award for 'his contribution to the art of cinema.'"

And from Hot Docs, Kurt Halfyward at Twitch: "Definitively proving that all the 'B' Science Fiction of the 1950s and 1960s do not hold a candle to the 'real thing,' Pavel Medvedev's surreal 45-minute documentary 'Ascension' is certainly one to look for."

The Triple Canopy One-Year Anniversary & Issue Six Release Party happens at Gowanus Studio Space in Brooklyn on May 16: "Featuring a film program curated by Light Industry, visuals by Michael Bell-Smith, video games by Mark Essen, and DJ sets by Josh Kline, Ceci Moss and others. Musical performances by The Tourettes and Tanlines."

At the Heights Theatre in Columbia Heights, Minnesota: "Arrive at 7 pm on Thursday, June 18th for a 35mm screening of 'The Saddest Music in the World' starring Isabella Rossellini and Mark McKinney (of Kids in the Hall fame). At 9 pm this celluloid salvo screens again with the extra somethin' somethin' that only The Talkies provides: live commentary from Guy Maddin himself."

Blake Ethridge has a first round of sneak peeks at the lineup for this year's Neuchatel Fantastic Film Festival. June 30 through July 5.

[Photo: "La Bandera," Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie, 1935]

Tags: Andy Warhol, Cannes 2009, Diary of a Mad Housewife, Guy Maddin, Joe Berlinger, Julien Duvivier, Neuchatel 2009, Tze Chun, Werner Herzog