Fests and events, 6/29.

By David Hudson on 06/29/2009

Anne Thompson wraps up the Los Angeles Film Festival, and of course, she's got the list of award-winners, too, topped by Sam Fleischner and Ben Chace's "Wah Do Dem" (Target Filmmaker Award) and Juan Carlos Rulfo and Carlos Hagerman's "Those Who Remain" (Target Documentary Award).

The festival closed last night with Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo," a "singular experience," writes Drew McWeeney at Hitfix, "animation as pure emotion, a love story and an adventure and one of the real treats for 2009 so far." Meantime, Chris MaGee reports that a few dates and appearances have been added to Miyazaki's itinerary for his visit to California next month.

For the London Times, Bryan Appleyard talks with Adam Curtis, whose "latest work is called 'It Felt Like a Kiss.' But it's like nothing he's ever done before, and he's nervous, not least because its first appearance will be not on television, but on the internet and at the Manchester International Festival, in a production by the immersive theatre group Punchdrunk, with music by Damon Albarn. Curtis asked Albarn for a combination of Stockhausen and pop, and that's apparently what he's got." Thursday through July 19.

"Kathryn Bigelow: Filmmaking at the Dark Edge of Exhilaration" is on at the Harvard Film Archive from Wednesday through July 13. Via Joanne McNeil, who notes that "Bigelow also directed part of the prescient Scientology critique 'Wild Palms.'"

Pang Ho-cheung's "Exodus" is "sure to be one of the more entertaining offerings in this year's [New York Asian Film Festival], and is almost certain to be its most visually striking," writes Michael J Anderson. Meanwhile, "Yoshihiro Nakamura's highly entertaining 'Fish Story'... seems the prohibitive front-runner for this year's 'Audience Award' (following last year's well-deserved winner, 'Fine, Totally Fine')."

At the House Next Door, Simon Abrams talks with Wai Ka-Fai about "Written By," screening today as part of the NYFF.

At Twitch, Charles Webb talks with Kong Hyo-Jin, who's appearing in two NYAFF entries, "Crush and Blush" and "Dachimawa Lee."

Also, "'Rough Cut' feels so flat-footed both in the actual experience as well as the film within the film."

Then: "'Assembly' and 'Banquet' director Feng Xiaogang's new film 'If You Are The One' is a comedy (often humorous) and a romance (quite romantic), though it is overall melancholy in temperament," writes Ben Umstead. "It stars Ge You and Shu Qi. Oh, and here's one more tidbit for you... it is the highest grossing movie in China, not of the year, not of the decade but of all time."

Kevin Lee conducts an experiment at BAMCinemaFEST: "10 Films in 5 Hours."

[Photo: "Ponyo," Studio Ghibli and The Walt Disney Company, 2008]

Tags: Adam Curtis, BAMcinemaFEST 2009, Hayao Miyazaki, Kathryn Bigelow, LAFF 2009, NYAFF 2009, Ponyo