Upcoming events

Tomorrow is the start of ACMI's Focus on Gus Van Sant, opening with his new film Paranoid Park (at 7pm). I'm planning to see this for the second time. I didn't write about it the first time, but I highly recommend it. There's something poetic about Van Sant's film-making that I really connect with. Maybe it's the recurring themes like disturbed youths, or the naturalistic performances (often by non-professionals).

Over the next few days, I'll be previewing some films for the Alliance Française French Film Festival which starts less than a week after the Van Sant retrospective ends. In between these is the Latin American Film Festival at the Nova. I've had a quick look at the programme on Nova's website, and it looks quite impressive.

The Queer Film Festival runs concurrently with the French Film Festival. There's some 14 titles I'm hoping to see at the French Film Festival, which makes it all but impossible for me to get to the Queer Film Festival. Another problem I have with the Queer Film Festival is that I have in the past found myself at fairly trashy films that could be considered a gay equivalent of Melrose Place, which don't interest me. I know there's gems to be had, but I haven't the time to research what to see (unless someone else has done the legwork and can recommend some).

The day after the French Film Festival ends, the Astor Theatre is screening Grindhouse complete for a short 11 day season. This is the only chance Melbournians will have had to see both Tarantino's Death Proof and Rodriguez's Planet Terror, complete with fake ads as originally intended. The Kino Dendy cinema is screening Flickerfest over the weekend of March 29 - 30, and La Mirada is screening at ACMI a few days later. This latter festival had its debut last year and I really enjoyed it. I especially like the classics curated by Pedro Almodovar, and I look forward to seeing what his selections are for this year's festival.

A few days after La Mirada, the Festival of German Films will be upon us. I've expressed reservations about this festival in the past, but by being selective (the secret to getting the most out of any festival), I saw some real gems that surprised me last year. Next up is the Spanish Film Festival in May and before you know it, we'll be inundated with the Melbourne International Film Festival. All these events are in my Google calendar. If you have a Google account, it's real simple to sign up for a Google calendar. Then you can subscribe to my calendar and see everything that's happening film-wise in Melbourne.

Note that not all links I have provided are up-to-date. You may have to check back later for some of them.

The Focus on Gus Van Sant runs from 21 to 29 February at ACMI.
The Latin American Film Festival runs from 28 February to 5 March at the Cinema Nova.
The Queer Film Festival runs from 5 to 16 March at ACMI.
The French Film Festival runs from 6 to 19 March at Palace Como, Westgarth and Balwyn cinemas.
Grindhouse is screening at the Astor Theatre from 20 to 30 March.
La Mirada - Jewels of Spanish Cinema is screening from 3 to 13 April at ACMI.
The Festival of German Cinema is screening from 17 to 27 April at Palace Como and Brighton Bay cinemas.
The Spanish Film Festival runs from 14 to 25 May at Palace Como and Westgarth cinemas.