Last Saturday night, my wife and I caught Death at a Funeral at the Albany Theater. As you’d expect from a Landmark Theater, the movie was proceeded by trailers for upcoming Indiewood releases: Lust, Caution, Michael Clayton, The Darjeeling Limited, and Margot at the Wedding. With the exception of Michael Clayton, these are all getting their Bay Area premieres at the Mill Valley Film Festival, now in full force.
Other festivals don’t bring in so many high-profile premieres, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth attending. Here are some additional festivals opening up in the near future:
The Arab Film Festival runs from October 18 to the 28th, mostly at the Roxie. I haven’t seen any of the films in the schedule, but the more promising titles include a youth comedy that turns into a serious drama (Falafel), the story of a doctor who suspects he’s a vampire (The Last Man), and apparently dark Tender Is The Wolf, and a children’s cartoon called Carthage Castaways. Documentaries include Arabs and Terrorism, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies A People, and It’s Not a Gun (about a music teacher). Other locations include the Clay, Berkeley’s California Theater, and the Camera 12 in San Jose.
The CounterCorp Anti-Corporate Film Festival also opens on the 18th, but only for a three-day series at San Francisco’s Victoria Theater. The schedule is yet to be fully announced, so you’ll have to visit their site to see what’s playing.
And let’s not forget the Oakland Film Festival, also opening–you guessed it–on October 18 for a week at the Grand Lake Theater. This festival puts the emphasis on shorts, although it contains some features, as well. I’ll leave you to figure out what’s worth watching.
The United Nations Association Film Festival begins, astonishingly enough, on Wednesday, October 17 with Holy Warriors and War Dance at the Delancey Screening Room. But that’s just a preliminary. Most of the festival plays at Stanford University October 24 through 28.
Bayflicks 