The Circuit

Fest Bits

Marfa fest gets "Blood." The baby-fresh fest will open with Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood," unspooling it in the place where it all began - on its set in Marfa, TX. In fact, it'll be screening on an outdoor screen owned by Alamo Drafthouse's Tim League, who preemed the film at the 2007 Fantastic Fest in Austin.

Telluride fest is accepting entries for its 35th event, running August 29 – September 1. Feature and short film submissions completed after July 15, 2007 will be received until July 15. Only feature-length films looking for their North American premiere will be accepted. As always, the program is kept under tight lock-and-key until opening day, after which the fest unspools 25 features and 30-40 shorts. Rules and entry forms can be grabbed here.

The California Independent Film Festival will honor legendary producer John Daly ("Platoon," The Last Emperor") with a Lifetime Achievement award on April 20. Also on tap is a "Actor's Studio-esque" talk with Penny Marshall, with John Madden in the role of James Lipton. Mary Stuart Masterson will get the Diamond Award given to excellent women in film. She'll also screen her film "Cake Eaters." More info here.

Sprockets, Toronto's kid film fest, kicks off this weekend. Some of their titles? "My Happy End," "My Greatest Day Ever," and "A Sunny Day." The most depressing title of the lot is "Giraffe in the Rain" and he doesn't look that sad about it.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles will launch the BAFTA/LA British Comedy Festival in LA on April 28 that will honor the best in Brit TV and film comedy. A panel that included Judd Apatow, Jake Kasdan, Adam Shankman, Nicholas Stoller, Hollywood Reporter's Elizabeth Guider and Variety's Steve Gaydos has chosen "Hot Fuzz," "Magicians," and "Run, Fatboy, Run" as finalists. The winner will be announced May 1.

In other inaugural news, Charleston gets a film festival. Their first annual event kicks off on May 1 for four days in South Carolina. For info, go to www.charlestonIFF.com.

The Nashville Film Festival has award the NPT Human Spirit Award to Barry Simmons' "Sons of Lwala." The docu is about two Kenyan brothers whose village sends them to the US to become doctors. The award comes with $1,000 and a broadcast on Nashville Public Television. The Nashville Film Festival runs April 17-24.

Nick Lowe will kick off the Tribeca fest's ASCAP Music Lounge on April 29. The 4th event will also include preformances by Regina Spektor, Sia, Jon Foreman, Joseph Arthur, Sondre Lerche, Rachael Yamagata, and Chris Thile. The Lounge will be located at the Canal Room, 285 West Broadway at Canal Street.

Rita Moreno and Bill Pullman are slated to attend the Rochester High Falls International Film Festival. Pullman will introduce his film "Phoebe in Wonderland." Later Pullman and Moreno will be at the screening of "Fermat's Room," where Moreno will be presented the Susan B. Anthony "Failure is Impossible" Award by Pullman. The fest showcases the work of women in front and behind the camera.

The April 7th issue of The New Yorker has an extensive piece by Richard Brody on the birth of the French New Wave ("Auteur Wars"), opening with the 1959 screening of Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" at the Cannes Film Festival. While it's nothing new to film schoolers, it should be required reading for anyone thinking about film school. Truffaut (pictured) "learned his craft not in film school or through on-set experience but from endless hours of watching movies..." Alas, the article is not online, but it's worth the cover price.

The 2008 Indianapolis International Film Festival announced its lineups. The fifth annual festival takes place April 23 – May 3, 2008 in Indiana. 74 films will compete for Grand Jury Prizes and the NUVO Audience Award for Best Short Film. Full list is here.

Sundance's Geoff Gilmore will deliver a keynote speech at the 2nd annual Europe edition of the International Film Festival Summit in London on April 16. He's expected to talk on "on festival trends, the state of independent film and where the festival community is headed." More info here.

Provincetown International fest will award Quentin Tarantino with its 2008 Filmmaker on the Edge Award. It's also invited the 9 previous Edge winners to town to celebrate the fest's 10th anniversary - John Waters, Christine Vachon, Ted Hope, James Schamus, Gus Van Sant, Todd Haynes, Jim Jarmusch, Mary Harron, Gregg Araki, and Todd Solondz.

City of Lights, City of Angels fest, LA's torrid one-week affair with French film, has announced their lineup. It includes Sandrine Bonnaire's doc, "Her Name is Sabine," a portrait of the filmmaker's austic sister taken from 25 years of footage. Variety will also host Happy Hour Talks, a series of panels featuring fest filmmakers.

I'm not really sure what the Los Angeles United Film Festival is all united about. From their website, it seems the fest was suddenly created by Jason Connell upon the completion of his first first feature length film "Strictly Background." He's also created New York United and Tulsa United fests. And wouldn't you know it - "Strictly Background" has played those fests, too.

Malibu resident Michael Madsen will be honored for achievements in acting at the 9th edition of the Malibu International film fest on April 6. They'll also show Madsen's "Strength and Honor" as their closing night.

Ashland Independent fest will host doc filmmaker Albert Maysles and Helen Hunt, fresh from opening her film, "Then She Found Me," at AFI Dallas fest. Among their programming picks - "When Did You Last See Your Father?", Mary Stuart Masterson's "The Cake Eaters," and the Slamdance winner "The New Year Parade."

Method Fest starts its 10th edition in Calabasas, CA on March 27. On the screen will be Tom McCarthy's "The Visitor," Hunt's "Then She Found Me," and the world preem of Rick Bieber's "Crazy," based on the life of guitar player Hank Garland.