The Circuit

Lineups from Austin (whose hub is the beautiful Driskill Hotel, pictured) and London were announced today as the flicks from Telluride, Venice, and Toronto start drifting over the globe. London already announced “Eastern Promises” and “The Darjeeling Limited” will bookend.  Between them a bunch of world cinema screens like “The Band’s Visit,” “Lust, Caution,” “Glory to the Filmmaker!”  Full program here.

Austin’s a different beast.  It’ll open with the Sundance 2007 opener “Chicago 10,” picked up at Cannes by Roadside and set for release sometime in February 2008.  The film reportedly has been tightened since Cannes.  Closing will be “Juno,” which is having a marathon fest run.  Sandwiched inside is a competition lineup of premieres including “On the Doll” about childhood abuse and Noah Buschel’s “Neal Cassady,” about Jack Kerouac’s friend and inspiration.  Full program here.

I wish it weren’t true, but a world premiere at many fests caught between Toronto and Sundance means trouble.  The optimism for these films may look good in the program and to sponsors, but I wonder if it’s still worth it after the film “world premieres” to negative reviews and bad word-of-mouth.  In my experience, they usually do.

More interesting about these fests is the side programs, where trends are “curated,” not “premiered.”  In their “Viet Film Wave,” Austin picked films from a tight knit filmmaking community in Orange County about being Vietnamese in America post-Vietnam War. 

Similarly, London has “Romanian Cinema: The Next Wave,” a not-altogether new but still interesting idea of films like “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days” and “California Dreamin’ (Endless)” that mark that country’s emergence.  Programs like these give a historical sense of definition, and if done correctly, the films feed each other and sometimes create a major/minor movement.  Mumblecore is a recent example. 

(Now the test will be how a movement can survive the praise and backlash.)