The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar: Wristcutters, French Criminals, and More

Welcome to The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar, a weekly look at what's happening beyond the multiplexes all around North America. If you know of something indie-related happening near you -- a local festival, a series of classic restored films, lectures, workshops, etc. -- send the info to me at Eric.Snider(at)weblogsinc(dot)com and I'll add it to the list. (Please put "Cinematical" somewhere in the subject line so I can easily separate you from the spam.)

A few indie films are opening theatrically today. They're mostly just in New York and L.A. for now, but you can keep an eye out for when they come to where you are. Or you can take a road trip to see them! Wouldn't that be fun?

O Jerusalem is about a friendship between a Jew and an Arab, set against the historical backdrop of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. It opens today on a cluster of screens in New York and New Jersey.

Wristcutters: A Love Story has been kicking around since it debuted at Sundance way back in January 2006. Cinematical's Karina Longworth gave it a warm welcome at the time, and I agree with her. The problem, of course, is the title and the subject matter: The film is a quirky romantic comedy set in an afterlife populated by souls who died via suicide. Whee! Anyway, it's finally opening today in New York. Go see it!

Weirdsville is what our Monika Bartyzel called "Harold and Kumar meets Bubble Boy." Well, why not? It stars Wes Bentley and Scott Speedman and comes from Allan Moyle, director of Pump Up the Volume and Empire Records. Befitting its weird title, it has a weird release pattern, opening today in Portland, San Francisco, L.A., and Atlanta.

After the jump, festivals and special screenings in Oregon, Indianapolis, L.A., New York, Orlando, Sacramento, and Toronto....Grants Pass, Ore.: Just off I-5 in southern Oregon is the city of Grants Pass, home this weekend to the Rogue International Film Festival. Six features and numerous shorts (including animation and documentaries) will screen at the Rogue Theatre. No major titles that you'd recognize, but I do like the name of one of the shorts: Sometime Today I'm Going to Kill Ben Stiller. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? (Note: Cinematical does not endorse the killing of Ben Stiller.)

Indianapolis: Film festivals are well-known for showcasing edgy, adult work. But the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis, running now through Oct. 26, focuses on uplifting, family-values movies. Among this year's offerings are the beautiful documentary Hear and Now, the not-sexual-like-you'd-expect Lars and the Real Girl, the silly Twisted: A Balloonamentary, and 2005's Oscar-winning Crash. Please note that "uplifting" does not always mean "suitable for children," and that "Oscar-winning" does not always mean "Oscar-deserving." (OH SNAP!)

Los Angeles: I'm thinking of just moving in to the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, because there's some cool film program running there just about every week. Starting tonight, American Cinematheque presents "Crooks in Clover: Noir, French Style," a series of classic French crime films, most of them unavailable on DVD and hard-to-see in the United States. Tonight is Jacques Deray's The Swimming Pool (1969) and Rene Clement's Joy House (1964); Saturday is Costa-Gavras' first film, The Sleeping Car Murder (1965) and Claude Chabrol's The Champagne Murders (1967); Sunday is Deray's Borsalino (1970) and Ralph Nelson's Once a Thief (1965). The program runs next Wednesday through Sunday, too; check the website for the titles.

New York City: Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace (1968) won the Academy Award for best foreign film and has rarely been seen in its entirety in the United States -- probably because it's nearly 7 hours long. It cost $100 million to make, which in today's money would be something like half a billion dollars. And Film Forum is showing it, complete and uncut, in two chunks. You can see it spread out over a couple days, or see it all in one day (with intermissions, don't worry). Look, you've spent an entire day watching movies before. Why not spend an entire day watching one movie?

Orlando: Gotta love October. The Freak Show Horror Film Festival is pretty much what it sounds like: three nights of heavy-duty gore, zombies, vampires, and serial killers, running today through Sunday in Orlando. The features have titles like Ghost Month, Zombies, Zombies, Zombies!, Deadwood Park, and Carver. See them all ... IF YOU DARE! (And if you're in Orlando.)

Sacramento: At the other end of the country is the Sacramento Horror Film Festival, three nights of films, musical performances, and special guests (including the Candyman himself, Tony Todd!). A couple of the films are world premieres: Chris R. Notarile's Methodic and Rick Barnhill's Suspense of Disbelief.

Toronto: What do you know, they have horror up in Canada, too! The Toronto After Dark Film Festival kicks off tonight and runs through next Thursday, with a variety of horror and fantasy flicks from several different countries. Among them: David Arquette's The Tripper, Crispin Glover playing twins in Simon Says, mayhem-heavy Mulberry Street, and the horror comedy Murder Party. Oh, and don't miss Audience of One, a hilarious documentary about a priest trying to make a huge biblical epic film.

Is there something cool going on in your city? Send me a link! Eric.Snider(at)weblogsinc(dot)com (and please put "Cinematical" in the subject line!).