Fall is film festival season, if you hadn’t noticed. Indeed, this weekend is so loaded with explosive sound and images that it resembles the climactic (and overwhelming) barrage of a fireworks show. If you can’t find something to suit your taste, friend, you just don’t like movies. Film buffs, for their part, are in worse straits, fretting over how to possibly catch every movie they want — excuse me, need — to see.
The American Indian Film Festival is already in full swing, and continues through Saturday, Nov. 11 at the Brava Theater Center in the Mission. New Italian Cinema unspools Nov. 8-12 at the Castro (opening night) and the Vogue, while Berlin & Beyond Autumn Showcase screens Nov. 9 at the Roxie and Nov. 10-11 at the Goethe-Institut. Joining the party is the first annual Cinematografo International Film Festival, spotlighting Filipino and Filipino-American filmmakers Nov. 9-12 at the AMC Dine-In Kabuki.
And that’s not all. The 3rd i International South Asian Film Festival turns 15 Nov. 9, 10 and 12 at the New People Cinema, Nov. 11 at the Castro and Nov. 18 at the CineArts in Palo Alto. Filmmaker Arshad Kahn raises the curtain with his first-person documentary, Abu (Father), a rich reminiscence of growing up gay in Pakistan and Canada that was a hit at this year’s Frameline festival. The wildly talented composer and double violinist Gingger Shankar also mines family history — the pioneering musical contributions of her mother and grandmother — in a live multimedia performance of her Sundance sensation, Nari: The Unsung Story of the Women from India’s First Family of Music.
The revival of a Bollywood smash is a 3rd i tradition, and a darn popular one. This year’s rocker-rafter is Om Shanti Om (Nov. 11) on its 10th anniversary, starring the irrepressible (and mighty handsome) Shah Rukh Khan. Bring your dancing shoes — and, if you’re racing to or from another festival, wear your running shoes.
