Local film offerings an embarrassment of riches

It's starting to become an embarrassment of riches for local filmgoers.....The Windsor Jewish Film Festival concludes today with 10 films. (As usual it would be nice to see a broader audience for this great fest set in an excellent theatre at Devonshire.)…..But there's more - lots more - as we head into late spring, usually a time when things are winding down. Cineplex Odeon continues its Front Row Centre offerings, adding more and more variety. Tonight, with an encore May 11, is NPR’s quiz show Wait Wait..Don’t Tell Me featuring Steve Martin. William Wyler’s 1953 Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn is on May 5, 8 and 13. The Metropolitan Opera series continues with Zandonai by Francesca da Rimini May 4 and Handel’s Giulio Cesare June 1 and 3. There’s the new Exhibition series which screens important current art exhibitions. The Royal Academy of Arts presents 19th century French painter Edouard Manet in an encore May 25. Rockshow starring Paul McCarthy & Wings is on May 15 & 22. And the Sinister Series’ Last Will & Testament of Rosalind Leigh is on May 9 only. The Bolshoi Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet is on May 12, and the U.K. National Theatre’s This House screens May 16. Finally, there is the Family Favourites Saturday morning series. Cineplex just keeps pumping them out, obviously tapping into what it has found to be a wider and more diversified market than the mainstream audience……Then, for your enjoyment, is the Windsor International Film Festival’s recently announced Summer Series kicking off with Ken Loach’s Scottish comedy-drama The Angels Share tonight at 6.15 followed by François Ozon’s In the House, a voyeuristic suspense-thriller at 8.30 (picture above). On May 15 there’s Abbas Kiarostami’s highly-regarded and a Palme d’Or competitor Like Someone in Love followed by Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams, co-produced and directed by Nicks and former Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart…..And the latest new film festival on the horizon? Cinetopia. This is actually in its second year. Starting out in Ann Arbor last year it has branched to the Detroit Film Theatre June 6 – 9. There will be more than 40 films drawn from festivals around the world. Hence the name! Nine of them, with special guests, will be in Detroit. More on this in a future post.