Moscow International Film Festival Run Down.

Yeah, I'm a sucker for trolling festival web sites ... it's by far the best way to find out what's new and hot in the film world. The Moscow International Film Festival is running right now and it's an interesting one, drawing on parts of the world that are largely ignored by most western festivals. Here's what I've been able to dig up:

From the films in Competition:

The Frozen Land. A Finnish youthful angst film. Trailer looks reasonably good.

The Guitar Mongoloid. No, I did not make that title up. A Swedish film with a solid premise and quite possibly the most counter-intuitive website I have ever seen. There is such a thing as too much pointless Flash, people.

The Last Moon. A Chilean / Mexican / Palestinian co-production contrasting a Palestinian family that choosies to emigrate to Chile with one that stays in their home country.

Dear Wendy. Yep, the Vinterberg / Von Trier collaboration that we've talked up several times already. I'll shut up about it once it finally makes it to local screens. Go watch the trailer. It's good.

Hassan's Smile. A French production about a Christian monk tending a wounded smuggler in the mountains of the middle east. The little tv icon at the top of the page is the trailer link ...

The Porcelain Doll. A Hungarian film made up of three linked stories from a famous novella. Sounds as though they're aiming for an allegorical fairy tale with this one ...

Bal-Can-Can. A Macedonian production telling the story of Yugoslavian brothers drawn into the criminal underworld and the fractious civil war that broke Yugoslavia into pieces.

Welcome Home. An Austrian film that follows deported illegal immigrants back to their native Ghana, the country they were trying to flee.

From the Perspective Series:

Shichinin No Tomurai. Only the second non-Kitano film produced by Office Kitano. Stauffen's been following this one much more closely than we have but with the talent involved you know it has to be solid.

The Texture of Skin. The rather more adult live action film from the director of acclaimed Korean animation feature My Beautiful Girl Mari. Based on the stills I've seen on the production company site this may be one of those films that plays uncut only on the festival circuit before being altered for release at home ...

Shark In The Head. Best title ever. It's a Czech film about a man who builds a vibrant fantasy life based on items he finds digging through garbage cans. I'm hoping this makes it to Toronto because the premise is solid and the footage looks great ...

Couples. A big French relationship drama ... looks like they're aiming for a Big Chill vibe ...