Jim Brunzell III

This weekend, there is another film festival about 75 miles south of the Twin Cities, in Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin. The Flyway Film Festival has now reached the five-year mark.

Over the next few days, the Twin Cities film community has plenty to choose from—films in mainstream venues, at the Walker Art Center, and at the Twin Cities Film Festival.

Starting today in Austin, Texas is the fifth annual "Fantastic Fest," a genre fest of horror, suspense, mystery, sci-fi, and cult films, which I would I'd love to attend some day. But courtesy of FF and IFC Films, four of the films premiering at "Fantastic" will also be available on IFC's newest label, IFC Midnight, on demand through various local cable and satellite providers for 30 days. Three of the films—the British psychological horror film Heartless, the French thriller High Lane, and the Australian monster horror flick Primal—are all making their U.S. debuts at the festival, but the fourth film, USA/UK shocker Red White & Blue, screened earlier this year at MSPIFF and is hard to forget.

Technically autumn doesn't begin until September 23, but for most studios, the fall movie season started last Friday, September 3. That's because studios look for their strongest films to release during the months of September through December, searching for Oscar gold. Between now and December 31, close to 100 films will be released in theaters, seeking our attention, money and praise. It is the fall movie season.