For most of the country, this is the time for festivals. Santa Fe is no different (despite being the City Different).The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival graced us with the adaptation of Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima. Now the Santa Fe Film Festival brings us a bit more of the Hollywood side of cinema. The festival will screen Dustin Hoffman's feature film debut, Quartet, and Rust and Bone, which is the newest film by the acclaimed director of Un Prophet, Jacques Audiard. Rust and Bone features a shattering performance by Marion Cotillard.

One of the films that I've been looking forward to all year, Amour, is premiering at the festival, too. Amour is directed by one of the most unflinching and thought-provoking directors of our time, Michael Haneke and is his most heartbreaking film yet. Most people find his films hard to watch because he doesn't make movies for entertainment. He reveals the honest, if cruel, face of humanity. He shows a deliberate, unbiased style of filming. It's a slow-paced style, but it grows on you and seeps into your bones. Amour looks to be a different type of subject matter than that which Haneke usually deals with, but I imagine it will have the familiar dread-like tone found in all of his films.

In a recent interview with filmmaker James Hook on his newest film, VacationLand, which premiers at this year's festival, Hook says, "If [Santa Fe] is good enough for DH Lawrence, it's good enough for me!" With '70s actress Karen Black of Five Easy Pieces starring in his film, he told me, "I was influenced by Karen Black's films, of course, but also quiet, family dramas. Still Walking by Hirokazu Koreeda was one of my influences." On the finishing of the film, he says, "Secretly, I felt that the young girl in the film is great. She's my daughter, but I swear I'm not boasting. I have this film with great people in this beautiful place, all frozen in time." Hook joins the fest, along with his film on Sunday, at 3:45 pm, at The Screen.

This festival looks to be one of the best that Santa Fe has ever had in terms of the quality of film-making. These are some of the greatest times to be a cinefile and a general movie goer. Don't ever be afraid to try a new type of film. In sheltering ourselves with all that Hollywood crap, we don't realize that a whole other side of cinema exists outside of that poster-boy bullshit. You'll be surprised to find what's behind that pulled curtain. (Jose V Chavez)

For more information on the films and the festival, visit santafefilmfestival.com