It’s autumn, so that means the film festival season kicks off. E. Nina Rothe writes about her appreciation of the Saudi film festivals that have just started with the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. Amongst the films on show are new works by Robert Redford and Sally Potter. Italian screen legend Claudia Cardinale will receive a lifetime achievement award. Read more here.

Associated Press snag an interview with Barbara Broccoli as the Bond publicity juggernaut rears it’s unstoppable head again in the run up to the release of Skyfall on 23 October. The article includes some interesting, behind-the-scenes tittle tattle that also features in the Bond documentary released this weekend, Everything or Nothing.

Solid, well-written New Yorker piece from critic David Denby who opines the loss of grown-up movies and fears for the future of cinema itself. Whilst he praises some genre films and the animated output of companies such as Pixar, is the cinema degrading itself in a general sense? Denby is a man who adores cinema; well worth a read.