In this week in film, with the Sprockets Film Festival beginning this Saturday, there can be no other destination for anybody with kids. But the charm of Sprockets is that many of the films don't require a date under the age of 12 to be enjoyed. The Dutch film The Substitute which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, is a sci-fi film about a 12 year old convinced that the new substitute teacher at his school is really an alien. Paprika Steen plays the icy, remorseless substitute teacher in the film which Sprockets recommends to children 10 and up, so I think the rest of us can handle it. For less scary fare however, read on.

The Assassination of Jesse James is CINSSU's Free Friday Film this week, and is the last film until school starts back up in September. This frontier film features a fantastic performance by Casey Affleck as Robert Ford and intense score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The screening begins tomorrow night at 7pm at Innis Town Hall, but come early! A film like this may very well fill up.

Dig In to Docs continues their monthly series with Through a Blue Lens on Monday April 14th at 7pm at Bloor Collegiate. The film this month features Vancouver's downtown east-side, up close and personal with addicts on the streets and the police who deal with them. While Dig In is pay-what-you-can, the suggested donation is $4 per person.

The Diesel Film Racing Tour, a film event where a team has 24 hours to create a short film around 3-5 minutes in length, has extended registration until tonight. The Film Race begins tomorrow at 10pm and all entries must be turned in with proper documentation by 10pm Saturday evening. The final results will be screened on Wednesday at 7pm at the Bloor Cinema. It's not quite as sexy as the 69-Hour Film Challenge at Darryl's Hard Liquor and Porn Film Festival, but should be fun nonetheless.

The Cinematheque is premiering a programme dedicated to New Romanian Cinema tomorrow night with the screening of 12:08 East of Bucharest about a television interview that goes awry concerning two men allegedly involved in the anti-Ceausescu revolution 16 years earlier. The programme will run until the end of the spring season and I will feature a few more of the films in the weeks to come.

Image: Vikaren (The Substitute) from Folkets Bio