Sad news happens all the time around the planet, and each sad story is of different proportions. I can't say that the news that shook my world (and some of yours, who are reading this) this week could be considered terrible in regards to what many societies are going through every day. The fact is, however, that Fantasy Moguls will no longer exist in a matter of days, and with that disappearance, this is officially the last Dances with the Arthouse column I will ever write for the site.

America is a nation of proud people. Proud of their country, proud of their image, proud of their beliefs. The feeling of collective confidence is probably more developed than in any other nation on the globe. That pride does not skip the cinema, and by the calendar alone, it is easy to guess which films distributors are proud to be releasing. Your movie is getting a January release? An end-of-August/beginning-of-September release? A March or April release? It looks like your distributor does not entirely believe your film will be remembered by cinephiles. Of course, small distributors are less apt to think that way as most of the time they only buy films they've been charmed by.

Choosing an arthouse film as a Fantasy Moguls player is sometimes as tricky as choosing an arthouse film to go and see at your local arthouse theater (if you happen to live near one). Sometimes you think you just need to bank on a respected director, on a critic's favorite, or on a festival winner. Or even better if those three qualities are united in the very same film (they are easy to spot, and don't come along every week).

A little break in everyday life is always welcome. Even when you have an exciting and challenging everyday life. In real life, you take a plane and fly half the way across the globe to resource yourself. In Fantasy Moguls, you may pause in your usual examination of films to take a more global view of what's cooking in the coming trimester. So prepare for a little survey on the 15 biggest, or at least most promising, arthouse films of the upcoming holiday season, from November to January.

Nov. 7. Just a date in the calendar. Another Friday, with new films opening at America's theaters. Animated animals, horror nightmares, funny men with funny kids. If it all should come down to one film though, on that particular weekend, there is one that will not get much attention outside of a few geeks who know what JCVD means. That's right, if you are not reading my column for the first time, then you know what I am talking about. The comeback of Van Damme. In fact that is not even true, because JCVD looks nothing like anything the famous Belgian actor has ever done. It's his first lead role in his native French language. His first true dramatic performance. And an amazingly good one.

Fall is the season of prestigious arthouse pictures. The season when a small film has a shot at garnering as much attention as a Hollywood blockbuster, thanks to word of mouth, reviews and, of course, awards hopes. This year will be no different, except on the weekend of Oct. 31 when ... Well, when you won't need to rush to a theater near you — except if you want to catch a movie from a prior week you will have missed. Because that last weekend of October (or first one of November, if you prefer), is pretty darned impoverished, film-wise. While Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen fans will have plenty to get excited about, arthouse fans will feel bored.

Amazing, what can happen in a short lapse of time when you are out of reach and disconnected from your everyday life. I exiled myself for 10 days of vacation, and by the time I come back, Paul Newman had passed away, Kenneth Branagh had exchanged his usual Shakespeare material for Marvel and a Chihuahua had taken the U.S. box office by storm. As a fan of Branagh, I'm curious about his vision for Thor, but I could hardly tell you I'm happy about the other two news items. Enough introduction, however, as I am here to tell you about the Oct. 24 limited releases: Is there any film worthy of your Fantasy Moguls attention, between a Bollywood animated feature, a supernatural thriller, a French melodrama, a Charlie Kaufman fantasy and a Clint? (That's right. Just ... a Clint. Go ahead. Make my day.) Let's find out.

Note: Indie Jones is on vacation. We continue his musings from last week with a report on the state of the Madonna family's cinematic ventures.

Talking about Mike Leigh and Wong Kar Wai in an arthouse-dedicated column [as Indie did last week] seems perfectly right. Guy Ritchie ... well a bit less of course, but he's still a "foreign" filmmaker. But Ritchie's wife?! Exactly, Madonna, the once sulfurous pop music queen, who has "achieved" a work which puts her in the same category in my column as great masters of cinema. I know, that does not feel right. But Filth and Wisdom does open limited on Oct. 17 ... one week after the arrival of Ritchie's RockNRolla. (What are the odds?)

The fall film season is in full swing these days, with the successful limited launches of The Duchess and Appaloosa, both of which collected strong PTA numbers (unfortunately reducing Towelhead to scraps after only one week). With the number of serious pretenders to PTA crowns among the weeks of autumn, we shall not be surprised by such turnovers, as there will only be a few chosen ones at the end of the season that were true arthouse goldmines at the box office, in the shadow of the bigger prestigious films produced by Hollywood. Among last year's champs were Into the Wild, The Darjeeling Limited, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Persepolis.

Gooooooood eeeeveniiing, laaadieeees and gentlemen. I am today's entertainment. Or, more precisely, today's adviser. Well, I guess I'm an entertainer, too. it's always interesting (and sometimes helpful, I hope) to have another man's opinion, when it comes to deciding which independent film will make a good impression in America's arthouse theaters. RIght? Most of us won't catch up to these films on opening weekend, for they are playing in so few locations, but patience is a virtue most film lovers are accustomed to exerting. (Okay, I must confess, I was too tired of waiting for Napoleon Dynamite to be released in France, so I bought the Region 1 DVD years ago. Had I not done so, I'd still be waiting to see the film).