The 4 1/2 weeks between now and the end of February is arguably one of the two busiest such spans of the year as far as international film festivals go, with the August-September bunching of Locarno, Edinburgh, Montreal, Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York being the other. It’s also a chance for me to get out of New York in the dead of winter and wander a bit across Northern Europe, connect with friends I don’t see very often and catch up on some exceptional cinema.