Banff is my kinda town by MATTHEW HAYS Each year, the prestigious Banff Television Festival hands out a slew of awards honouring the very best on the idiot box. And for the past few years, the Cinémathèque québécoise has been showcasing an anthology of the best of each year's winners. This Wednesday (Nov. 22), the TV specials begin screening again and the entries for 2000 will disprove that old saying that calls TV a medium because it could never be very good. Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein, the Oscar-winning duo behind such excellent documentary fare as Common Threads and The Celluloid Closet, return with Pink Triangle, an exploration of the internment of gays and lesbians in Germany under the Third Reich. This film won the Special Jury Prize and has won raves at film fests around the world. The Best Documentary on the Arts entry is American Masters: Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood, which examines the former studio system. Michael Epstein directed this excellent feature-length look at how Hollywood operated then. Hitchcockphiles specifically and film buffs generally will not want to miss it. See repertory listings for details. For those who appreciate wacky, far-off, far-out, freaky and generally surreal movie experiences, be sure to check out A High Class Picture Show this Saturday (Nov. 18) at Casa Del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent). Brought to you by the fine people at Automatic Vaudeville, the evening will serve primarily as a screening of new uncensored short films, but will also include monologues, live music and prizes. Show begins at 9 p.m. and costs a mere $4! Where can you go wrong? For those of you who haven't heeded my repeated calls to rush over to the Goethe-Institut and see one of the marvellous films attributed to Douglas Sirk, this week is your big chance to catch up. On Friday (Nov. 17), they're showing my all-time fave Sirk, Magnificent Obsession at 6:30 p.m. Rock Hudson stars as a man desperate to make amends for wrongs he's committed in the past. It's a lush and beautiful melodrama, one that could serve as a perfect companion piece to this week's Bounce, directed and written by Don Roos. One of the greatest, most twisted children's films screens this Friday (Nov. 17) at 10:15 p.m. at the Cinéma du Parc. Pee-wee's Big Adventure put both Tim Burton and Pee-wee Herman on the pop-culture map. Though the film has its slower moments, the high points make it utterly unmissable. Best of all, though the film works well on video, the very best place to screen it is among a crowd of equally twisted minds. Run, don't walk, to the Parc this Friday! Finally, the 3rd annual Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire continues this weekend, concluding on Sunday, Nov. 19. This mini-fest includes some of the very best documentaries from around the world. Info: www.ridm.qc.ca COMMENTS: mhays@mtl-mirror.com