Italian film director Federico Fellini first read the works of psychiatrist Carl Jung in 1961, under the influence of Ernst Bernhard, a well-known Jungian analyst. Fellini was so blown away by Jung’s ideas on the role of archtypes and the human unconcious that he immediately started incorporating them into his movies along with such techniques as non-linear timelines, surrealism, and psychedelia. Fellini is recognized today as one of the most signficant directors of his time, one whose influence upon the filmmakers who followed him is still considered highly potent even in these days when major studios wouldn’t dream of funding a movie half as avante garde as his best known works. One of these movies is playing this weekend at NWFF: Satyricon, set in ancient Rome is loosely–very loosely–based on the surviving fragments of an epic poem some believe the be the world’s first novel and is an acid trip of disordered time, vivid and often overwhelming symbolic imagery, and a story that sometimes makes sense. Also at NWFF is another Italian director’s film from 1969–Luchino Visconti’s The Damned, a striking and shocking account of the rise of facism in 1930s Germany told through a series of stimulating set pieces.

Max Solomon is 24 years and 364 days old when the horrible truth strikes him: he’s never going to be the great writer he’s always imagined himself to be. Bored with listening to his equally undistinguished friends prattle on about the things they’re going to do and be “someday”, he impulsively walks out of the diner where they’ve been hanging out, crosses the street and robs a bank. His boldness inspires his friend Tommy to get a job and his friend Dave to worry a lot. Directed by Monty Miranda and starring the script’s writer, Spencer Berger, in the lead role, Skills Like These is a quirky, offbeat comedy that slows down a bit after the initial excitement of its opening scenes but remains genial in a low-key way largely due to the likeability of its ensemble cast. This SXSW winner opens Friday at SIFF.

Winged Migration, the amazingly appealing film about birds flying, is this weekend’s Film4Families feature. I say “amazingly appealing” because the first time I heard about it, I found myself wondering outloud just how interesting a full-length feature about avian flight could possibly be, but once I saw it, I was hooked. Very young children might have a hard time sitting still for it and sensitive kids might be a bit upset by a short hunting scene, but most kids (and grown ups) will be enthralled by the stunning cinematography and the palpable sense of wonder that comes from watching the freedom of flight. As an added bonus, the movie is followed by a visit from D1, a Peregrine Falcon from the Woodland Park Zoo.

These days the “X” rating is a meaningless marketing tool for the porn industry where everything‘s got that designation but back in 1974 Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Arabian Nights X-rating was significant. Even by today’s much looser standards, this is a not a film for the young; in fact, Grand Illusion isn’t admitting anyone under of the age of 17 to their screening of Pasolini’s adaptation of three erotic tales from the legendary and ancient One Thousand and One Nights. (Yes, Virginia, they had sexy stories way back then, too.)

If you somehow missed In Bruges when it was in theaters last year, you’re not alone: the black comedy about a pair of hit men (played by Colin Farrell and Brenden Gleeson) sent to Belgium to cool off from the heat in London got a lot of critical praise but not a lot of wide distribution. If you’d like to see it, you’re in luck this weekend as it is the midnight film at The Egyptian Friday and Saturday.

“Bad” on a multiple of levels, Predator may be the only action movie of the 1980s starring two musclebound men who would eventually become governors of large states in the USA. Since it stars current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and co-stars former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura in a story that involves the CIA, the US Army and a Guatamalan guerilla army, it could be tempting to see Predator as an elaborate political tale, but it’s really just a fun, fast-paced sci fi action flick, ideal for watching over pizza and beer at Central Cinema.