Kris Kristensen, the President and Co-Founder of the 20/20 Awards says that he has always been baffled by people who respond to “What’s your favorite film?” with a film that came out last year. “I always thought it was unrealistic that in 100 years of film, the best one just came out last year. And what puzzled me about this is that it seemed like there wasn’t enough time to have the perspective to really support that idea. Now it could very well be that 10 years later, it turns out that that film actually is that person’s favorite film, but more likely than not… that film has been forgotten. We often get caught up in trends or politics of the day, or maybe a film does something that’s technically ground breaking, but doesn’t really mean that it has the staying power… maybe it’s just a flash in the pan.”

After a friend pointed out a blurb from Matt Damon about how the Oscars should be held 10 years after the fact to provide some genuine perspective, Kristensen mentioned this to his friend Korby Sears and the two of them came up with the brilliant idea to take a look back at previous Oscar winners and see if they truly were deserving. Ten years, they decided, was not enough, so they chose 20 and thus the 20/20 Awards were born.

They did an amazing amount of work in a short amount of time by gathering together their voting Syndicate, a group of 45 members (which they hope to expand) made up of working film professionals from all over the globe, including several members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – yes, that’s the Academy that Oscar winners thank. To qualify, a member must have credit in the main titles of a feature film that received some form of distribution (not including self distribution).

The members looked back at the films of 1989 that were nominated and won and reviewed them to see if they really deserved their prizes or, if maybe another film was more deserving.

The 20/20 Awards even have their own version of the Oscar – the Felix. (If it takes you a minute to get this joke, don’t worry – I didn’t get it until I typed that sentence just now.)

Is there a ceremony? Of course there’s a ceremony, with all the pomp and party you would expect, but with way less camera cuts to commercials…live at Central Cinema on Monday, March 15 at 7pm. Tickets for the extravaganza are a mere $7 and of course Central Cinema has an excellent menu if you require libations during the ceremony.

During the presentation, the old Oscars will be represented wearing bandanas and smoking cigarettes. They are under fire – if they lose, they are thrown into a plexiglass trash can on stage.

Some notes from the 20/20 organizers:

The inevitable cease-and-desist letter from the lawyers of AMPAS – which was surprisingly friendly, breezy, and showed a sense of humor about the 20/20s
-Some film industry people accepted the invitation into the 20/20 Voting Syndicate body, thought about their advancing careers, and then requested to leave, worried about this being on their “record”
- 7 Nominees for 20/20 Awards are deceased. Their agents / estates / nearest relatives have been notified, and are aware of the nominations
-Of the 6 new 20/20 nominations for Best Picture, none of them were nominated by the original Academy back in 1990.
-Spike Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING, which received little love in 1990, is nominated for seven 20/20 Awards.
-Michael Moore’s ROGER AND ME, which wasn’t even nominated by the Academy in 1990, has been nominated for Best Documentary by the 20/20 Voting Syndicate. Given that fact that what happened to Flint in the mid-80s – outsourcing used to pump corporate profits while devastating the local workforce – has now happened on a nationwide basis, this is possibly the epitome of what the 20/20s are all about. ROGER AND ME is more relevant now than it was in 1989.

The 20/20 Awards should be great fun and I know I’ll be looking forward to the results.

The Seattle Jewish Film Festival kicked off with a pre-opening night party at Palace Ballroom featuring food and drinks, Israeli singer/songwriter Anna He, and local filmmaker Andy Schocken presenting clips from his films, including the Oscar-nominated documentary he co-produced, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner. The SJFF officially opens Saturday, with Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film nominee Ajami, a “gritty, urban crime drama that tells the interwoven stories of Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighbors living in bloody disharmony in Israel’s impoverished Jaffa neighborhood”.

The festival continues through March 21 with films and special events at a variety of venues including SIFF, Cinerama, the Stroum Jewish Community Center, and the Washington State History Museum. Films being screened include dramas (like Jaffa, a modernized take on Romeo and Juliet relocated to the port city of Jaffa where a young Jewish woman has a secret love affair with an Arab man), comedies (like, Hey, Hey It’s Esther Blueberger stars Little Miss Sunshine‘s Toni Collette and Whale Rider‘s Keisha Castle-Hughes in quirky tale of coming of age and finding your own identity) and a slew of documentaries from around the world including Look Into My Eyes, filmmaker Naftaly Gliksberg examination of anti-Semitism on two continents, and Amnon’s Story about master violin maker, Amnon Weinstein who restores Holocaust-era instruments. See schedule for full details.

NW Film Forum screens 45365 for a week, starting Friday. Directors Bill and Ross Turner turn their cameras on their own hometown of Sydney, Ohio, for a look at the ordinary lives of ordinary people presented without judgment. Saturday and Sunday only, NWFF screens Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight, 1970 and Saturday only see Lunch Films a collection of short films each made for about the cost of a good lunch – topping out at $67.50 but averaging under $40.

The Grand Illusion goes back to the garden with Gold: Before Woodstock, Beyond Reality, a 1968 film by director Bob Levis. Considered a “lost” film for 40 years, Gold is the result of Levis leading a motley group of the tuned in and dropped out into the wilderness to make a movie that defies simple description. An artifact of a different time, to be sure.

Central Cinema pays tribute to everyone’s favorite spy with a series of James Bond films. Friday and Saturday see Goldfinger, Sunday through Monday see On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and wrap up the fest early next with with Moonraker.

“Hello, handsome. Is that a ten-gallon hat or are you just enjoying the show?” Blazing Saddles, Midnight at the Egyptian.

Trader Joe’s Silent Movie Mondays at the Paramount are always a good deal: silent film classics screened with live music from the mighty Wurlizter organ and tasty, healthy snacks from the beloved grocery chain.

Every series has a theme and the current one is appropriate for anyone looking for the winter, mild as it’s been, to be over: Silents from the South Seas showcases the South Pacific, a favorite locale for early filmmakers due to its beautiful landscapes and exotic cultures. Tonight’s film was LeGong: Dance of the Virgins. Following a brief presentation by Balinese dancer Niluh Saraswatini and a talk by Dr. Christina Sunardi (UW professor of ethnomusicology), came the film. Totally exploitative but a genuine artifact of the sentiments of director Marquis Henry de la Falaise, LeGong was a two-color Technicolor story of a sacred dancer who falls in love with a young musician.

Next up is Sadie Thompson, screening March 15. Gloria Swanson, Lionel Barrymore and Raoul Walsh, who also directed, star in a film about a South Sea island lady of the night who seduces a hellfire preacher. Shocking to 1928 audiences, Sadie Thompson is rather tame for modern filmgoers, but remains an excellent example of Ms. Swanson’s vast talent – the role earned her an Academy Award nomination.

March 22 see FW Murnau’s Tabu: A Story of the South Seas. Murnau’s final work was a collaboration with documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty that tells the tale of a fisherman who falls in love with a young woman who has been offered up to the gods, making her the “taboo” of the title.

March 29 is the Trader Joe’s Wild Card. Stop by a local Trader Joe’s and vote for your choice of short films from the catalog of works by Charlie Chaplin – the top three vote getters will be screened this night. No matter which films win, you can’t go wrong with Charlie.

Ever wonder who makes up the jury that hands out awards at film festivals? Most of the time, it’s a selection of film professionals–writers, directors, technicians, etc.–which makes sense. Why not have peers reviewing their peers?

SIFF agrees. During their annual festival, their featuries, documentaries, and shorts of all sorts are reviewed with an eye for excellence by a group of professionals.

Two special programs within the festival, however, require two special juries. The Films4Families program is aimed at introducing young children to the joys of film. The FutureWave program is about introducing young people to filmmaking by hand-ons immersion. These special groups of films get judged by the people most important to them–the young people who make them and the young people for whom they’re made.

SIFF is seeking jury members for both programs. To be eligible, you must be a student in King County who really cares about film. If you are in grades 3 – 7, you can apply to be on the Films4Families jury. If you’re in grades 8 – 12, you can apply to be on the FutureWave jury. (As someone who is way older than either of those groups, I envy you a bit: every year some of my favorite films in the festival come out of these two categories.)

To apply, go online and download the application here.

If you need more information, send an e-mail to futurewave@siff.net or call 206.464.5830.

One of the hits at last year’s SIFF, Prodigal Sons returns to Seattle for an engagement at SIFF Cinema starting Friday. Director Kimberly Reed takes you to her hometown of Helena, Montana where the big news isn’t that Kimberly used to be star high school quarterback Paul before her sex change operation; Kimberly gamely answers questions for her curious former classmates but they generally take the news in stride. Reed decides to connect with her brother Marc, whom she hasn’t seen in over ten years and that’s where the drama begins. A traumatic brain injury at age 21 turned Marc truculent and prone to violence but Kimberly reaches out to her brother and agrees to help him find the birth parents who gave him up for adoption which is when he learns that he is the biological grandchild of Hollywood legends Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. A very personal film, Prodigal Sons is intriguing and well-made. Kimberly’s story is interesting, as is her brother’s, and the movie asks a lot of challenging questions about identity, personality and family life well worth considering.

ByDesign10 is NW Film Forum‘s program that “explores the intersection of graphic design and moving image, and celebrates multidisciplinary artists who push the boundaries to create new techniques, styles and forms.” The week-long series includes a variety of film title sequences, animations, documentary portraits, and special guest presenters. Husband and wife art team Charles and Ray Eames helped inspire the first ByDesign program ten years ago and their work is included in this year’s version as well. The program begins Friday night with a talk by designer Danny Yount about his creative and technical processes and also with a free opening night party that includes drinks, short films and live audio/visual performances. The series continues with a panel of Seattle animators and motion designers screening and discussing their current works, a retrospective of the work of UK art collective The Light Surgeons, a curated presentation of film title sequences, a series of short film portraits of artists and graphic designers, shorts and videos, and a series of animated films illustrating The Decemberists’ The Hazards of Love.

Friday only at The Grand Illusion: The GI Joe Stop Motion Film Festival in which filmmakers from around the world get out their dolls and action figures and cast them in movies.

Starting Saturday at the Grand Illusion: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Richard Lester’s hilarious film adaptation of the stage musical starring Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Michael Crawford and Jack Gilford. Always a fun movie to watch, it’s even better with a full audience.

If you’ve reached a certain age, you’re definitely going to want to get to Central Cinema this weekend for their The Goonies quote-a-long. Props and subtitles will be helpfully provided along with a special game of Goonies Bingo.

**Sunday at Central Cinema: stop in for the Reel Grrls second Oscar party. $25 gets you in the door and gives you a chance to order a la carte or for $79 select one of the delicious prix fixe dinners; $40 gets you a light meal selection. Proceeds benefit Reel Grrls, the excellent local organization which empowers young women to find their voice through media production.

Midnight at the Egyptian: Brazil, director Terry Gilliam’s black comedy set in a dystopian future that’s one of the weirdest movies ever made.

Based on real crimes including those of the notorious “Yorkshire Ripper” who was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking many more, English author David Peace’s Red Riding Quartet, a four volume set of novels about corruption at all levels of police and government in England were converted into a trilogy of movies broadcast on British TV in 2009 and then adapted for film release. NW Film Forum is screening each of the three movies sequentially, screening Nineteen Seventy-Four February 26 through March 1, Nineteen Eighty from February 26 though March 4 andNineteen Eighty-Three from February 27 through March 4.

Each film has a different director but they all share common themes of exploitation, degradationl, deceit, corruption, and betrayal. The story begins in 1974 when a newspaper correspondent begins investigating a missing persons case tied to the Ripper and becomes entangled with a real estate developer with his hands in a number of messy pies. The second film focuses on rampant corruption in the police force charged with investigating the Ripper cases and the possibility that at least one of the murders tied to the serial killer was done by an opportunistic copy-cat. The third segment rips a bandage off all of the festering wounds carried over from the first two, revealing the even uglier disease hiding beneath but offering at last some hope of redemption.

Excellent technical work is enhanced by fine performances from cast members including Sean Bean, David Morrissey, and Andrew Garfield. Each of the segments was helmed by a different director – Julian Jarold (1974), James Marsh (1980) and Anand Tucker (1983) influence their films with their own styles in a way that enhances each segment as a separate chapter of the ongoing story but still keep it a cohesive whole. Often gloomy but never dreary, the Red Riding Trilogy films tell an interesting and complex story; each film can stand alone but the best experience is to see all three.

SIFF continues its popular Cinema Supper Club with a Sunday melange of melodramatic magical realism in the form of Like Water for Chocolate and mouthwatering Mexican food at Bellevue’s Barrio with a menu that includes four courses of exquisite food and wine pairings. Reservations are required; see the event page for details.

Somewhat less extravagant but no less delicious: Central Cinema‘s pizza and beer menu paired with the misadventures of Jake and Elwood, The Blues Brothers, Friday through Wednesday.

Fifty million Americans are convinced that the world’s end has already been accurately predicted and are waiting for those predictions to come to fruition. Who are these people? Directors Kate Davis and David Heilbroner reveal them in Waiting for Armageddon, a chilling documentary starting Friday at the Grand Illusion.

Late night this weekend at the Grand Illusion: Gums, like Jaws only with a “fellatio-mad mermaid”, a “bungling sheriff”, a “weirdo virgin scientist” and a “crazed Nazi Captain” named Carl Clitoris.

Late night at the Egyptian: The Neverending Story, the well loved fantasy so sweet and charming that you won’t mind the often hokey special effects.

Marthe, Michel, and their three children live an idyllic life in a remote house until the long-unused stretch of highway that passes their house is open to traffic in Home at NW Film Forum. Young Judith can’t sunbathe without being harassed and her younger siblings Julien and Marion can’t safely catch their school bus. Driven to madness, the family fights back.

The Grand Illusion screens Unmistaken Child, director Nati Baratz’s thoughtful documentary about the four year search for the reincarnation of Lama Konchog, a search conducted by the deceased monk’s disciple at the direction of the Dali Lama himself.

The first time I saw The Usual Suspects was in a drafty, damp theater with no heat in Boston’s Davis Square. Although I was so cold that I had to keep buying cups of coffee simply to keep my hands from freezing together, I stayed for the whole film. It’s that good. You’ll get to see it in much happier surroundings at Central Cinema.

Midnight at the Egyptian: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the fabulously funny story of Hedwig, the would-be rock star, her tragic–and yet comedic–miseries and her uplifting victories.

Oscar time approaches and the Varsity is screening 2010′s nominated short films in two separate programs, animated and live action, so that you’ll be able to make your predictions for who takes home the trophies.

Human Desire, part of SIFF's Noir City series

Noir City, the popular series of noir films curated by Czar of Noir Eddie Muller returns to SIFF Cinema for its fourth year. Each previous incarnation has included noir films both classic and obscure, screened many times over the years or rarely seen since their debut, and all well worth seeing. The 2010 series continues that trend with an excellent selection of films tied to this year’s theme of “Lust and Larceny”.

Double features are an attractive part of the package: your ticket for the first screening of a double feature admits you for free to the second. Or, if you want to see all 14 films (and who could blame you?) you can buy a pass for the whole series for a mere $50. (It’s even more affordable for SIFF members at $35, a steal for so many fine features.)

Friday is a double feature of Pitfall at 7:30 followed by Larceny at 9:30. Pitfall examines the dark side of the American dream with dashing Dick Powell as a successful businessman who cheats on his wife (Jane Wyman) with the alluring Lizabeth Scott; his guilt over the affair is exploited by unscrupulous PI Raymond Burr. Standout performances from all of the stars. Larceny has stars John Payne, Dan Duryea, Joan Caulfield and Shelley Winters reelling off quick-witted one liners in a stylish story of two grifters intent on defrauding a wealthy war widow. Neither film is available on DVD so be sure to see them on screen at SIFF.

Saturday starts off with Cry Danger at 2:00 pm, another film not available on DVD. For years theaters had to rely on actor Dick Powell’s personal 16mm print of the film but finally you get a chance to see it in newly restored 35mm glory. Robert Parrish’s directorial debut stars Powell as an ex-con in search of the guy who really did the crime for which he did crime. It’s double-featured with The Mob, another Parrish film. This one stars Broderick Crawford as a tough cop who goes undercover on the docks to bust up mob activity. Afternoon too early for you? They play again at 7:30 and 9:00 pm.

Sunday’s screenings kick off with a killer film: the incendiary Lana Turner and John Garfield play lust-mad lovers who plot murder in one of the most classic of all classic noirs, The Postman Always Rings Twice. (1:30 and 6:00). It’s paired with John Garfield’s final role in He Ran All the Way (4:00 and 8:30) as a small time hood whose life rolls out of control after he shoots a cop and falls into the arms of Shelley Winters, the sweet girl who takes him home to meet her family, the family he holds hostage while he plots his escape.

Inside Job stars Preston Foster as a gangster who forces newlywed ex-cons Ann Rutherford and Alan Curtis into helping him rob a downtown department store. It plays Monday at 7:30 and is followed at 9:00 by Human Desire in which Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame scheme to rid themselves of her inconvenient husband, played by Broderick Crawford.

Tuesday turns on spotlight on San Francisco, the beloved noir landmark. George Raft is a truck company owner seeking the killer of his brother, a priest, in what may be the genre’s only “Biblical Noir”– Red Light at 7:30. In Walk a Crooked Mile, Dennis O’Keefe’s FBI agent and Louis Hayward’s Scotland Yard inspector track a leak (appropriately creepy Raymond Burr) spreading nuclear secrets to San Francisco. (9:00).

Wedneday features at 7:30, Deported, the rarely seen film inspired by real-life gangster Lucky Luciano’s forced return to his native Italy. At 9:00 is Fly-by-
Night, another film not available on DVD that combines screwball comedy with the elements of noir in a movie starring Richard Carlson and Nancy Kelly.

The series concludes Thursday with Richard Widmark’s starring turn as a fighter pilot facing court martial for flying suspicious cargo around the Caribbean and drama between his loyal girlfriend Veronica Lake and his old flame Linda Darnell. Slattery’s Hurricane screens at 7:30 and is followed at 9:00 by Pickup on South Street, an “exceptionally fast and hardboiled tale of a New York pickpocket caught between the Commies and the Feds”.

Want to really get into these movies? SIFF is offering two special events with curator Muller: Sunday, February 21 join Eddie Muller for a free Intimate Fireside Chat at the Sorrento Hotel’s Fireside Room at 3:30 pm. Wednesday, February 24, $40 gets you an exclusive dinner at The Signature hosted by Mr. Muller.

SIFF Cinema continues their tribute to Kurosawa with screenings of The Hidden Fortress (Friday), High and Low (Saturday), and The Seven Samurai (Sunday).

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 film The Red Shoes transforms the classic Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale about a young woman whose magic shoes compel her to dance without stopping into a lavish technicolor ballet. A magnificently refurbished 35mm print screens at NW Film Forum.

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Continuing the theme of classic cinema on screen around Seattle, the Grand Illusion presents Federico Fellini’s first English language production, 1976′s Fellini’s Casanova, an Oscar winner for best costume design that blends a fascinating story with hypnotic visuals to tell the history of the famed rake from his imprisonment in Venice to his service to a Bohemian noble.

If you like your romance a little more frothy, the Grand Illusion has another option for you: Rock Hudson and Doris Day in Pillow Talk, a cute, fluffy romantic comedy of lies, loathing and love between a man and a woman stuck sharing a party line.

Not romantic at all: late night at the Grand Illusion see Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated, a mash-up of puppetry, CGI, hand-drawn animation, illustration, acrylics, and claymation that transform George Romero’s groundbreaking zombie film into an experimental film that illustrates the many ways the original movie informed a variety of other artistic works.

Fans of Central Cinema‘s previous sing-along events take note: Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 pm, Central Cinema’s hosting “The 80s Love Song Sing Along”.

For a full-on romantic extravaganza, however, be there each night at 6:30 (advance tickets highly recommended) for a sing-along, quote-along screening of Baz Luhrman’s spectacular spectacular of a film, Moulin Rouge, the movie that proved that modern audiences will go see a musical, particularly if it stars the sexy, sexy Nicole Kidman and the sexy, sexy Ewan McGregor, both of whom have much better voices than one expects in an actor and most convincingly play a pair of sexy, sexy star-crossed lovers. To add to the experience, Three Dollar Bill‘s Cineoke hosts Scott and Lance (who sang Moulin Rouge‘s “Come What May” at their own wedding) will be on hand to help make the night special with goodie bags, pre-show Can-Can lessons and more. Admission to the movie alone is a mere $10 but you’re really going to want to splurge for the prix fixe dinner – a mere $44 gets you four delicious courses, including an option for vegetarians.

A gripping drama in which a wheelchair-bound man suspects that the neighbor he’s been spying on has murdered his wife might not sound like the most romantic of films to you, but Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece of a movie Rear Window isn’t just one of the greatest suspense movies ever, so intense that even seeing it a zillion times doesn’t keep my heart from quaking during the thrilling climactic scene; it’s also a charming and intelligent portrait of romance between suave James Stewart and impossibly glam Grace Kelly. And it’s this weekend’s midnight film at the Egyptian.

SIFF Cinema begins a two week-long celebration of the films of Kurosawa Friday night with Stray Dog. Kurosawa’s foray into noir begins with a young policeman whose gun is stolen on a trolley. Feeling responsible for the crimes committed with it, the rookie cop seeks out the villian with his senior partner in tow. One of the celebrated director’s early works and seldom screened in the US. See details of the whole series on SIFF’s series page.

When you picture mountain biking in your head are the people involved largely male? It’s hardly a surprise if they are; though there are many women active in dirt bike riding, they’re rarely represented to the same degree as their brothers. This changes with Awesome Land: Women of Dirt at Northwest Film Forum. Featuring Tammy Donahugh, Stephanie Nychka, Cierra Smith, Emily Johnston, Lisa Myklak, Jill Kintner, Leana Gerrard, Dawn Cashen, Katrina Strand, Kathy Pruitt, and Darcy Turenne, Awesome Land takes a look at bicycle downhill racing, dirt jumping and free riding and shows how these women have contributed to the development of gravity mountain biking.

Paul Newman was already an executive producer of Sometimes a Great Notion, the 1970 film based on the 1964 Ken Kesey novel of the same name, as well as the leading man when original director Richard A. Colla left the project due to good, old-fashioned artistic differences. Newman offered the job to George Roy Hill but Hill took a pass so Newman ended up as producer, star AND director. Newman stars as Hank Stamper, an independent logger in the fictional Oregon town of Wakonda. When he refuses to take part in the local logging union’s strike, he and his family go to war with the whole town. Complicating matters are his issues with his dad (Henry Fonda), his wife (Lee Remick) and his brother (Michael Sarrazin).

Fans of twisted, tacky, and outright tasteless humor will want to head to Central Cinema for this year’s version of Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Animation Festival, running Friday through Thursday at 7:00 (all ages) and 9:30 (21+).

Actor Bruce Campbell and director Sam Raimi both made their debut with the relentlessly frightening and gory Evil Dead, this weekend’s midnight movie at the Egyptian.