Film festivals color countryside in autumn

Fall has suddenly turned into festival season for Northwest moviegoers. Tony Curtis and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne are coming to Port Townsend this weekend for the first Port Townsend Film Festival, to be held at the town's remodeled Rose, Rosebud and Broughton theaters.

The remodeled North Bend Theatre starts an Eastside film festival next Friday with "Croupier" and "Bossa Nova," followed by the Eastside debuts of several other foreign films.

The Vancouver International Film Festival has begun a two-week session at several British Columbia locations, where Bruce Spangler's "Protection" kicks off a series of eight B.C. feature films. The festival ends Oct. 5 with the Canadian premiere of Lars von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark," the controversial winner of the top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Information: 604-685-8297.

The Port Townsend event, which runs today through Sunday, begins at 4:30 tonight with a party on Taylor St., followed at 6 p.m. by the Northwest premiere of Paul Cox's "Innocence," a well-acted story of two aging lovers that took two top prizes at last month's Montreal Film Festival. It will be shown with Galen Garwood and Rowan James' "Letters From James," a tribute to the Port Townsend filmmaker and underground legend, James Broughton, who died last year. The short film includes his last interview.

Also on tonight's schedule are three movies from last spring's Seattle International Film Festival ("Looking for Alibrandi," "Sordid Lives," "Set Me Free"), two more local premieres ("The Lost Lover," "No Coffee, No TV, No Sex") and a free outdoor showing of the 1951 Alec Guinness comedy, "The Man in the White Suit." The teenage star of "Set Me Free," Karine Vanesse, is scheduled to attend her film at tonight's show and Sunday's repeat screening.

Tomorrow's lineup begins at 10 a.m. with a James Broughton retrospective (introduced by Joel Singer), a screening of "A Force More Powerful" (introduced by its producer, Jack Duvall), and with Osborne's 10:30 a.m. introduction of the new Lon Chaney documentary, "A Thousand Faces."

The festival's Saturday matinees include the Buster Keaton comedy "Steamboat Bill Jr." (introduced by Frank Buxton), Todd Robinson's "Amargosa" (introduced by Robinson), the Italian film "Not of This World" and a 3:30 p.m. sneak preview of a Hollywood film.

Curtis will appear at a 6 p.m. Saturday tribute that will include a screening of his 1957 film "Sweet Smell of Success." (His 1959 comedy, "Some Like It Hot," will be the free outdoor movie at 7:30 p.m.) Tomorrow's late shows include the Oscar-nominated Swedish film "Under the Sun" (8:30 p.m.) and the British drama "One More Kiss" (9:30 p.m.).

Several films will be repeated Sunday, but there also will be several premieres: "Black and White in Colour," "A Cry From the Grave," and two sneak previews at 9 p.m. Director Anne Makepeace will do a question-and-answer session after the 12:45 p.m. screening of her outstanding documentary, "Coming to Light: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians." Osborne will introduce Sunday matinees of "The Third Man" and the Lon Chaney version of "The Phantom of the Opera."

Festival passes in Port Townsend are $150 per person. Individual tickets, sold on a space-available basis, are $7. Information: 360-379-1333.

Around town

Talk Cinema, Cinema Seattle's Sunday-morning film-and-discussion series, returns at 10 a.m. Sunday to the Harvard Exit. "The State of Screenwriting in Seattle," a panel discussion also put together by Cinema Seattle, is scheduled at 7 p.m. Monday at the Market Theater . . . Larry Clark will present the Seattle premiere of his 1977 jazz film, "Passing Through," at 7 and 9:15 p.m. Wednesday at Experience Music Project at Seattle Center. . . . A collection of Alain Resnais's 1947 shorts, including "Portrait D'Henri Goetz" and "Visite a Felix Labisse," will be shown at noon tomorrow and Sunday at the Little Theatre on Capitol Hill. Jeanne Moreau and director Joseph Losey's surprisingly dull 1962 drama, "Eve," plays tonight through Sunday at the same location. Thursday night, the theater begins a four-day run of Victor Erice's "El Sur" (The South) . . . West Seattle's silent comedy series at Hokum Hall continues at 8 tonight with Buster Keaton's "Steamboat Bill Jr.," and at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday with Charley Chase's "Bad Boy" and Charles Chaplin's "A Night Out." Live music accompanies both programs . . . A two-hour edition of Soundtrack Cinema, at 10 p.m. tomorrow on KING-FM (98.1), features music from "Urban Legend: Final Cut," "Scary Movie" and "The Cell" . . . Indian film stars Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, famous for their "Bollywood" musicals, will perform at 8 tonight in Mercer Arena at Seattle Center. . . . Local filmmaker Karl Krogstad's paintings and photographs will be on exhibit Sept. 30-Oct.28 at Fine Impressions Gallery, 8300 5th Ave. N.E. Proceeds will go toward a film he plans to shoot next summer. . . . Seattle filmmaker Marvin Albert's 35mm short, "Disasters of War," which was inspired by Goya's paintings, will be shown with "Goya in Bordeaux," beginning tonight at the Egyptian . . . Another local filmmaker, Fritz Donnelly, will be screening his new 70-minute feature, "Blue Lobster," at 8 p.m. next Friday and Sept. 30 at the Soil art gallery on Capitol Hill. Suggested donation: $7.

Out of town

At 8 tonight and 4 p.m. tomorrow, the Olympia Film Society is showing Tony Richardson's rarely screened 1965 funeral-home satire, "The Loved One," at the Capitol Theater in downtown Olympia. Cameron Crowe wrote his first script for "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," the 1982 teen movie that plays at 11 tonight and 8 p.m. tomorrow at the same location. Sunday through Thursday, the society is showing a double bill of "Humanite" and "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" . . . The Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon is showing the Spanish heartbreaker, "Butterfly," through Tuesday. The Chinese film, "Shower," begins a weeklong run next Friday at the same theater . . . Bainbridge Island's Lynwood Theatre is showing "Nurse Betty," through Thursday . . . The Clyde Theatre in Langley has "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," Tuesday through Thursday. . . . The Grand Cinemas in Tacoma are screening "Blood Simple."