33rd annual Olympia Film Festival

More than 40 film premieres featured

By Alec Clayton on November 3, 2016

The 33rd annual Olympia Film Festival is now in full swing with films, music, and live performance with local and national talent. The festival features more than 40 film premieres and Dan Savage's "Hump Film Festival."

Among the many live and filmed entertainments is Breakin', featuring choreographer and dancer Shabba Doo in person. In the film, rich girl Kelly learns hip-hop moves from Ozone (Shabba Doo) and Turbo (Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers.) There will be a Q&A with Shabba Doo after the film and a dance party later.

Other films include: World's Greatest Dad, a dark and twisted comedy starring the late Robin Williams and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, who will appear in person to accept the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award. There will be a post-film Q&A with Goldthwait.

Susperia by Dario Argento is ranked as one of the greatest horror movies of all time, with dream logic and harsh lighting techniques. It's the story of a ballet student who transfers to a German dance academy only to find it's run by murderous witches.

Easy Rider starring Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper, is the quintessential hippie road film.

As a special treat, The Olympia Film Festival will present the debut film of local writer and director Jonah Barrett, a student at The Evergreen State College. The Fabricated Partner of Cody McGuire, is a genre mashup of spy flicks, science fiction, action and comedy. The production is a collaboration between Barrett and Alaskan filmmaker Jacob Earl.

"I'd been wanting to make a feature film for years," Barrett said, "and in 2015 I finally felt like I was ready for it. I wanted to write and direct a film that featured intense subject matter in a lighthearted way, without stripping it of its importance."

The closing night gala Sunday, Nov. 13, will be an evening of live standup comedy featuring Emmett Montgomery, from NBC's Last Comic Standing, and local comics Sam Miller, voted Best Comic in the Seattle Weekly; Natalie Holt, Vanessa Postil and Morgan Picton.

OFS formed in 1980 when a dozen people gather at the old Washington School on Legion Way to watch the first show, The 39 Steps and Foreign Correspondent, a double-feature tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. The very first Olympia Film Festival was produced by OFS in 1984, and it took place at the State Theater, where they still hold court. Immediately after the first festival, OFS membership jumped from 60 to 600.

A complete schedule is available online.

Olympia Film Festival, through Nov. 13, Capitol Theater, 206 5th Ave. SE, Olympia, olympiafilmsociety.org/olympia-film-festival/