Oh boy are you in for it. The 24th annual Olympia Film Festival will turn it up another notch this year with more madness than ever before, running Nov. 2-10.



You’ll have to visit OlympiaFilmFestival.org to get the whole rundown. This year is huge. Here are some highlights:

Activism in, um, action

This year’s film fest will feature a daily dose of good old Oly-style activism, fed via film. Activism films begin Sunday, Nov. 2 with spoken word activist Suheir Hammad and journalist Dahr Jamail jawing about their efforts to make the world a more peaceful place. The following six days will feature at least one film emphasizing action — in the social sense. Sorry, no amateur porn. Promo materials promise subjects ranging from luchadore freedom fighters to AIDS activism in South Africa. Shows run at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, you catch the story of brilliant third-generation Jewish soap smith Dr. Emanuel Bronner, who endeavored to unite the world with earth- and socially-conscious soap. The story is cooler than it sounds.

Destroy all monsters

One Halloween isn’t enough. So, midnight, Nov. 10, Oly Film Fest will be subject to all-out assault by creeps, crawlies and monstrosities. Terror will take the screen for a 10-hour freak fest. Organizers promise blobs, werewolves, mad scientists, and all manner of undead, including vampire chicks.



Also on deck will be Chicago filmmaker David Nelson, who will share streams of clips from his impressive lexicon of low-to no-budget fright flicks. This one is pretty much guaranteed to be worth showing up for.

Free

The Olympia Film Festival is a benevolent beast. They offer Free Shorts programs Monday through Thursday at 4:30 p.m. People, it’s 45 minutes for free. Happiness.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark: Adaptation”

Finally, a remake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” created by bible-belt tweens. Yes, you read that right. The local screening will highlight the culmination of seven years worth of work that began in Mississippi 25 years ago. These kids (now grownups) saved their allowances, stocked their Christmas lists with filmmaking supplies, hustled set materials and props, made their own costumes and generally kicked ass during the course of seven years. The result is a plain awesome reproduction of Steven Speilberg’s legendary tale of treasure hunter and archeologist Indiana Jones’ quest to find the Ark of the Covenant. I can’t wait to see how they reproduced the scene where an angry Jehovah incinerates the Nazis.  It screens Saturday, Nov. 3 at noon and 9:30 p.m. at the Capitol Theater.



[24th Annual Olympia Film Festival, Nov. 2-10, $6-$75, Capitol Theater, Mariah Art School and Le Voyeur, Olympia, 360.754.6670, OlympiaFilmFestival.org]

Updates

Check out daily Olympia Film Festival updates at Spew.