“Part of our mission is to promote film in Tacoma,” says Philip Cowan, executive director of Tacoma’s Grand Cinema, “… to enhance the cultural vitality of the community through the art of film.”

The theater fulfills that mission partly via its schedule of independent and art film screenings throughout the year. But Grand Cinema has expanded its programming to include an annual celebration of independent filmmaking. That celebration — the Tacoma Film Festival — returns to The Grand Cinema as well as three satellite venues Oct. 2-9.

This year marks the festival’s third anniversary in Tacoma. How will it differ from its two predecessors? Cowan says that there are no significant differences other than what he believes is an increase in the overall quality of the films being presented. The quality, he says, “is getting a little bit better every year.” One reason is that the total number of submissions continues to grow, and a larger pool from which to base decisions gives the judges more choices. That pool represents filmmakers working throughout the world.

There were about 180 submissions from filmmakers in 15 countries. From that the judges selected 87 films to fill the festival’s screening schedule. Sixteen of those were made by filmmakers based in the Pacific Northwest. And six of them live and work in the Tacoma area.

One of those Northwest filmmakers is Walla Walla native Jon Betz, who now lives in Portland, Ore. Betz is a recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he earned a degree in the college’s film/animation/ video program.

Betz’s entry is a documentary that he shot on location in Uganda over a period of four weeks. Betz took the trip as one of a number of student interns for a humanitarian aid agency working in Uganda.

“I wanted to make a film, and it was a really important topic,” Betz recalls. “I just really wanted to get in there and do it.”

The film, called memorize-you-saw-it (based on something one of Betz’s subjects said to him), chronicles the lives of child soldiers in the war-torn East African country.

“I just shot everything,” Betz says of his four-week odyssey. He came home from Africa with some 70 hours of footage. He then spent his senior year editing the film.

“It was like I had this huge mountain of information on my lap,” Betz explains, “and I had to take out 10 pieces and put them into a film so that other people could understand all of the stuff that I had seen.”

Betz is anxious for the public to see and respond to his film. He plans to attend the festival.

The filmmakers were given near carte blanche in their choice of subject matter and production technology, Cowan explains. “Pretty much, they could submit anything that they’d worked on.” The entries started to arrive in April.

The selection process made use of a pair of judges who evaluated each entry on a scale of one to 10. Films that received high ratings from both judges would be included while those given lower scores by both judges were excluded. Cowan generally acted to cast tie-breaking votes when the panel members disagreed on an entry’s quality.

Which films stood out for the Grand Cinema’s executive director? Cowan points to the opening night films in particular. One is titled On Paper Wings, a documentary made by a Portland-based filmmaker that tells the story of a Japanese effort during World War II to send balloons carrying bombs eastward along the jet stream to reach the United States. The film includes interviews conducted by the filmmaker with people who participated in the project.

“It was a really fascinating work ... . And that she pulled all this together for her first film was pretty amazing,” Cowan says.

Another of Cowan’s favorites for the festival is a film called Crawford, referring to Crawford, Texas. “It’s a documentary essentially on the people of Crawford,” Cowan explains, and their reflections on a certain town resident then serving as governor of Texas (whose initials are G.W.B.).

“It’s just a great human story,” Cowan says. “It’s a really lovely movie.”

In general, what kind of an experience does Cowan hope filmgoers will have at this year’s Tacoma Film Festival? He says he wants audiences to realize the number and range of films out there that they wouldn’t otherwise see. “I myself never had any idea that there is this much out there,” he adds.

Exhibiting independent films is something that Grand Cinema does on a weekly basis. But an event like the Tacoma Film Festival allows the theater to take that approach one step further. “These are really, really independent films,” Cowan says.

[Tacoma Film Festival, Oct. 2-9, $8 general, $6 for seniors, military and children through age 12; full-festival pass, $110, Grand Cinema, 606 S. Fawcett Ave.; United Methodist Church of Tacoma, 621 Tacoma Ave.; Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave.; and the School of the Arts SOTA Theatre at 1118 Commerce St., more information at tacoma.bside.com/2008]

Thursday, Oct. 2

 6:30 p.m.

Opening Night Reception

United Methodist Church of Tacoma 

Opening Night Films

The Grand Cinema

Light Years, On Paper Wings, Pierre

Friday, Oct. 3

11 a.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Children’s Film Series: Multi From Musnaka, Montrose Avenue, Aston’s Stones, Piano Lesson, Cookies For Sale, Shhhh..., Rindin The Puffer, When I Grow Up, Raven Tales

2 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

Ancestor Eyes, Homeland

4 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

L.A. Noir, Yesterday was a Lie

6:10 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

America Betrayed, My Biodegradable Heart

6:15 p.m.

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater

Arusi (Persian Wedding), Kivumvu: Basket Boy, Velocipede, Bike Project

8 p.m. 

First United Methodist Church

Indestructible

8:10 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Partes Usadas (Used Parts)

8:15 p.m. 

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater 

Certifiably Jonathan, Stuck

10:10 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Who is KK Downey?

Saturday, Oct. 4

11 a.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Children’s Film Series: Multi From Musnaka, Montrose Avenue, Aston’s Stones, Piano Lesson, Cookies For Sale, Shhhh..., Rindin The Puffer, When I Grow Up, Raven Tales

11:15 a.m. 

Tacoma Art Museum

La Paloma. Sehnsucht. Weltweit, A Night in the Sunlight

1 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

CTU: Provo

1:20 p.m. 

Tacoma Art Museum

Endless Tunnel, Pat Martino Unstrung

2 p.m. 

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater

The Obituary Writer, Pappy Boyington Field

3 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Gimme Music, Gimme Shelter, Weiner Takes All: a Dogumentary

3:15 p.m.

Tacoma Art Museum 

Donut Heaven, Courthouse Girls of Farmland, One Bucket of Water

4 p.m. 

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater

The Gift Wrapper, JUMP!

5 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

Crawford, For You, My People

6 p.m. 

First United Methodist Church

eDump, The Life Penalty

6:15 p.m. 

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater

Cabbie, PK Granny, Taken, The Man from Mars, Double Talk, One Year Later, Blind Luck, Rock in a Hard Place

6:45 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

Light Years, On Paper Wings, Pierre

8:15 p.m.

First United Methodist Church

American Harvest

8:30 p.m. 

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater

My Dad Ralph, Now You See Me Now You Don’t, Maine, Gravida, The Loneliness of the Short-Order Cook

8:45 p.m.

The Grand Cinema

Aim Away From Face, Trust Issues

Sunday, Oct. 5

11 a.m.

The Grand Cinema 

For a Few Marbles More, The Natural History of the Chicken

12:30 p.m. 

Tacoma Art Museum

Lumia, To Live: A Cinematic Study of Godard’s Vivre Sa Vie

1 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

Last September, Radioactive Red Bull

2 p.m.

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater 

E for Everyone:

3 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

In Times of War: Ray Parker’s Story, The Ostrich Testimonies

3 p.m.

Tacoma Art Museum

Fish, but No Cigar, Forced Perspective: Odessa, Verlaine, Everett DuPen: Sculptor, Dudley’s World, Mugs, Paradittle, Some Assembly Required, Tacoma Chalk Off

4:15 p.m. 

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater

Crawford, For You, My People

5:10 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Certifiably Jonathan, Stuck

6:15 p.m. 

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater

Four Minutes on an Abandoned Bridge, The Skyjacker

7:15 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Alone

8:15 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

For a Few Marbles More

8:15 p.m.

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater 

Memorize-You-Saw-It, Some Assembly Required, Tacoma Chalk Off, Velocipede, Bike Project

9:15 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Beauty 24, Young Love

Monday, Oct. 6

2:45 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

The Corporal’s Diary, Memorize-You-Saw-It

5 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

In Times of War: Ray Parker’s Story, The Ostrich Testimonies

7 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

Highlights, Last Day, Murder, Spies & Voting Lies (The Clint Curtis Story)

8:50 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Awakening, Cienfuegos, Lo Que Daria Por Volver, OM

Tuesday, Oct. 7

2:30 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

My Dad Ralph, Now You See Me Now You Don’t, Maine, Gravida, The Loneliness of the Short-Order Cook

4:15 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

American Harvest

6:45 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Gimme Music, Gimme Shelter, Weiner Takes All: a Dogumentary

8:40 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Partes Usadas (Used Parts)

Wednesday, Oct. 8

2:30 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

Endless Tunnel, Pat Martino Unstrung

4:30 p.m. 

The Grand Cinema

Crawford, For You, My People

6:30 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

Cabbie, PK Granny, The Man from Mars, Taken, One Year Later, The Grayed Escape, Blind Luck, Rock in a Hard Place

6:30 p.m. 

School of the Arts Blackbox Theater

Double Talk

8:40 p.m.

The Grand Cinema 

Journey Green Forest, Rogue 379

Thursday, Oct. 9

6:30 p.m.

Closing Night Awards Gala 

The Temple Ball Room — Landmark Convention Center

Tickets include the awards ceremony, live entertainment from Pearl Django, and a seated dinner. 

There also will also be a cash bar.

More details can be found at tacoma.bside.com/2008