Fall International Film Festival set to roll Friday through Sunday

HUNTINGTON -- In modern times of watching television shows and even movies on an iPhone with a postage-sized screen, sometimes it's nice to go grande.

Blessed with an indoor movie screen the size of a drive-in, the opulent movie palace the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center gets called to action Friday through Sunday, Nov. 6-8, as the Marshall Artists Series rolls its Fall International Film Festival.

Angela Jones, director of marketing and external affairs with the Artists Series, said they're excited for the six award-winning films to be shown at the Keith.

"We're so used to instantaneous video that it's nice to sit back in an old movie palace and to see a film the way it was intended -- on the big screen," Jones said. "Thank goodness we get to do that twice a year."

Jones, who helps assemble the film fest, said it's a diverse mix of film they've secured from the Mexican brother-comedy "Rudo Y Corsi" (from the writer of the popular 2001 award-winning film "Y Tu Mama Tambien") to the powerful documentary-style animation from Israel, "Waltz With Bashir," named the Best Animated Feature by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Like always, the film fest hopes to educate as well as entertain with such films as the documentary "Food, Inc." from Robert Kenner ("Fast Food Nation"), which allows audiences a peek into our nation's food industry, revealing surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Jones said the film fest, which has in the past few years shown Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" and "Maxed Out" -- the documentary about the credit card industry -- hopes to inform area audiences about topical issues.

"There could not be a more timely subject," Jones said. "Especially with the Jamie Oliver production in town. There is so much focus about what we put into our bodies. This will be educational, eye opening, and everybody should see it. I think it will be one of those films like 'Maxed Out' that when you walk away from it, you'll know what to do and what not to do."

"Food, Inc." is the only film that will be shown three times. It rolls at 7:30 p.m. Friday, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and then again at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

For the first time, the film fest is running for one weekend only and not a full week as in years past.

And some of the films are only being shown once.

Jones said this experiment of a weekend-only fest was brought on by the economy and to see if it might stir larger crowds.

"We did move it to a weekend only just due to the production costs of the films and the staffing," Jones said. "I think maybe it is just an experiment, and who knows, with the economy improving, we may go back to a full week. Hopefully, though, it won't be too much of a deterrent; the quality of the film programming is exactly the same. There's six amazing films from across the world."

Tickets are $7 and $70 for the full film season (12 films, which includes fall and spring films). Tickets may be purchased at the door. Tickets for full-time Marshall students are free. Tickets for Marshall staff and faculty are $5.50 each. MU staff and students must present a valid MU ID prior to admission. Call 304-696-6656 or visit the Web site at www.marshall artistsseries.org.