Local Sightings Film Festival kicks off Friday

Fortune smiled in recent months on a pair of Seattle filmmakers. Writer-director Lynn Shelton's independent comedy "Humpday" opened in theaters and was well-received by critics. James Longley, who made the extraordinary, Oscar-nominated documentary "Iraq In Fragments," was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" last week.

Shelton and Longley are the tip of the iceberg, however, where filmmaking talent in this region is concerned. Now in its 12th year, Northwest Film Forum's Local Sightings Film Festival boasts a number of movies showing off some of the best cinema skills in our corner of the U.S.

The six-day event begins Friday with a low-key but impressive relationship story called "The Mountain, the River and the Road," followed in subsequent days by more narrative features, documentaries and short works of all kinds.

The debut feature of Seattle writer-director Michael Harring, "The Mountain, the River and the Road" concerns a young, would-be writer (Justin Rice) whose lighthearted friendship with a woman (Tipper Newton) slowly turns to romance over several memorable days.

Harring's combination of unhurried storytelling and delightful ideas for scenes (one sequence is shot deep inside an abandoned gold mine) adds up to a love story that almost seems to be flowering in real time.

Also in the series is the audacious "Punch," a gory, comic-book movie by Jay Cynik about a fateful night of sex and death between characters on either side of a clash between a biker gang and car thugs. The film's over-the-top violence makes one laugh as well as cringe, the dialogue crackles and occasionally turns lyrical, and the cast of relative unknowns carries the story's feverish lunacy with zest and raw talent.

Among the series' notable nonfiction entries is "River Ways" by Portland-based Colin Stryker. Several years in the making, "River Ways" is a remarkably evenhanded (though not naive) and compelling investigation into both sides of a debate over whether to remove four dams on the Snake River in Eastern Washington. If the subject sounds familiar, it's because those dams are cited by environmental groups as a major factor in the decline of salmon runs.

"River Ways" reminds us that hot-button issues indeed polarize people, but each side has a legitimate perspective and much to lose. Stryker transcends dry policy discussions and underscores how personal this fight is for Native Americans, independent fishermen, wheat farmers and many other players in a tense drama.

This year's Local Sightings includes a running installation beginning Saturday: Tania Kupczak's "Recent Video Works About Weather" is a look at the link between human emotions and precipitation.

There are several free programs this year, plus groupings of various shorts and a tribute to longtime filmmakers George and Helen Smith.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com.