Academy Award-nominated, three-time Sundance winner Iraq in Fragments, directed by Stranger Genius James Longley, is back at the Varsity for one week only. There is no excuse for missing this vital film. (Josh Feit, I’m looking at you.)

Showtimes are as follows: Fri-Sun 2:10, 4:40, 7:20, 9:45; Mon-Thurs 7:20, 9:45. James Longley will be in attendance for a Q&A at tonight’s shows; producer John Sinno will be in attendance Saturday and Sunday evenings. Go. You won’t regret it.

In the film section this week: On Screen, with reviews of Factory Girl (Warhol’s mom kept Campbell’s soup in a kitchen cupboard?! No way! FRAUD!!), The Guatemalan Handshake (all the Park-City certified quirk you can handle), Flock of Dodos (a clumsy but entertaining doc about the intelligent design/evolution “debate”), Absolute Wilson (a doc about Robert Wilson: ugly duckling transforms into world-famous avant-garde theater genius!), and Breaking and Entering (laden with dumb symbolism, forgettable plot).

I feel a little bad about having come down so hard on The Guatemalan Handshake. Some people will really, really like it (if you adore Napoleon Dynamite and Wes Anderson, give it a chance); it isn’t badly made; and it’s being self-distributed, so it needs all the eyes and mouths it can get to find its audience. I can say this: the Seattle run is accompanied by a truly impressive number of special events.

The Guatemalan Handshake
Northwest Film Forum, Fri-Thurs 7, ( pm

Director Todd Rohal and producer Megan Griffiths in attendance at every screening, all week long.

Composer David Wingo performs live after Fri and Sun 9 pm shows.

Kimya Dawson performs live after Sat 9 pm show.

David Gordon Green’s (George Washington, All the Real Girls) new short Will You Lather Up My Rough House? shows in front of Monday shows.

Aluminum Fowl, directed by James Clauer and produced by Harmony Korine and Agnes B., shows in front of Tuesday shows.

A TBA short film screens in front of Wednesday shows.

And the short that started it all, Todd Rohal’s Knuckleface Jones, screens in front of Thursday shows.

Looking ahead to next week: Seattle Art Museum is sponsoring a special series at the Museum of History and Industry: Thelma Schoonmaker, editor for Martin Scorsese, will speak about two of her late husband Michael Powell’s rarest films (not currently available on DVD or VHS). Gone to Earth screens Tuesday at 7:30 pm, and Age of Consent screens Wed at 7:30 pm. Tickets are a steal at $10 for nonmembers: Call SAM’s box office at 654-3121.

Other limited runs include Satyajit Ray’s Two Daughters at SAAM, Vertigo and On Dangerous Ground at NWFF, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain at the Grand Illusion, a new work-in-progress screening of Linas Phillips’s new film Great Speeches from a Dying World at NWFF, an advance screening (with director Q&A!) of The Lives of Others, and much, much more.

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See Get Out for complete listing of film shorts and Movie Times.