The news:

Michael Seiwerath, who won our Genius Award for film in 2005, is leaving Northwest Film Forum. He’s been with the organization practically since the beginning, and his tenure (since 2001) as executive director has seen impressive growth, including the move to the two-screen 12th Avenue cinematheque and “start-to-finish” funding of several feature films (most notably, Robinson Devor’s Police Beat). It’s going to be tough to find a replacement who’ll work as hard and for as little money as Seiwerath (according to NWFF’s 990s, he received a salary of just $29,400 in 2006—and he has two young daughters). We’ll be reporting further on his departure and the search for a new executive director in the print edition.

New Line is being absorbed by its sibling company, Warner Bros, according to the LA Times. Expect less Lord of the Rings, more Will Ferrell. Variety’s Anne Thompson notes that we still don’t know what’s going to happen to Warner Independent and Picturehouse.

Also via Anne Thompson: You can download some excellent short films via iTunes and Sundance. I recommend the Oscar-nominated Madame Tutli Putli.

New this week:

In On Screen: the forlorn Israeli-Arab comedy The Band’s Visit (me: “What follows could be described as a culture clash, but it’s more of a culture bump—discomfort, flirtation, fleeting moments of connection, and then more awkward silence”), Semi-Pro (Bradley Steinbacher: “Much as in Will Ferrell’s high-water mark, Anchorman, what keeps the movie afloat is the constant threat that things will spin into absurdity”), Penelope (Brendan Kiley: “I’d hoped watching Christina Ricci wearing a prosthetic pig nose for 101 minutes would add at least a grain of amusement to this romantic comedy. I was wrong”), The Other Boleyn Girl (Charles Mudede: “It’s good to be the king”), and City of Men (me: “Perhaps you recall the opening scene in City of God, which followed an emancipated chicken on a tear through the maze of a city slum. Unfortunately, there’s nothing like that in this new film, directed by one of Meirelles’s assistants. It’s just a copy of a copy of a copy; and where the style has faded, sentiment has flooded in”).

Lindy West reviews some choice ’70s sexploitation in Concessions.

Tucked away in Limited Runs this week, sometimes justly and sometimes not: The Business of Being Born at SIFF Cinema (Ricki Lake gives birth on camera), Duck Soup at the Admiral (Groucho Marx impersonator in attendance), Final Friday Freakout #2 tonight at Cafe Rozella (featuring talented direct animator Devon Damonte), Five Against the House and The Brothers Rico at Grand Illusion (these Phil Karlson rarities are cool enough to make Suggests), Hannah and Her Sisters (Charles Mudede judges this this fifth-best Woody Allen film), the inimitable McCabe & Mrs. Miller at Metro Classics, Jean Renoir’s The River at Seattle Asian Art Museum, Tron in 70 mm at Cinerama, Teenage Hitchhikers at Grand Illusion late nights, and the first installment of a comedy series called What the Funny (starring Seattle theater luminary Darragh Kennan) at Northwest Film Forum.