“Standard Operating Procedure” Examines People Behind the Infamous Abu Ghraib Photos

By Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times

May 2–”Standard Operating Procedure,” the new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Errol Morris (“The Thin Blue Line”), will have its first public Seattle screening at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Seattle Art Museum. The film, which will open in theaters later this month, is Morris’ examination into the notorious photographs taken of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and includes new interviews with many of the military personnel involved. Tickets are free but must be reserved by calling the SAM box office at 206-654-3121. Plestcheeff Auditorium at Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., Seattle; for more information, see www.seattleartmuseum.org.

The 10th annual Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival continues through the weekend at Johnson Hall on the University of Washington campus. Filmmaker Judith Helfand will attend tonight with her new film, the global warming documentary “Everything’s Cool.” Alex Steffen, editor of the Web site and book “Worldchanging,” will give a keynote talk Saturday night, followed by a screening of the documentary “Renewal,” about the religious-environmental movement in this country.

Sunday brings festival co-founder John de Graaf and Helfand for a three-hour documentary filmmaking workshop, and director Linda Helm Krapf will host a screening of her film “Woven Ways,” about the legacy of uranium mining on the Navajo people. The festival will close with another film about the effects of mining, the documentary “When Clouds Clear,” set in a small Ecuador town. Tickets are $5-$10 per film, $15-$20 per workshop or $40-$60 for a full festival pass; for more information or to buy tickets, see www.hazelfilm.org or call 206-624-9725.

Northwest Folklife’s 2008 film series “City Folk” screens through Monday at SIFF Cinema, with three documentaries and a feature film. Director Jesse Weaver Shipley will attend tonight with his film “Living the Hiplife,” in which a London rap musician returns to his native Ghana; Tim Jackson will attend Monday with “Radical Jesters,” his documentary about guerrilla art and street theater. Also screening are the drama “Four Sheets to the Wind” on Saturday, and the documentary “Third Ward TX,” about a rowhouse project in Houston’s inner city. Tickets are $10 per film or $36 for the series; to purchase tickets or for more information, see www.nwfolklife.org. SIFF Cinema at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., Seattle.

“Duel of the Cool” continues at Northwest Film Forum this week with another pair of films featuring France’s Jean-Paul Belmondo and Italy’s Marcello Mastroianni. “Le Doulos,” Jean-Pierre Melville’s jaunty 1962 film noir (seen at SIFF Cinema last year in a crisp new print), features Belmondo as a very self-possessed criminal who just might be a police informer. Federico Fellini’s “8 1/2,” an Oscar winner in 1963, features Mastroianni as a film director dealing with crushing artistic block. Both films screen Tuesday and Wednesday at NWFF, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle; for more information, see www.nwfilmforum.org or call 206-267-5380.

The short-film festival Rawstock returns to ACT Theatre at 8 p.m. Sunday with a new lineup of comedy films, including several from Mitch Magee (“Mister Glasses”) and local filmmakers Team JuiceBox, Darrius Schieder and Jason Ried (all of whom will attend). The evening will also include live comedy from local performers Scarecrow and Mr. Voight, Kevin Hyder and David Cope. Tickets are $10 at the ACT box office or online at www.acttheatre.org. ACT: 700 Union St., Seattle; see www.rawstockmedia.com for more information.

Seattle-based filmmaker Jay Purcell’s new short film “Continuum” will premiere at the Harvard Exit at 8 p.m. Sunday. Shot in Seattle last year, it features local actors Agnes Muljadi, Rodrigo DeMedeiros and Michael Donovan. The evening will also include a screening of an earlier short film from Donovan, who’s now working on his upcoming first feature. Tickets for the evening, which includes hors d’oeuvres and a Q&A with cast and crew, are $15 and can be purchased online at www.funkbuddha.com. Harvard Exit, 807 E. Roy St., Seattle; for more information about the film, see www.funkbuddha.com.

SIFF continues its United Artists 90th Anniversary Celebration this week with a trio of classics: the multi-Oscar-winning thriller “In the Heat of the Night,” with Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger; “Marty,” featuring Ernest Borgnine (also an Oscar winner) as a Bronx butcher looking for love; and the only film directed by actor Charles Laughton, 1955′s thriller “The Night of the Hunter.” All screen at SIFF Cinema at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., Seattle; for showtimes and ticket information, see www.siff.net.

And finally: If you couldn’t get enough of Priscilla Presley on “Dancing with the Stars,” check out her (very funny) performance alongside Leslie Nielsen in “Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear,” the 1991 goofball comedy inspired by “Police Squad.” At midnight tonight and Saturday at the Egyptian, 805 E. Pine St., Seattle; 206-781-5755 or www.landmarktheatres.com.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com

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