PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Film Festival has unveiled its 2014 poster, an unnamed painting by Anacortes artist Anne Schrievogl.
Film festival staff is planning ahead for its 15th year of the annual September celebration of celluloid.
Unlike previous years, the artist for the 2014 poster was selected before the 2013 festival.
And this year, the festival’s “special guest” — a star of the screen — is expected to be announced in June, a month earlier than in past years.
“We are over the amazement that we can even do this, and we are so excited about all the energy that is generated,” said Janette Force, the festival’s executive director.
The 2014 festival is set for Sept. 19-21. It will screen about 80 films throughout the three days at a variety of venues in Port Townsend.
A reception at Simon Mace Gallery was scheduled to unveil the poster Thursday night.
Force said Schrievogl attended last year’s festival and came up with several possibilities.
In previous years, a call for artists was issued in the spring preceding that year’s festival.
Schrievogl has experience in poster art, having designed for the Anacortes Jazz Festival in 2004 and 2005 and the Anacortes Arts Festival in 2006.
The image will be reproduced on canvas grocery bags and will be sold at the Port Townsend Farmers Market by the end of this month, Force said.
Art prints will be available.
The announcement of the special guest, which in years past has been announced during the second week of July, will come a month earlier than usual.
The guest will be announced after a “Guess the Guest” contest, in which three consecutive weekly clues hint at the identity.
This year, the first clue is to be issued June 1.
Force, who said she had the guest locked in last year, is making the early announcement to allow people to make travel plans.
“The hotels fill up quickly. We don’t want people to be disappointed, ” she said.
Karen Allen, best known for her roles in such hits as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Starman,” was the 2013 special guest.
Tony Curtis was the 2000 guest. Eva Marie Saint was featured in 2001. They were followed by Patricia Neal and Stewart Stern, 2002; Peter Fonda and Shirley Knight, 2003; Jane Powell and Dickie Moore, 2004; Debra Winger and Arliss Howard, 2005; Malcolm McDowell, 2006; Elliott Gould, 2007; Piper Laurie, 2008; Cloris Leachman, 2009; Dyan Cannon, 2010; Buck Henry, 2011; and Bruce Dern, 2012.
This year’s special guest is especially special, according to Force.
“Once upon a time when the festival began, the board members said maybe one day we could get this guest, and now this has happened.
“So 15 years into it, a whole new aspect of our vision is coming to pass,” she said.
“Because this guest is so instrumental to the independent film movement in America, it’s a real opportunity for the audience to be reminded of the roots of what we do.
“We are featuring new voices and voices that you won’t hear anywhere else.”
Force said 17 volunteer film buffs are screening the 500 entries submitted for the festival.
If two of the screeners like a film, it will be passed on to Force and program director Jane Julian.
Force expects 150 films to make the cut before they are narrowed down to about 80 for the final schedule, which will be announced Aug. 1.
“This is a lot of movies, but it’s better than the Sundance Film Festival,” Force said.
“They get 12,000 submissions and show fewer films than we do.”
For more information, visit www.ptfilmfest.org or phone 360-379-1333.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.