Treads and Retreads

How were you planning on celebrating the 350th anniversary of Jews in America? If you were stuck for something to do, allow me to suggest the 9th Annual Seattle Jewish Film Festival (www.ajcseattle.org/SJFF04/). Comfortably located in the expansive Cinerama theater, as well as at Pacific Place, the festival will run from Saturday, March 13, to Sunday, March 21. The opening-night film is a documentary called The First Israeli in Space, which would have been a triumphant story had Ilan Ramon not been a crew member of the shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated on reentry last year. The closing-night film shows the range of the festival (which runs from documentary to fiction, tragedy to comedy) when on Sunday, March 21, they'll show Mel Brooks' The Producers, which has become a successful Broadway musical somehow, and is now being turned back into a movie.

If you think Warren Miller's ski movies have become old hat, and you've seen all the latest skate videos, you may want to head to the University of Washington's Kane Hall on Saturday the 13th for the global premiere of the wakeboarding video Running on Empty. What is wakeboarding? It's where you load the line and go for a hoochie glide or a raley, then try to avoid a durf or digger. Translation: It's a combination of snowboarding and water-skiing, and some of the moves they pull off are sick. Many of the wakeboarders in the video will be in attendance as well, and there will also be breakdancers and a raffle.

St. Patrick's Day is Wednesday the 17th, but if you're looking for something to do without all those Irish people around, I've got two events for you. The Wednesday-night film series at the Rendezvous has been giving props to the Italians this month, and tonight's movie is the Fellini classic Nights of Cabiria. Because the Irish don't hold a patent on drinking, you are allowed to get drunk before, during, and after the show. Over at Consolidated Works, local filmmaker Megan Griffiths will be showing off her indie feature First Aid for Choking, a charming coming-of-age story. Cast and crew will be present, there will be tasty desserts at the reception that follows, and you will have the option to be one of the first to buy a DVD of the movie.

Speaking of DVDs, I'm no fan of venues that rent DVDs and then charge people to watch them. Along with the questionable ethics of making money off of a public screening for which they don't have the rights, there is the fact that screening off of video doesn't look as good as screening off of film. And yet I'm going to promote the showing of Strange Brew at the Sunset Tavern on Monday the 15th. Here's my two reasons: They don't charge admission, and the movie is one of the most entertaining adaptations of Hamlet ever made. So sue me.

andy@thestranger.com