The year was 1983. KISS appeared in public for the first time without makeup, Nintendo was introduced to Japan and America's favorite bad girl, Amy Winehouse, was born. Ironically, her antithesis, the D.A.R.E. program, was also born.

But, perhaps most notably for Olympia, 1983 is the year the historic Capitol Theater opened its doors for the first Olympia Film Festival. Twenty-seven years strong, the annual Olympia Film Festival provides nine days of foreign films, independent movies and award-winning features. The festival also hosts the ever-popular All Freakin‘ Night, a midnight rendezvous with back-to-back horror flicks.

This year's festival - which will run Nov. 12-20 - kicks off with an opening night gala. The party, which is in part a celebration of Olympia Film Society's new ownership of the Capitol Theater, starts at sunset and will feature a luminary procession, performances from Tall House Consortium (trapeze meets art), Artesian Rumble Arkestra (an 18-piece marching band) and local rock star heartthrobs Romanteek.

The entire block around the theater will be turned into a carnival of sorts, with show tents, food carts and psychics, says Program Director Sarah Adams, who explains the gala was designed to "match the grandeur" of the feature movie, Metropolis, a 1927 sci-fi movie by Austrian-American filmmaker Fritz Lang - which will also show opening night..

This is Adam's first year directing the Olympia Film Festival, and changes have been made. Besides the opening night gala, more live performances will be featured this year, "which is what the theater was designed for, and when the theater is happiest," Adams says. Combining the visual and performing arts with film in one large venue was a huge focus this year.

"It is my great pleasure to bring them all together," says Adams.

Of course, the films of the Olympia Film Festival are still the main focus, and Ivan Peycheff, festival programmer, is the men who choose them. "My favorite thing about being involved in (the Olympia Film Society and the Olympia Film Festival) is working with other like-minded film enthusiasts to put together a festival that, year after year, is an eclectic showcase for all genres of film," says Peycheff.

Calling it an "eclectic showcase" is an understatement. Animation workshops, kids' features and a new addition, All Freakin‘ Kung-Fu Double Feature, showing 7 Grand Masters and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, are all on the agenda for the 27th Annual Olympia Film Festival.

Special festival events include The Decline of Western Civilization Parts I and III, a 1981 look into the roots of punk rock and a follow-up look 17 years later. This showing includes a Q & A with Director Penelope Spheeris and a performance by local music lords Gossip and the Need will follow the rockumentaries.

Also of interest is the Locals Only program, featuring a variety of shorts from - you guessed it - locals. With titles like Handgrenade Eyes, Heaven Failed and Face Fuck Brad Pitt, the lineup is sure to entertain.

"We all kind of support each other in making off-beat, funky films," says Kevin Jacobs, director of Handgrenade Eyes, of the local filmmaking community.

It's this kind of community spirit and creative energy that drives the film fest, and is evident in the support from local businesses and the effort given by nearly 125 volunteers and dedicated staff. The event draws between 5,000 and 7,000 people every year.

"With the wider selection of special events, we feel that attendance this year has the potential to be record-breaking," says Peycheff. "We need the community to come out in droves, enjoy some really great (and eclectic) programming and keep supporting the Oly Film Festival, as we do this all for the benefit of the community."

27th Annual Olympia Film Festival

Friday, Nov. 12-20, films here, tickets here
Capitol Theater, 206 5th Ave. SE., Olympia
360.754.6670
website