Fall Film Festival

Which three movies would you put together for your own private film festival?

In Autumn, when the weather keeps us in and we're trying to save money and energy for the holidays, it's time for our annual Fall Film Festival.

At our house, we select three movies and choose a weekend when we've got time to curl up together from Friday after work or Saturday afternoon through the rest of the weekend. The Festival can be as formal or informal as you want to make it -- friends come over in appropriate costme or you and your mate just snuggle up in pajamas -- and it's a good idea to put together food and drink ahead of time so no one has to brave the cold, cruel world.

When our children were small, we had a blast outfitting the living room with pallettes of sleeping bags, quilts and loads of pillows, serving popcorn and "movie food", and cuddling up to watch our Kids' Festival favorites, like "Labyrinth", "The Little Mermaid" and "Critters".

As the children and their friends grew older, we graduated to a teenage audience of ten to twenty kids and scarier films, like "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Halloween" and "Scream".

It's always a good idea for parents to "preview" films you're screening for a younger audience and to contact the parents of guests ahead of time. I always made a call to the other parents, telling them the food I planned to serve and which movies we planned to show, asking about food allergies and for the parents' permission for their children to watch the movies.

The fun part of the Festival for us is putting together titles with a theme. For example, they can be three films featuring your favorite actor, a particular director, a genre you like, movies with a word in the title in common, or representing a specific period of time or place. It's great to mix newer releases with classics, too.

Some of our other favorite Fall Film Festivals have been:

The Flying Martial Arts Festival: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Hero", and "Iron Monkey"

Six Gun Festival: "The Quick and the Dead", "3:10 to Yuma", and "Cat Ballou"

Chick Flick Festival: "Dangerous Beauty", "Chocolat", and "Practical Magic"

True Romance Festival: "The Illusionist", "Moulin Rouge", and "Shakespeare in Love"

Terry Gilliam Film Festival: "Time Bandits", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and "Brazil"

All Action All the Time Festival: "Alien versus Predator", "Die Hard" and "Death Race"

Shakespeare Festival: "Get Over It" (Midsummer Night's Dream), "Forbidden Planet" (The Tempest), and "Theatre of Blood" (A Shakespearean actor murders his snobby critics)

The only limitations are your own tastes and imagination. Any suggestions for other festival entries? We're always looking for new ideas!