The 2008 Seattle International Film Festival is almost upon us, with the final schedule being unveiled this Thursday.

I don't have the final schedule yet, but here are some of the things I do know that I'm looking forward to:

It's not a secret that The Battle in Seattle, about the 1999 World Trade Organization protests, is the opening night film. Its ultra-glamorous, Oscar-winning star Charlize Theron is scheduled to attend the event. It is May 22. Tickets start at $50 and can be purchased here. I hear the "Seattle" in The Battle in Seattle looks an awful lot like Vancouver but I haven't seen it yet.

The closing night film is called Bottle Shock and it stars Bill Pullman, Dennis Farina, Alan Rickman amongst others and it depicts the events of the famous 1976 Paris/Napa Valley wine tasting event. It will screen Saturday, June 14. I have seen the film and will provide a full review as it gets closer to being screened. In the meantime, here's the trailer:

The campiest of all campy filmmakers, John Waters, will be showing his 2000 film Cecil B. Demented on Tuesday, June 3 at the Egyptian Theater. He will be interviewed before the film and later give a talk at Benaroya Hall.

There will also be documentaries about Kathy Acker, Garrison Keillor, Patti Smith and Hunter S. Thompson.

Two midnight movies I'm very excited about are Chrysalis, a French film from director Julian Leclerq that is called "a high-octane sci-fi noir thrill ride" and Otto; or, Up With Dead People, which is called "the world's first gay zombie movie".

All told, there will be 418 different films (including shorts) from 69 different countries over 24 days. As it gets closer, there will be more info at the SIFF website as well as here at TIG.