In a last big hurrah before 2008's Seattle International Film Festival kicks off in late May, SIFF Cinema is presenting a nifty retrospective of 20 films from the United Artists vault — many in new or restored prints — spanning the mid '50s to early '80s.

And the kind folks at SIFF are offering one lucky TIG reader a free full-series pass for the 4/30-5/21 retrospective. Simply email contests@SIFF.net with "TIG SIFF tix" in the subject line (and your full name somewhere in the body of the mail) for your chance to win. (All entrants will receive future emails about SIFF events, but can opt-out at any time. Email addresses will not be shared or sold.) 

More info on the program from SIFF Cinema's press release:

Beloved films, directors, and actors in SIFF Cinema’s United Artists Series
 
Running April 30 to May 21, SIFF Cinema will be showing 20 films spanning almost 30 years from the vaults of United Artists to celebrate the film studio’s 90th Anniversary. Beloved films from Marty to West Side Story, and Annie Hall to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly will screen. This array of films feature directors such as Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen; actors like Robert De Niro, Steve McQeen, and Diane Keaton. Pulling films from numerous genres (western, musical, crime, drama, thriller, comedy, and romance), there’s something for everyone in this series.
 
Carl Spence, SIFF Artistic Director says of the series, “You don’t even need to look at the schedule for this series, just show up to SIFF Cinema and you’re bound to love what you’re about to see.”
 
The History of United Artists
 
“So the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum,” groused Metro Pictures President Richard A. Rowland when Hollywood giants Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith formed United Artists in 1919 — a step they took “to protect the great motion picture public from threatening combinations and trusts that would force upon them mediocre productions and machine-made entertainment.”

United Artists quickly became a haven for creatively independent filmmakers — Gloria Swanson, Paramount’s biggest star at the time, turned down the studio’s offer to double her salary so that she could join UA as a producer! In its illustrious history, United Artists has been home to such brilliant talents as Buster Keaton, Stanley Kubrick, John Schlesinger, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and many others. Our tribute spans the mid-’50s to 1980 — when UA was at the heights of its powers — with many beautiful new 35mm prints. 
 
SIFF Cinema’s United Artists series will run right up to the 34th Seattle International Film Festival. 
 
For more info go to www.siff.net.

The films:
 
Wednesday, April 30: The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Thursday, May 1: The Great Escape (1963)
Tuesday, May 6: Marty (1955) and In the Heat of the Night (1967) 
Wednesday, May 7: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Friday, May 9: Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979)
Saturday, May 10: West Side Story (1961) 
Sunday, May 11: Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960)
Monday, May 12: Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) 
Tuesday, May 13: The Last Waltz (1978)
Wednesday, May 14: The Magnificent Seven (1960) 
Friday, May 16: Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Saturday, May 17: Raging Bull (1980) 
Sunday, May 18: Dr. No (1962) and Goldfinger (1964)
Monday, May 19: The Manchurian Candidate (1962) 
Tuesday, May 20: Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Wednesday, May 21: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967)

And if you don't win this time around, don't despair — watch this space in the coming weeks for chances to win individual tickets to three of the films in the series. 

Much more to come on SIFF 2008 too!