Welcome to Edition V of our annual four day, eight film movie smorgasbord at Athens' beautiful Classic Center. We do hope you'll enjoy yourself this year as much as many folks tell us they've enjoyed the first four go-arounds. We also hope you'll be able chance to attend as many of our screenings as your time permits. We have an exceptional lineup of films this year, maybe our best yet, and now, more than ever, who among us couldn't use a few good flights of fantasy and escapes from what's been happening in the real world?

The purpose of this festival can best be described by a question: "But have you seen it on the big screen?" So many of the films we love have been introduced to us through television screenings, and thank heavens they are available there, otherwise a huge percentage of the movies of the past wouldn't be available to us at all. But the fact is: there is nothing quite like seeing a film as it was meant to be seen - on a mammoth screen, in a communal experience. That's something very rare for any older movie these days, but it's what you'll see at our festival - eight films, in all their big screen glory.

Each of the movies in our festival has been carefully chosen - representing different film genres from several different decades. After each of the screenings, some of the talented people who either worked on the film or is a specialist in some element of the movie business will be on stage to talk about them as well as answer questions you may have about them.

If you ever felt like wallowing in great movie pleasures, this is the time and the place to do it. Each of the films is, in my opinion, a gem and well worth coming out to see.
You'll find dozens of pleasures in the 2009 edition of this festival - Sean Connery as James Bond in what many consider the best of all the Double-O-Seven films before and since (and on the big screen, don't forget). There'll also be the giant of all the great special effects films, the original KING KONG and one of Hitchcock's most suspenseful thrillers. You can see the delightful musical/story which both introduced Barbra Streisand to the screen and also made her an Academy Award winner, and later the best of all Hollywood films about Hollywood, directed and co-written by Billy Wilder. The treats don't stop there. There's also the "Best in Show"-"Waiting for Guffman" group of rib-ticklers in the most recent Christopher Guest comedy, then Francis Ford Coppola's monumental first chapter of the story of the Corleone crime family and, for a rousing finish, Steven Spielberg's masterpiece about a boy named Elliott and his inner-actions with a lovable Extra-Terrestrial. And I emphasize again: it's all on the Big Screen!

It you like to keep track of pertinent data, ROBERT OSBORNE'S CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL held it's first screening on March 19, 2004, with a showing of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN; then 10 months later came the first full-tilt, eight film version of the fest on January 27, 2005, and it's been a yearly event ever since. At the conclusion of this year's session, we'll have shown a total 41 movies since these yearly gatherings began, seven of those films being Academy Award winning "Best Picture" champs: CASABLANCA, GONE WITH THE WIND, ON THE WATERFRONT, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and THE GODFATHER, To date we've also spotlighted two documentaries (MARLENE, MAD HOT BALLROOM), one foreign language film (CINEMA PARADISO) and one animated feature (THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE).

Two actors have been the most conspicuous in our film lineups: Cary Grant has been on our screen every year but one (2005) and Claude Rains has also appeared in four of our movie picks. Several members of the zany Christopher Guest stock company including Guest himself, also Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Bob Balaban and Larry Miller have been in three of our fest films. Parker and Fred are among those who made the trek to Athens to join in post screening conversations. And, further good news, Fred will be back with us again this year, not only in conjunction with March 20's screening of his film FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION but to take over for me the last two days of the festival. Long before our Mar. 19-22 dates for the festival were set, based on the availability of the Classic Center, I had agreed to join Michael Feinstein and a group of classic movie stars (Jane Powell, Jane Russell, Tony Martin, Arlene Dahl) in a musical review Mar. 22-26 in Florida, so I will be leaving after the Saturday matinee of SUNSET BOULEVARD to fulfill that commitment.

Others who also have joined the on-stage discussions include the Academy Award winning actors Patricia Neal, Maximilian Schell and Louise Fletcher, also the multi-Oscared music composer Marvin Hamlisch, Oscar winning film editor Anne Coates and special Oscar winners Mickey Rooney and Roger Mayer plus Jane Powell, Pia Lindstrom, Ann Rutherford, Jean Firstenberg, Marni Nixon, Colleen Camp, Brian David Cange, Errol Flynn's daughter Rory Flynn, Mickey Cottrell, film continuity specialist Angela Allen, casting director Mike Fenton, Norm Aladjem, Richard Oppenheim. Peabody Awards director Horace Newcomb, UGA film scholar Dr. Richard Neupert, Turner Classic Movies' executive Tom Brown among them.

Great memories…and there are plenty more to be made this time around. Guaranteed!