The British Television Advertising Awards’ (now called the British Arrow Awards) annual collection of television and cinema commercials showcases what many in advertising and film consider the best work in this field in the world. This year’s eclectic mix of dry British comedy, cinematic and digital bravura, hard-hitting PSAs, and new twists on long-running campaigns reveals again that humor and innovation in advertising go on unabated. Thanks again to the British Arrows, London, for this always entertaining crash course on the marriage of advertising and film, art and commerce. (90 mins.)

In honor of the Film Center’s 40th anniversary, we present “Essential Northwest,” a new monthly, pay-what-you-will film series featuring vintage classics from Northwest filmmakers. If you want to know what Northwest filmmaking is all about, these are the films you need to see. Essential Northwest kicks off with Gus Van Sant’s first feature, MALA NOCHE, based on an autobiographical novella by Portland poet Walt Curtis and set on the rainy streets of Portland. Walt (Tim Streeter) works in a convenience store selling beer and cigarettes to seedy neighborhood characters. He develops a crush on an illegal immigrant named John who, new to Portland, is willing to use Walt for food and lodging while rejecting his advances. “Original, offbeat films such as MALA NOCHE—the kind that reflect authentic lifestyles without glorification or stereotyping—come few and far between. It’s always a pleasure to see them.”—Washington Post (78 mins.)

ADMISSION: PAY WHAT YOU WILL (Tickets available at the door.)

One of the most charming and illuminating of Rohmer’s classic “Comedies and Proverbs” cycle, SUMMER (a.k.a. THE GREEN RAY) is a bittersweet comedy that celebrates the times when hearts fall in love. Winner of the Golden Lion and FIPRESCI Prize at the 1986 Venice Film Festival, SUMMER follows the independent but insecure Delphine, played by Rohmer regular Marie Rivière (AUTUMN TALE, THE AVIATOR’S WIFE), a newly single young Parisienne who cannot find a holiday companion for the month of August. She meets and rejects suitors and potential friends as she glides and stumbles in her longing for connection. Rivière, who also co-wrote her largely self-created role, delivers an especially captivating performance. “Exquisite ... a movie of uncommon sensitivity and emotional reserves.”—Vincent Canby, New York Times (96 mins.)

Julie Rosenberg, M.D., from The Oregon Psychoanalytic Center, will introduce the film and facilitate a Q&A session.

SINGLE OR DOUBLE FEATURE (Double feature with FOUR ADVENTURES OF REINETTE AND MIRABELLE)

Double features cost an additional $3 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket.

A companion piece to SUMMER, Rohmer’s improvisational quartet of stories follows Mirabelle (Jessica Forde), a student of ethnology at the Sorbonne, and her growing friendship with Reinette (Joelle Miquel), a country girl of uncertain virtue. Becoming roommates in Paris, the two are involved in a series of escapades that grow more comical as they take on a snotty waiter, shoplifters, beggars, and the hustling of art. Told with a slice-of-life quality and again featuring excellent performances, Rohmer succeeds in his goal “to return to the roots and to the tone of the first short films that we shot, Rivette, Truffaut, Godard, and myself.” “It’s all inescapably French (in the best sense) and concerned with the joys of not only good conversation but of seeing.”—Time Out. “Part of Mr. Rohmer’s genius is that he keeps creating such lives—ordinary and rarefied at once, almost but not quite beyond our grasp.”—Caryn James, New York Times (96 mins.)

SINGLE OR DOUBLE FEATURE (Double feature with SUMMER)

Double features cost an additional $3 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket.

Snaking through the elegant drawing rooms and estates of Portugal’s aristocracy, while making side trips to France, Spain, Italy, and Brazil, Raul Ruiz’s (MARCEL PROUST’S TIME REGAINED, THREE CROWNS OF THE SAILOR) latest head-spinning extravaganza employs no less than seven narrators in a sprawling tale of interlinked adventures, coincidences, revelations, vengeance, betrayals, and love affairs. Adapted from the novel of celebrated Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco—frequently compared to Dickens, Victor Hugo, and Tolstoy—the labyrinthine plot is ostensibly the story of João, the illegitimate child of an ill-starred romance between two members of rival aristocratic families. Multiple identities are stripped away to uncover startling revelations in a gripping melodramatic mystery featuring exquisite art direction and masterful cinematography. The 19th century setting does nothing to detract from the film’s contemporary import as it touches on murder, warfare, spiritual malaise, and other ever-present social ills. “One of the finest selections at this year’s New York Film Festival.”—New York Times (272 mins.)