This year's event, which opens Dec. 3 and runs through Dec. 13, screens 62 films from 20 different countries, with more than 7,000 people expected to view films at eight different venues, including the D.C. Jewish Community Center, American University, the Goethe-Institut and the Avalon Theater in Washington, and the American Film Institute in Silver Spring. Films will also be shown at the French, Swiss and Ethiopian embassies.

The film that opened the first festival, "The Nasty Girl," a 1990 West German movie about a small town's hostility toward a determined student's investigation of its civic leaders' Nazi past, will again be one of the highlights. Michael Verhoeven, the writer and director of "The Nasty Girl," which won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, will receive the Washington Jewish Film Festival's Visionary Award Sunday afternoon, Dec. 6.

Verhoeven will discuss his filmmaking in a conversation with Sharon Rivo, co-founder and executive director of National Center for Jewish Film, following the screening of the film at the D.C. Jewish Community Center.

A reception afterward will be hosted by German ambassador to the United States, Klaus Scharioth.

"There's a nice symmetry to this year's 20th anniversary," said festival director Susan Barocas, who has been a part of the event since 1994. "When we began discussing the visionary award this year, I brought up Michael's name not realizing until I was told by staff that 'The Nasty Girl,' opened the first festival. When I saw him later at a film festival in Jerusalem, I was like, 'OK, you have to do this.'"

Two other Verhoeven films are also presented. "My Mother's Courage," is a film built around renowned Hungarian Jewish playwright, director and actor George Tabori, who tells the true story of what happened to his mother 50 years earlier during the deportation of the Hungarian Jewish community. The other Verhoeven film is a comedic short, "The Legend of Mrs. Goldman and the Almighty God."

By no means are the films centered around the Holocaust. They represent the broad, rich experience of Jewish life around the world, past and present. Two dozen of the films will be presented by directors, actors or guest speakers -- from such places as Israel and Kazakhstan -- and followed by brief Q & A's.

Noon events will also be held weekdays during the festival at the Goethe-Institut in downtown Washington.

"The purpose of the film festival in its current form is to explore the diversity of the Jewish experience through the moving image," said Barocas, a filmmaker who had one of her own films screened three years ago at the festival. "As far as that reflects a facet of the human experience in the Jewish community, universally, as well, it offers a window into a world that many may not know."

The bottom line, said Barocas, is that there is so much good filmmaking around the world today, but for many people, the opportunities to see it is rare.

Other highlights include, "A Matter of Size," a romantic comedy about several beefy Jewish men, and one in particular, who give up dieting in favor of Sumo wrestling. A "Heart of Stone" is a U.S. documentary about a tough, urban high school, Weequamic, in Newark, N.J. where the older, mostly Jewish alumni join with younger African-Americans to help transform a struggling school.

"The Wedding Song," a Tunisian and French film, explores the relationship between two Jewish and Muslim women, friends since childhood. "Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist" explores the groundbreaking work of the illustrator and artist, who was an early influence on today's graphic novels.

In "Jump," an Austrian film, Patrick Swayze, starring in one his last film roles, plays legendary photographer Philippe Halsman's defense attorney in anti-Semitic Austria before he emigrated to the U.S.

"In the beginning it was largely Jewish audiences that came, but that's just not true anymore," Barocas said. "They are great films. They have appeal for everyone."

For information, including film schedules and tickets, visit www.wjff.org.

Post your comments » Round 2: Snow expected to fall today, Wednesday Fast on the heels of the largest 24-hour snowfall to hit the Frederick County since 1983, meteorologists are predicting another round of heavy snow and wind to hit today. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning Monday afternoon for the area, including Frederick County, and said 10 to 20 inches of snow is possible by Wednesday night. Weather-related closings, delays A list follows of weather-related closings and cancellations for this week. Fire and police blotter Police search for robber School closures cause makeup schedule revision Even though Frederick County Public Schools are closed today -- using the sixth snow day this school year -- the school system will not hold school on the Monday Presidents Day holiday as the first scheduled snow makeup day. Crowds pay respect to fallen marine Even U.S. Marines couldn't hold back tears Monday at the viewing of their colleague, Sgt. David Smith. The procession to the Frederick Christian Fellowship Church was led by Frederick County Sheriff's deputies. Dressed in full military regalia, Marines carried Smith's casket into the church followed by family members as more Marines stood at attention.