Elizabeth Olsen in Silent House (2012)

This year's edition of the ever-eclectic Film Comment Selects festival continues into the weekend with a wide array of films from inventive horror to engrossing documentaries and screwball comedies.

Today starts with a second showing of Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s I Wish, a delightful story about two brothers trying to unite their separated parents with an unusual but ingenious plan. Later in the day we’ll be screening two comedies by David Wain, who first came into the limelight with the cult film Wet Hot American Summer. Last year's buddy comedy Role Models will follow Wain’s latest film Wanderlust (currently standby-only), a hilarious look at a Manhattan couple played by Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston who decide to live in an eccentric hippie community in Atlanta after George suddenly loses his job. Director David Wain, actors Paul Rudd, Alan Alda, Kerri Kenney and Ken Marino will participate in a post-screening Q&A after the film!

On Thursday, don’t miss the chance to see Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Despair, his first English-language film starring Dirk Bogarte as a chocolate manufacturer who begins to devise a plan for his own disappearance to escape Germany’s political unrest and economic grievances. Headhunters is a slick new thriller about a recruitment specialistturned art thief who risks everything when he steals a painting from a fellow headhunter. The creators of the chilling high-concept horror Open Water (2003) are back with Silent House, in which Elizabeth Olsen finds herself trapped inside her family’s lakeside cabin as forces unknown come to disturb her. Based on the Uruguayan film La Casa Muda (2010), Silent House is presented as one continuous take that allows the audience to experience the terrifying events in real time. Directors Laura Lau and Chris Kentis will be in person for Q&A after the February 25 screening.


Matt Damon and Anna Paquin in Margaret (2011)

One of last year’s most talked-about but least-seen films, Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret, which was number 20 in Film Comment’s list of the Best Released Films of 2011, screens Saturday at 7:15pm (standby only). Shot in 2005 but plagued by disagreements between Lonergan and the film’s distributor, Fox Searchlight, Margaret is a touching post-9/11 New York drama about a young girl who endures emotional turmoil after witnessing the death of a pedestrian hit by a bus. Kenneth Lonergan and cast members will be in person for a post-screening conversation.

On Sunday, the festival offers a rare chance to see filmmaker and UCSD professor Jean-Pierre Gorin’s “Southern California Trilogy:” three documentaries about the inhabitants and the city of San Diego. Famous for his collaborations with Jean-Luc Godard, Gorin’s Poto and Cabengo (7:15pm), Routine Pleasures (5:30pm), and My Crasy Life (3:30pm) will be screened back-to-back.

Film Comment Selects runs through March 1. Visit the festival page for a complete schedule, tickets, and more info, and save with a four-film pass, starting at just $28 for members!