The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival will take place over 11 days this year, from Thursday, March 1, to Sunday, March 11, and will feature more than 85 films from 17 countries, several world premieres and many special presentation screenings.

“Our festival is growing fast,” commented SLOIFF Festival Director Wendy Eidson in a Feb. 8 press release from festival organizers. “We have added another five days, at least 30 more films, two King Vidor honorees instead of last year’s one and will be hosting more than 75 out-of-town filmmakers and celebrities this year.”

The eclectic mix of films covers topics from music to philanthropy to politics to sports.

There’s even an evening of local short films produced by K-12 students and teachers, sponsored by the San Luis Obispo and South County Historical Society’s and Cal Poly’s College of Education.

Three red carpet events will highlight the festival once again, with King Vidor Award Tributes for Career Achievement going to director Norman Jewison (Saturday, March 3) and actor James Cromwell (Saturday, March 10. See sidebar at right.) With surprise celebrity guests in attendance, according to the press release, “the two evenings will sparkle with Hollywood glitz and excitement.”

Independent film competition awards will be presented to outstanding filmmakers on March 10.

Surf Night in SLO, another red carpet event, is fast becoming a tradition of the festival. On Thursday, March 8, the surf world’s most famous filmmaking family will be at the Fremont Theatre, according to the release. All three generations of the Brown family: Bruce (“Endless Summer”), son Dana (“Step Into Liquid”) and grandson, Wes (“Chasing Dora”) will attend screenings of “Step into Liquid” and Wes Brown’s brand-new documentary focusing on legendary surfer Mickey Dora. There will also be a meet-and-greet reception before the screenings, a surf raffle and Q & A session with the filmmakers and some of the surfers featured in the films.

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Special Presentation Events include films hosted by actor-musician Mickey Jones (Bob Dylan’s drummer on his 1966 world tour); Fred Koenekamp, award-winning cinematographer of great films like “Patton” and “Papillon”; Rick London, ex-tour manager for Billy Joel; Kelly and Casey Candaele with some of the original female baseball players that the film “A League of their Own” was based on; Danny Biederman, spy film expert and author; Sam George, surf film writer-producer; and Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle film critic and pre-code movie expert.

Independent film director Henry Jaglom will attend the screening of his new film, “Hollywood Dreams.” Local filmmakers David Malcolm and Jody Nelson will attend screenings of their sports films, “Chasing the Dream,” “Iron Boy,” “First and Ten” and “Hero of the Game.” And local extreme sports film distributor, VAS Entertainment will host screenings of new ski and climbing films, “Anomaly” and “First Ascent.”

San Luis Obispo will be hopping with after-parties and pre-film receptions at many downtown bars and restaurants ; and six educational behind-the-scenes panels and workshops are planned at several downtown San Luis Obispo venues, with many industry pros speaking on a variety of topics. James Cromwell, Norman Jewison, Michael Nowak, Budd Carr, Neil Travis, Paul Lichtman, Cafe FX staff and many visiting filmmakers will speak on acting, directing, screenplay writing, music and post-production, producing an independent film and visual effects.

Most films will be screened at the renovated, solar-powered Palm Theatre, with the three red carpet events and a sing-a-long version of “Fiddler on the Roof” at the classic Fremont Theatre.

Tickets and film passes are on sale now at the SLOIFF headquarters, next to the Palm Theatre, at 861 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. For information, call 546-3456 or visit www.slofilmfest.org. Tickets for all Red Carpet Events and film passes are available for purchase on the Web site.