This year's Before-the-Festival screenings take moviegoers back in time – back to the wonderful world of Oz in Return to Oz, with Dorothy back in Kansas, having returned from Oz, but having trouble readjusting to her old life. When she finally manages to get back to Oz, she learns that this magical land is now ruled by an evil king. Written and directed by Walter Murch, Return to Oz screens Wednesday night, at 8:30 p.m., in Elks Park.

Thursday night at 7:30 p.m., the Festival shows The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, with production design by Dean Tavoularis, starring Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, at the Chuck Jones Cinema in Mountain Village. Caul knows how to record private conversations just about anywhere, but has a crisis of conscience when he suspects the couple he's spying on are about to be murdered.

Moviegoers will have to choose, however, between The Conversation and Four Feathers – the 1939 version, that is – screening in Elks Park Thursday, at 8:30 p.m. Directed by Zoltan Korda, it tells the tale of a British army officer who, after being accused of cowardice by his comrades, goes on to redeem his honor by disguising himself as an Arab and going to their rescue, in gorgeous color cinematography by Thief of Bagdad's Georges Périnal, with original music by Miklos Rosza.