The Philadelphia Film Festival opens Thursday and West Philly is right in the thick of the action.

The 20th annual festival opens at The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts‘ Zellerbach Theater (3680 Walnut St.) with a screening of Like Crazy, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (Best Picture) winner starring Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin. Tickets for the screening are $20 ($15 for members of the Philadelphia Film Society) and $50/$45 for the screening and an opening party.

The International House (3701 Chestnut St.) and The Rave movie theater (4012 Walnut St.) are two more key venues for this year’s festival. Films kick off at the International House at 5 p.m. on Friday and continue daily through Wednesday, Oct. 26. After a short break, films return on Sunday, Oct. 30. Films at The Rave also open on Friday and continue through Thursday, Oct. 27.

We have way too little space here to get into the dozens of films screening over the festival’s two weeks. You need to find yourself a handy film guide, which is available at various locations in the neighborhood (we got ours at Earth Cup near 45th and Pine). Here is the online schedule.

One feature film with West Philly connections that we would like to point out is The Destiny of Lesser Animals directed by Deron Albright and starring Yao B. Nunoo. You might recognize those two if you saw them because they spent many hours in West Philly establishments, including The Gold Standard or Dhalak, planning and discussing the film, which was shot in Ghana and West Philly.

Nunoo, a former Penn film student who also wrote the screenplay, stars as a police inspector in Ghana who is desperate to return to America after being deported. The film is modeled in part on Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog.

Geekadelphia posted its Top 8 films to check out here.

Tickets for regular individual screenings are $12 ($10 for Philadelphia Film Society members). Tickets for weekday matinees (before 5 p.m.) are $6/$5. All-access badges are also available. Go here for more information on tickets.