The Tacoma Film Festival returns for its 20th year this October, headlining a fall arts season that also brings a permanent glass exhibit to the Museum of Glass and a "Les Misérables" production to Tacoma Musical Playhouse.

Film Festival at The Grand Cinema

Founded in 2006 by the team behind The Grand Cinema, Tacoma's only nonprofit art-house theater, the festival draws about 2,000 attendees and screens roughly 100 films selected from an estimated 800 submissions. The four-day program runs Oct. 22–25 and mixes features, shorts and documentaries.

A large share of the slate focuses on Pacific Northwest filmmakers, according to South Sound Magazine. Hannah Baek serves as festival director and programmer, with David Dinnell as festival producer and programmer.

The Museum of Glass is preparing to open "Lino Tagliapietra: Maestro," a permanent exhibition celebrating the Italian-born glass artist who has lived in the Puget Sound area for nearly 50 years. The exhibit will open once the museum's ongoing renovation is complete. No specific date had been confirmed as of Sept. 1.

Tagliapietra completed 19 residencies at the Museum of Glass Hot Shop. In an Aug. 9 interview published by the museum, he reflected on what he hopes visitors take from the show.

"I want visitors to feel free to look, to feel, and to respond in their own way," Tagliapietra said in the interview. "Art should not be something you are afraid to understand. It should meet you where you are."

The Legacy Gallery will also support curricula for K–12 and university students across multiple school districts, according to the museum.

"Les Misérables" opens the TMP season

Tacoma Musical Playhouse kicks off its fall schedule with "Les Misérables" on Friday, Sept. 11. The company follows that run with "A Christmas Story: The Musical," which opens Nov. 20 and runs through Dec. 13.

October and November highlights

Tacoma Arts Month fills October with programming. The kickoff event, Kaleidoscope, takes place Oct. 3 at the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch with exhibitions, live performances and interactive art-making. The Tacoma Studio Tour follows Oct. 17–18, featuring more than 100 artists opening their workspaces to the public.

On Oct. 31, Tacoma City Ballet performs its adaptation of "Dracula" at the Pantages Theater. Costumes are encouraged.

Arts at the Armory, a free market featuring more than 100 creatives selling fine art, jewelry and other work, returns Nov. 14–15. The Grit City Comic Show lands at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center on Nov. 7, with guests including cartoonist and animator Michel Gagné and voice actress Melanie Kohn.

Frighthouse Station, Tacoma's haunted house experience, runs the full month of October.