35th Annual Advertising Film Festival

The "35th Annual Advertising Film Festival" is akin to the collection of Clio Awards shown at the Hansen Planetarium each year, except that it's about twice as long.

This is the 1988 Cannes International Advertising Film Festival, made up of more than 100 commercials from 44 countries, chosen from 3,642 entries by a jury of 19 ad executives from all over the globe.

There are some Clio duplications here — the goldfish bowls on the washing machines, the British teen whose washing powder is mistaken by customs agents for drugs, the cat on the parallel bars, the young British girl whose mother fears she may grow up to be prime minister if she eats her pork and beans, etc.

There are also some you've no doubt seen on TV — the "New Kid" spot about a retired gentleman who goes to work at McDonald's, the computer plugging into the Diet Coke bottle, Teri Garr using her remote control on a glass of Diet Pepsi, Dabney Coleman talking to chickens as he hawks 7-Eleven eggs, etc.

But there are also quite a few you probably haven't seen before, such as the British condom ads, the candy spot that plays out violent movie cliches with candy creatures, the anthropomorphic furniture that begs to be sanded, the gorilla on the toilet, the British whisky ads evoking life in Kentucky or the European commercials with nudity.

This unrated (but occasionally in PG-13 territory) collection is shown with no frills. There's no host or in-between segments to tie the ads together and they are not grouped with any common ties.

In fact, sometimes the juxtaposition of commercials can border on tastelessness. For example, late in the program there is a very serious public service spot about suicide, which is followed abruptly by an ad that shows a hospital patient dying until his friend opens a bottle of beer.

But on the whole, this collection of unique pitches for everything from nappies (diapers) to cars to hot chocolate to underwear to insurance to perfume to . . . you name it . . . is a delightful conglomeration of material and themes. You'll see comedy routines, mini-dramas, socially correct messages, questionable messages, art and unabashed sentimentality.

And it's all an awful lot of fun, surprisingly sustaining interest for the entire 105 minutes or so.

Watching this program is a bit like channel-hopping on your television at home, if you were stopping for commercials instead of programming. Except that the percentage of high-quality commercials is much, much higher.

In that regard, this is perfect couch potato fare. (And the Cinema in Your Face! Theater even has couches you can sit on at the front of the auditorium.)