Art by Zee

Ready, Set, Bag! recently became first film to pre-sell screening tickets using the social commerce site Groupon, selling 294 discounted tickets online for the film’s August 6 theatrical release at Seattle’s Central Cinema.

This was the first time Groupon offered a movie as its deal of the day.

$1 from every Groupon deal sold on Sunday, July 25th was donated to Food Lifeline, funding nearly 600 meals for patron’s of Washington state’s largest hunger relief organization. Ready, Set, Bag! continues the good work by teaming with Central Cinema to donate $1 for every ticket sold at the box office. As of July, screenings of Ready, Set, Bag! have already funded more than 5,000 meals across America. In addition, all ad revenue from the Ready, Set, Bag! online web series, which broadcasts additional footage, celebrity remixes, and fan videos, is also being donated to food banks.

Ready, Set, Bag! is a documentary featuring eight top grocery baggers as they prepare to meet in Las Vegas to compete in the National Grocers Association’s Best Bagger competition. Winners get $2,000 and a nifty plaque, but it’s hardy high stakes. Why, then, follow this story? “The grocery store is a very common experience which is why this film resonates with so many people,” said director Justine Jacob.

There have been enough documentaries that follow a diverse group of characters as they make their way to some sort of competition to form a sub-genre with its own conventions – introduce the characters, introduce the compeition, dig deeper into the competitors’ lives, build up the anticipation for the climactic event and then give the audience a wrap-up and maybe a “Where are they now?” Jacob doesn’t deviate from this formula, but she doesn’t need to – the structure serves the story well.

Eight different state winners are introduced to us, representing a variety of ages, locations, and family histories. Each one is a unique individual, but there’s not particularly special or unusual about any of them, which is the whole charm of this film: we’re not just watching the tale of one year’s competion, of one year’s competitors. This is actually a story about America, a story about the plain, ordinary, hard-working men and women that make up the backbone of this country, and a story about the value of striving to be the best at what you do no matter what it is that you do. These ordinary men and women are interesting and their stories compelling (I dare you to escape the lure of choosing a favorite to root for – I don’t think you can resist) not in spite of their ordinariness but because of it.

Let’s face it – how many of us can even dream of becoming an Olympic champion or a world leader or a household name? Not many, that’s for sure. But we can all hope to do our best, to live a good life, and maybe get a bit of recognition for the things we do well. That hope is the heart of Ready, Set, Bag! and it grabs you and holds you from start to finish. This is a fun, charming and thoughtful movie that just might change the way you look at the service industry people you encounter every day.

Justine Jacob will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A on Friday, August 6.

Four films from this year’s SIFF festival line up open this weekend. SIFF 2010 Centerpiece gala film Farewell tells the amazing but true story of a French businessman who helps hasten the end of the Cold War when he’s handed top secret documents by a KGB colonel. (Seven Gables) The Concert is a comedy about a Bolshoi conductor reduced to working as a janitor who finds a chance to return to the spotlight when he stumbles upon an invitation to play in Paris. (Harvard Exit) The Pacific Science Center screens the IMAX presentation of The Wildest Dream which tells the intersecting stories of George Mallory, the first man to attempt a summit of Mount Everest, and Conrad Anker, the mountaineer who finds Mallory’s frozen remains 75 years later. Countdown to Zero is director Lucy Walker’s look at the evolution of atomic fears and reasons for international disarmament. (Varsity)

Midnight at the Egyptian: Jack Nicholson has never been creepier than he was in The Shining, Stanley Kubrick’s tale of madness, murder and malevolent spirits an isolated hotel snowed under a heavy Colorado winter. Stephen King was reportedly unhappy with the plot deviations in this adaptation of his novel, but the film stands on its own as a satifyingly scary story.

NW Film Forum blows your mind two different ways: Hausu is a 1977 Japanese film about a group of teenagers who join a classmate on a trip to her grandmother’s country estate. They have no way of knowing just what a trip this vacation will be – Granny’s a ghost and her haunted house is filled with weirdness that’s only getting started once an evil cat convinces a piano to eat one of the girls. Jean-Michel Baquiat: The Radiant Child is an intimate look at the famed artist by one of his close friends.

Behind the Burly Q tells the true story of the history of burlesque from its dawning days through its domination by other forms of entertainment, including the cinema. It features Alan Alda, Dixie Evans, Lili St. Cyr, Tempest Storm, Kitty West, Lou Costello, Rita Grable, Blaze Starr and many more and screens at Grand Illusion Cinema

Late night at the Grand Illusion: Amazon Women on the Moon, an omnibus spoof film from the late 80s that takes satirical aim at pop media culture, with appearances by the likes of the legendary Russ Meyer, Andrew Dice Clay, Slappy White, B.B. King, Penthouse Pet Monique Gabrielle, Phil Hartman, Lou Jacobi, Michelle Pfeiffer, Griffin Dunne, Forrest J. Ackerman, Henry Silva, Rip Taylor, Henny Youngman, Steve Allen, Kelly Preston, Howard Hessman, Ed Begley Jr. as a naked “Invisible Man”, Steve Guttenberg and more.

Tillamook Cheese has plenty of fans already for its smooth good taste, but they wanted to “spread the loaf love” even more so they set out on their first-ever cross-country cheese tour this January in a trio of 1966 Standard VW Microbuses retrofitted to resemble Baby Loafs of Tillamook cheddar to visit grocery stores, farmers markets, local retailers and special events in 100 cities.

And now the Loaf Love Tour is arriving in Seattle to bring free cheese samples, coupons, buttons & more – including FREE hot dogs!

The Mac n Cheese Dog will be handed out for free for one hour only on August 5 (that’s today!) from 5 pm to 6 pm at the Capitol Hill location of Po Dog .