The short explanation of the substantial drop in box-office revenue over the last two weeks is that people don’t want to see movies in a time of war. But maybe it’s just the Hollywood pap that usually fills the coffers that’s become insufficient. Maybe people do want to see movies; they just don’t want to see Head of State.

There's no art form better at transporting its audience to another place than the movies, a power that's equally valid when harnessed for escapism or social awareness. Myself, I've perfected the art of switching between CNN and Turner Classic Movies, leavening the latest news from the misbegotten war in Iraq with a little old-school Hollywood relaxant.

But cocooning doesn't solve problems, although it's a pretty good way to build up strength. Though the "world" may be gone from the Philadelphia Film Festival's name, the global outlook still reigns over its programs. This year's festival features films from over 50 countries, as airy as Deepa Mehta's candy-colored Bollywood/Hollywood and as urgent as Bahman Ghobadi's Kurdistan-set Marooned in Iraq -- which, despite its Iranian financing, was banned in Malaysia this week as American propaganda.

As it has for the last two years, the Festival's "Cinema of the Muslim Worlds" component remains strong, with incisive works examining the condition of women in the Middle East (Abbas Kiarostami's Ten, Nasser Refaie's The Exam) as well as a pair of movies, one documentary, one fictional, exploring the relationship between Palestine and the U.S. (Wedding in Ramallah, West Bank Brooklyn). "Eastern European Cinema Today" includes films from Hungary, Poland, several former Soviet states and the first post-independence feature from Moldovia (The Bed of Procustes, an American premiere). "Italian Cinema Today" throws the spotlight on an overlooked but still prolific film culture, including The Embalmer, which we can safely predict will be the only movie about a gay dwarf taxidermist you'll see all year.

New work from Ringu director Nakata Hideo, as well as a five-film tribute to Hong Kong masters the Shaw Brothers (36th Chamber of Shaolin), highlights the ever-popular "Danger After Dark" series, while Sweden's Lukas Moodysson (Lilya 4-Ever), Finland's Aki Kaurismäki (Man Without a Past), Great Britain's Ken Loach (Sweet Sixteen) and Neil Jordan (The Good Thief), China's Chen Kaige (Together) and a pair of Icelanders, Fridrik Thór Fridrikkson (Falcons) and Baltasar Kormákur (The Sea), weigh in with new work.

Alan Rudolph, director of such films as Choose Me, The Moderns and Welcome to L.A., will make the scene to receive the festival's American Independents Award, while Spaniard Alex de la Iglesia will receive the TLA Phantasmagoria Award and preside over a near-complete retrospective. (Three films were added after the festival's catalog went to press, so check their website at www.phillyfests.org for screening times.) Best, and most appropriately, of all, veteran cinematographer Haskell Wexler, whose work in Hollywood belies his commitment to radical politics, is receiving the fest's Artistic Achievement Award.

There's plenty of exploration closer to home as well, like the local shorts and features of the Festival of Independents, and the avant-garde work showcased in the festival's new "Beyond the Frame" segment, including some of the last work by the late Stan Brakhage, who also appears in BTF's Vakvagany. And guests will be showing up by the dozens, from avant-guardian Jon Jost to the directors of the documentary Spellbound, a surprisingly involving look at the tension-filled world of spelling-bee competition. Local legend Gene London will introduce screenings of Peter Pan, while an animation show on the festival's outdoor screen will shut down Broad Street on April 9. Vastly expanded shorts programming makes up (a possibly excessive) 11 programs, outnumbering the festival's 150-plus features.

And that, believe it or not, is just scratching the surface. "I'm like a drug addict," admits Festival Director Ray Murray. "I couldn't pass these films up." Moving away from the Center City-focused plan of years past, the festival now has two basic centers: the Ritz Five/Ritz East/Seaport Museum hub, including the new Festival box office at Second and Dock streets (across from the Ritz Five and Society Hill Towers) and The Bridge/International House hub in West Philly, with the Prince Music Theater like a way station in between. It's easy for us to feel alone, both as individuals and as a nation, at the moment, but getting out and connecting with other people -- both in person and on screen -- might be a good way to remind ourselves that we're not alone, and we shouldn't act as if we were.