So, OK, RAW DEAL leads us to one educated guess that might prevail as a template: the 75th anniversary collection of noir. This was a large segment of the recent NC DC, which screened 16 films from 1947 as part of their festival lineup.

While I'm not convinced that Eddie will simply "move the yardage markers" down the field for his initial foray in '23, whatever is selected in recent years has strongly tended to be the theme that recurs in the larger venues that follow: Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, and D.C. (but not usually, for some reason, in Chicago). So a festival that focuses on the films of 1948 is certainly one approach to creating a generic uniformity of approach for the various venues in '23.

To that end, here are the films from 1948 that Eddie has already screened in SF, with their festival number(s) in parentheses:

Act of Violence (3)
Argyle Secrets, The (19)
Berlin Express (12)
Big Clock, The (7)
Bodyguard (16)
Cry of the City (3)
Force of Evil (3,19)
He Walked by Night (3)
Hollow Triumph (4)
Hunted, The (9)
I Love Trouble (5)
I Walk Alone (5,16)
Kiss The Blood Off My Hands (5)
Larceny (4,8)
Moonrise (6)
Naked City (3)
Night Has A Thousand Eyes (6)
Open Secret (19)
Pitfall (3,8)
Race Street (1)
Raw Deal (5)
Road House (2,6)
Secret Beyond the Door (9)
Sleep, My Love (13)
So Evil My Love (9)
Sorry, Wrong Number (9)
Spiritualist, The (5)
They Live By Night (4)
Velvet Touch, The (2)
Walk A Crooked Mile (8)

The films in small type are ones that I think are certain to be left out of the schedule.

The film in bold type are ones that I think are likely to be in the lineup if this approach to NC 20 is implemented.

That's a total of 13 films considered as likely inclusions, with seven more that could be added as well (the festival could accommodate up to 28 films, though Eddie has usually not loaded up Saturdays with "double double features" the way some maniacs do. :-)

Additionally, here are some titles from 1948 that Eddie has yet to screen in SF:

All My Sons
Blonde Ice
Call Northside 777
Canon City
Dark Past, The
I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes
Ruthless
Shed No Tears
Sign of the Ram, The
Street With No Name, The
Whiplash

Same categories here as above. In some cases, these films have been shown in other festivals, which tips us off to the likelihood that a print is available. Film such as BLONDE ICE and RUTHLESS would appear in bold type and be as likely to be chosen but for the uncertainty of a screenable print. (In the case of WHIPLASH, I'm pretty sure that Eddie considers it to be marginal, part of a group of Warners noirs that didn't quite pass muster.)

I think Eddie will likely ignore I WOULDN'T BE IN YOUR SHOES because its restoration occurred outside his aegis. And I think that the chances of there being a good enough print of SHED NO TEARS to screen are still quite slim.

At any rate, that adds seven more candidate films to the group identified above, which gives us a total of 27 noirs from 1948 to work with.