Viggo Mortensen is honored with the Seattle Film Festival Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting. The introspective, soft-spoken actor will be interviewed in an onstage Q&A at A Tribute to Viggo Mortensen on Saturday, June 11 at the Egyptian, followed by a screening of his latest film Captain Fantastic, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year and was just honored with the Best Director prize for writer/director Matt Ross from the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. Ross will also attend the screening of the film, which repeats (sans onstage interview) on Sunday, June 12, at 2:30pm, Uptown.
The Mortensen tribute, meanwhile, continues all weekend with special screenings of three films:
Eastern Promises (2007) on Friday, June 10, 9:30pm, Uptown
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Saturday, June 11, 11:30pm, Egyptian (be warned: this is 3 ½ hours long, which is a serious investment for a Midnight Movie);
A Walk on the Moon (1999), Sunday, June, 12, 11am, Uptown
Frank & Lola, a romantic noir thriller starring Michael Shannon and Imogen Poots, is directed by Matthew Ross (not to be confused with Captain Fantastic director Matt Ross), who will attend the screening.
Saturday, June 11, 7pm. Pacific Place
Jocelyn Moorhouse will attend the SIFF Closing Night Gala The Dressmaker, based on the novel by Rosalie Ham and starring Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Judy Davis, and Hugo Weaving, at The Cinerama. It is sold out and on standby and a second show has been added at 6:30pm, Pacific Place Cinemas (does not include a director appearance or closing night party).
A new film has been added to the schedule for a single showing this weekend: The Love Witch, described by SIFF as “a vivid tribute to ’60s Technicolor thrillers” about “a modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her.” Directed by Anna Biller, starring Samantha Robinson, Gian Keys, and Laura Waddell.
Saturday June 11, 9pm, Uptown
Director Mike Birbiglia will attend the Friday, June 10 screening of Don’t Think Twice (7pm, Uptown), starring Keegan-Michael Key, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher, Gillian Jacobs, and Chris Gethard as members of an improv comedy group at a crossroads. Advance tickets sold out, standby available.
Friday, June 10, 7pm. Uptown; Saturday, June 11, 11am, Pacific Place
Director Richard Tanne scheduled to screenings of Southside With You, a dramatic reimagining of the first date of Barack and Michelle Obama.
Saturday, June 11, 7pm, Uptown; Sunday, June 12, 7pm, Egyptian
The black comedy Middle Man, about an aspiring stand-up comic (Jim O’Heir), a serial killer, and a road trip, makes it World Premiere. Advance tickets sold out, on standby.
Friday, June 10, 9pm, Uptown; Sunday, June 12, 11:30pm, Uptown
The eerie, unsettling horror of Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with Creepy (Japan), which makes its North American debut at SIFF. One showing left this weekend.
Saturday, June 11, 8:45pm, Egyptian.
Updates and additions:
The TBA slots have been filled. Here are the titles added to this weekend’s line-up:
FRIDAY JUNE 10
The Night Stalker, 3:30pm, Pacific Place Cinemas. Filmmaker Megan Griffiths is scheduled to attend.
SUNDAY JUNE 12
SIFF Closing Night Gala The Dressmaker, 6:30pm, Pacific Place (plays almost concurrently with the official Closing Night Event at the Cinerama)
As You Are, 8:00pm, SIFF Cinema Uptown
The Pistol Shrimps, 9:00pm, SIFF Cinema Egyptian
Slash, 9:00pm, Pacific Place Cinemas
Also added: In Honor of Dan Ireland, a tribute to the SIFF co-founder with film clips, trailers, short films, and a screening of one of Dan Ireland’s favorite films from a rare 35mm CinemaScope collector’s print. This program is in the Secret Festival tradition: actual titles will not be announced beforehand. Admissions is free.
Sunday, June 12, 1:30pm, Egyptian
Archival presentations:
The General (1926) isn’t just one of the great silent classics, it is simply one of the greatest films ever made. Ever. By which I mean, EVER. Inspired by a true story from the Civil War and rewritten as comedy with a romantic air and a happy ending, it maintains an admirable fidelity to authenticity in costumes and props—the imagery evokes Matthew Brady’s Civil War photography—and the visual scope of the film is not simply impressive, it is dramatic and cinematic and at times awesome. It also has a Pacific Northwest connection. Unable to shoot in Georgia (the landscape had simply changed too much), Keaton moved the entire production to Cottage Grove, Oregon. SIFF presents a new 4K restoration with a new symphonic score by Joe Hisashi, the Japanese composer of the great films from Studio Ghibli and Takeshi Kitano.
Saturday, June 11, 11am, Egyptian.