Category: Seattle Screens

SIFFing: Parallax View’s SIFF 2018 Guide

Written by Editor May 16, 2018

[Updated June 7, 2018]

The 44^th Annual Seattle International Film Festival opens on Thursday, May 17, with the opening night gala presentation of Goya-winning feature The Bookshop with Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, and Bill Nighy from Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet, and closes 24 days later on Sunday, June 10 with Portland-based filmmaker Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot. In between there are (at last count) 168 feature films, 66 documentary features, 10 archival films, and 164 short films among the multimedia presentations. All told: 433 films representing 90 countries (as of opening night).

Here is Parallax View’s coverage and guide to SIFF resources from around the web. We will update a few times a week.

SIFF Week by Week, Day by Day:

SIFF 2018: The best of the fest’s final weekend (staff, Seattle Times) NEW
SIFF 2018 Picks: Final Week (Keiko DeLuca, Seth Sommerfeld, and Gavin Borchert, Seattle Weekly) NEW
The 29 Best Movies To See at SIFF This Week: June 4-10 (Staff, The Stranger) NEW
SIFF 2018: week three highlights (Michael Bracy, Three Imaginary Girls) NEW
SIFF 2018: Picks for Week Three (staff, The Sunbreak) NEW
Read More “SIFFing: Parallax View’s SIFF 2018 Guide”

by Bruce Reid, by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Links, Obituary / Remembrance, Seattle Screens

The View Beyond Parallax… more reads for the week of Friday, November 18, plus Seattle Screens

Written by Bruce Reid November 18, 2016

“And do not, please do not, get him started on the people who approach him after the show with a Sling Blade DVD to sign. You just watched him perform his heart out for you and you are going to present him with a Sling Blade DVD? ‘Sure, I’ll sign your Sling Blade DVD,’ he says now. ‘And you can go home and fuck missionary like a metronome and never have an original creative idea in your life.’” Taffy Brodesser-Akner spends four days on tour with Billy Bob Thornton’s band, and with acidic comic precision captures the pretension and solipsism of the frustrated actor and swears-he’s-never-doing-that-again director, while making clear how under that remains a unique, untamable talent—and right under that, the survivor of horrible abuse trying to make a life for himself that works. Via Longform.

“Though Dreams received some appreciative reviews, many critics knocked it for what they saw as overt didacticism and stasis. They found the main character (played as a child by Toshihiko Nakano and Mitsunori Isaki and as an adult by Akira Terao), to be frustratingly passive, and the director’s themes—his fears about humanity and nature—to be mired in simplistic moralizing. Such criticisms, however, fail to appreciate the layers of meaning in Dreams, not to mention its stylistic strangeness. The film’s surfaces may be gentle; the experience of watching it is anything but.” Bilge Ebiri considers the autobiographical elements and experiments in stylization that make Dreams—not surprisingly—arguably Kurosawa’s most personal film.

by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Seattle Screens

Seattle Screens: Italy! Morocco! Wiseman!

Written by Sean Axmaker November 10, 2016

The 8^th Cinema Italian Style series plays through the week at SIFF Cinema Uptown. It opens on Thursday, November 10 with Paolo Virzi’s Like Crazy with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and ends a week later on Thursday, November 17 with closing night feature Opposites Attract, a romantic comedy directed by Max Croci, who is scheduled to attend the screening and the closing night party. Among the 15 features and documentaries are Anna (For Your Love), which earned Valeria Golina the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival, the romantic comedy Solo, written and directed by actress Laura Morante, the award-winning documentary Libera Nos about the continued practice of exorcism on the Italian Catholic Church, and a new restoration of Ettore Scola’s A Special Day (1977) starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. It continues for a week. Series and individual ticket available. Complete schedule and tickets here.

The 6^th Seattle Shorts Film Festival opens on Friday, November 11 at SIFF Film Center with a feature film: Before I Disappear is Shawn Christensen’s feature-length adaptation of his 2012 Oscar-winning short film Curfew. The rest of the festival, which plays through the weekend at SIFF Film Center, presents 49 short films and music videos, including numerous Seattle premieres and works by local Seattle and Pacific Northwest filmmakers, and two panel discussions. Complete schedule and other information at the festival website here.

The Seattle Sephardic Network presents The Midnight Orchestra (2015) from Morocco, a drama about the son of a Jewish musician returning home to Morocco to bury his father. One show only on Wednesday, November 16 at The Majestic Bay in Ballard.
Read More “Seattle Screens: Italy! Morocco! Wiseman!”

by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Seattle Screens

Seattle Screens: Black and Chrome and Christine Chubbuck

Written by Sean Axmaker November 3, 2016

Sure, Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, and the animated toy musical comedy Trolls are competing for audiences this weekend, but there’s a lot more out there.

Moonlight, one of the most acclaimed American films of the year, opens at The Egyptian. Robert Horton reviews it for Seattle Weekly.

Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome Edition, the black-and-white version of the film that George Miller called “more authentic and elemental,” plays exclusively at Cinerama for a ten-day run. Schedule and ticket information here.

The 8^th Cinema Italian Style series opens Thursday, November 10 at SIFF Cinema Uptown with Paolo Virzi’s Like Crazy with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. It continues for a week. Series and individual ticket available. Complete schedule and tickets here.

Premieres:

Christine Chubbuck, the local Sarasota TV newswoman who committed suicide on air in 1974, is the subject of two films opening in Seattle this weekend. Christine, from director Antonio Campos, stars Rebecca Hall as the newscaster spiraling into depression. It’s scheduled to play for a week at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

Kate Plays Christine, from dramatic / documentary hybrid from filmmaker Robert Greene, follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil as she attempts to get into “character” as Christine Chubbuck. It won the Special Jury Award for screenplay at Sundance. Plays through Sunday at NWFF.

by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Seattle Screens

Seattle Screens Halloween weekend: ‘The Hunger,’ ‘The Pit,’ ‘Rocky Horror,’ and Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’

Written by Sean Axmaker October 27, 2016

Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden, a con artist scheme by way of a steamy erotic thriller, opens at multiple theaters this week, including SIFF Cinema Uptown and Guild 45.

The Canadian coming of age comedy Closet Monster plays for a week at SIFF Cinema Egyptian.

Miss Hokusai, an animated Japanese feature from director Keiichi Hara and the creators of Ghost in the Shell, opens for a week at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

Archival and revival screenings:

Grand Illusion presents two contemporary twists of the vampire film on 35mm this weekend and on Halloween night: The Hunger (1983), the feature debut of director Tony Scott featuring Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie, and Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) with Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston.

by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Seattle Screens

Seattle Screens: Japanese horror in 35mm and ‘The Battle of Algiers’ restored

Written by Sean Axmaker October 21, 2016

The Japanese horror classic Kuroneko (Black Cat) (1968), directed by Kaneto Shindo, is both an eerie ghost story and a ferocious horror tale of righteous revenge. Set in feudal Japan, in a bamboo forest perpetually shrouded in fog and shadow as ethereal as the ghosts that seem to float through it, the film chronicles the spirits of two women, raped and murdered by scruffy samurai who are more like feral bandits, driven to revenge themselves on all samurai, which they lure to their ghost house, itself a spirit that moves through the forest like a supernatural creature. It’s one of the greatest of Japanese ghost stories, a horror film of elemental drive, feminist rage and visual grace. It plays three shows at Grand Illusion this week from a 35mm print.

Also at Grand Illusion in 35mm is Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan (1965), a quartet of ancient ghost stories. It may not be strictly speaking a horror film—it’s not scary or particularly unsettling apart for a few exquisitely created images—but it is breathtakingly lovely, visually composed like a painting, scored and sound designed by Toru Takemitsu with a spareness that leans on silence, and suffused in sadness, regret, and loss. The 160-minute film plays twice this week.

by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Seattle Screens

Seattle Screens: Festival season – Twist, South Asian, Polish Film Festivals

Written by Sean Axmaker October 13, 2016

Twist 2016, the Seattle Queer film festival, has its opening night at the SIFF Cinema Egyptian on Thursday, October 13 with the world premiere of Seattle artist Clyde Petersen’ debut feature Torrey Pines and continues through Sunday, October 23 with screenings and events at the Egyptian, NWFF, 12 Ave Arts Building, Pacific Place, and other venues. The closing night film The Pass screens at Cinerama on Sunday, October 23. Complete schedule and other details at the website here.

The 11th Annual Seattle South Asian Film Festival opens on Friday, October 14 with a screening of Aynabaji (India) at Seattle Art Museum, moves to SIFF Film Center for a weekend of screenings, and screens films at Thompson Hall at the UW, Carco Theater in Renton, and other venues through Sunday, October 23. It closes with Waiting, a Hindi-language film from India. Complete schedule and other details at the website here.

The Seattle Polish Film Festival plays at SIFF Cinema Uptown this weekend with screenings of Cellin Gluck’s Persona Non Grata, Tomasz Wasilewski’s The United States of Love, Jerzy Skolimowski’s 11 Minutes, and revivals of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing (1988) and The Double Life of Veronique (1991) among other films. It plays through Sunday, October 23. Complete schedule and other details at the website here.

by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Seattle Screens

Seattle Screens: Kinofest and Irish Reels

Written by Sean Axmaker October 7, 2016

Kinofest Seattle, a collaboration between The Portland German Film Festival and Northwest Film Forum, opens on Friday, October 7 with Margarethe von Trotta’s The Displaced World and continues through Sunday, October 9 at NWFF, screening seven German language features and a collection of shorts over three days. Among the featured films: Windstorm 2 by Katja von Garnier, the documentary Then Is it the End? from Dominik Graf, and the American premiere of Exit Oerlikon from director Paul Riniker. Complete schedule and ticket information here.

The Irish Reels Film Festival opens Friday, October 7 at SIFF Film Center with the coming of age drama My Name is Emily and ends on Sunday with You’re Too Ugly. Complete schedule here.

by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Seattle Screens

Seattle Screens: French Cinema Now, a Sundance workshop, and Multiple Maniacs

Written by Sean Axmaker September 29, 2016

French Cinema Now kicks off a series of French language films from France and Canada at SIFF Cinema Uptown with on Thursday, September 29 with opening night feature Lost in Paris from filmmaking team Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon. Among the highlights: the romantic comedy Two Friends from actor/director Louis Garrel, Don’t Tell Me the Boy was Mad from Robert Guediguian and set in 1970s Paris, the documentary Reset which takes viewers behind the scenes at the Opéra National de Paris, and the drama After Love with Be?re?nice Bejo and Ce?dric Kahn as a married couple sticking through a failing marriage for their kids. The series plays through Thursday, October 6. The complete schedule and ticket and festival pass information is here.

The 19^th Local Sightings Film Festival screens its final films at NWFF on Friday, September 30, including a new restoration of Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass (1994), and on Saturday it presents the first-ever Sundance Institute Artist Services workshop in Seattle. The day-long event for filmmakers begins at 10am at NWFF and features panel discussions and presentations. Details here.

Mink Stole presents a midnight screening of the new restoration of John Waters’ trash classic Multiple Maniacs (1970) at SIFF Egyptian on Friday, September 30. The event is hosted by Peaches Christ and features a special performance by RainbowGore Cake.

A new restoration of Geoff Murphy’s apocalyptic The Quiet Earth (1985), the first science fiction movie from New Zealand, plays through the week at Grand Illusion.

On Wednesday, October 5, NWFF celebrates American Archives Month with a selection of rarely-seen shorts from archives around the city of Seattle. Also at NWFF this week: the short films program Memory Presents: Program No. 2 from award-winning and emerging filmmakers and Desert Cathedral, a mix of found footage and dramatic thriller, both on Thursday, October 6.

Young Frankenstein (1971) returns to cinemas across the country for a special one-night-only screening on Wednesday, October 5 from Fathom Events. This screening features a live introduction by director Mel Brooks, who co-wrote the film with his star and good friend Gene Wilder. You can find participating theaters in your area here.

This week, Central Cinema goes classic with Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and crowd-pleasing with The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Showtimes here.

Back for another go: The Art of the Story: The Hero’s Journey is a workshop that looks at the power of myth and the hero’s journey in storytelling through Star Wars (1977) and its relationship to Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Conducted by media educator Malory Graham. Sunday, October 2 at SIFF Film Center.

More openings: Cameraperson, a personal documentary from filmmaker Kirsten Johnson and A Man Called Ove (winner of the Golden Space Needle for Best Actor) at SIFF Cinema Uptown

Visit the film review pages at The Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, and The Stranger for more releases.

View complete screening schedules through IMDb, MSN, Yahoo, or Fandango, pick the interface of your choice.

by Sean Axmaker, Contributors, Seattle Screens

Seattle Screens: Film noir ‘Nightmare,’ Local Sightings at NWFF, and Arthouse Theatre Day

Written by Sean Axmaker September 23, 2016

The 19th edition of Local Sightings, “Seattle’s only festival dedicated to Pacific Northwest films and filmmakers,” continues at NWFF with over 100 features and short films, including 26 world premieres (four of them features), plus workshops and panels and other events. Plays through Saturday, October 1 at NWFF. Complete schedule and other details here, and Robert Horton’s preview is at Seattle Weekly.

The 39^th edition of the longest-running film noir series in the world kicks off on Thursday, September 29 with a screening of Nightmare Alley (1947). Matinee idol Tyrone Power is brilliantly cast as the opportunistic carnie who tramples his partners to climb out of the sideshow and into nightclub glamour and high society in one of the most offbeat examples of film noir. Opening and closing in the dregs of a two-bit carnival, the rise and fall of a drifter who connives a mind-reading act from a rummy has-been and transforms it into a scam targeting the gullible rich straddles the chasm between sleaze and class, thanks to the oddly interesting miscasting of studio stalwart Edmund Goulding as director. He never manages to sink to the depths suggested in Jules Furthman’s screenplay (behold the Geek!) but his studio elegance has its own rewards. Tyrone Power’s self-conscious screen persona perfectly fits his character, a phony whose entire life is a performance, and Colleen Gray is film noir’s baby-faced innocent, though she’s anything but naïve here. Joan Blondell and Mike Mazurki co-star as Gray’s protective carnie pals and Helen Walker proves herself just as ruthlessly cunning as Power’s scam artist in the role of a corrupt analyst. It screens from a 35mm film print at 7:30 pm at Plestcheeff Auditorium at the Seattle Art Museum. More information here, and the series continues on Thursday nights through December at SAM.

French Cinema Now kicks off with on Thursday, September 29 with opening night feature Lost in Paris from filmmaking team Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon. The series plays through Thursday, October 6. The complete schedule and ticket and festival pass information is here.

Cameraperson, a personal documentary from filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, screens at SIFF Cinema Uptown on Wednesday, September 28 with a Skype Q&A with the filmmaker. The film opens for a theatrical run on Friday, September 30.

SIFF Cinema Uptown celebrates Arthouse Theatre Day with a screening of the newly restored cult horror film Phantasm (1979) on Saturday, September 24 at SIFF Cinema Uptown, with a live stream Q&A with director Don Coscarelli joined by J.J. Abrams.

A new digital restoration of I Drink Your Blood (1973) plays on Friday, September 23 at Grand Illusion as its anti-Arthouse Day offering. Then on Saturday, Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits (1981) is the official Arthouse Theatre Day offering.

Central Cinema gets back to school with repertory runs of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) and Mean Girls (2004). Showtimes here.

More openings: The conspiracy thriller Operation Avalanche at Sundance Cinemas, the French drama Come What May at Guild 45, the romantic comedy/fantasy Zoom at Grand Illusion, and the documentaries Dying to Know: Ram Dass & Timothy Leary at SIFF Film Center and Three Days in Auschwitz at Sundance Cinemas.

Visit the film review pages at The Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, and The Stranger for more releases.

View complete screening schedules through IMDb, MSN, Yahoo, or Fandango, pick the interface of your choice.