First off to address grievance/concern with the curatorial direction SIFF seems to be taking as a trend since 2009; AGAIN this year, rather than the usual post expressing my ebullient enthusiasm in an exclamatory tone, this post is to begin with criticism. As a paragon of International World Cinema in the United States, even on occasion eclipsing San Francisco, Chicago and New York in scale, depth and dictionary-definition diversity, the Seattle International Film Festival has established itself over the course of the past decade+ (I can really speak for previous decades, having only seen them in print and not attended in-person) as a focal-point of visionary cinema curatorialship. Admittedly, years like 2009 were even then, a bit thin, but even then I found some 22 films of gravitas or curiosity worthy of attending, by both directors of note and new developing artists. Overall not a bad year, but not on par with the stellar run we'd seen spanning 2001-2008. Figuring it was a one-off lapse and the recession and funding issues with SIFF having opened their new theatre and home to their film archive and offices, I assumed it was a product of the times and singular qualitative dip on their part. Even then, not a significant one, as I saw much, much great cinema that year in the festival (also see the posts here from SIFF '07 or '08 for reference).
This year, immediately when the schedule was posted on Thursday May 5, there was a visible void of progressive, inventive, notable, names, titles and works in the New Global Cinema category (customarily SIFF's largest and richest) that one would expect (and have become accustomed to) in seeing self-evidently there when doing that quickly browsed shortlist. Off the top of my head, doing a run-down of the films I've known have been out there in international fests awaiting arrival in the states and looking to SIFF to hopefully bring them to our city; New Cristi Puiu? No. New Andrei Ujica? No. New Hong Sang-Soo? No. New Zhao Dayong? No. Masahiro Kobayashi? No. New Kazuyoshi Kumakiri? No. New Takashi Ishii? No. New Catherine Breillat? No. New Jia Zhang-Ke? No. New Sergei Loznitsa? New Li Hongqi? No. New Takashi Miike? No. New Kaneto Shindo? No. New Michelangelo Frammartino? No. Things like the new James Benning docu or the new Huang Weikai docu? No and No. Or for instance, one of the most lauded Japanese films in a decade, that has yet to play anywhere near our city; Kôji Wakamatsu's "Caterpillar"? Definitely a No. And I'm not even going to inquire about the film that won the world's most prestigious cinema award of 2010, that we've still not seen play here; Apichatpong Weerasethakul anyone? So, yeah. You get the idea. My usual 20-30 films annually in SIFF reduced to this in 2011. Grateful as I am to have an ongoing annual International Film Festival in my town, as far as the sum totality of everything I'm going to/am curious to see, this is a pretty sorry sight:
--------------------------------------------------
Friday, May 20
--------------------------------------------------
11:59 PM - André Øvredal "Troll Hunter"
Egyptian Theatre
TROL2011A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44304&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, May 21
--------------------------------------------------
6:30 PM - Mike Cahill "Another Earth"
Egyptian Theatre
ANOT2111A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44460&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, May 21
--------------------------------------------------
10:00 PM - Paddy Considine "Tyrannosaur"
SIFF Cinema
TYRA2111A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44454&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 22
--------------------------------------------------
9:00 PM - Takeshi Kitano "Outrage"
Neptune Theatre
OUTR2211A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44233&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 24
--------------------------------------------------
7:00 PM - Sophie Fiennes "Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow"
SIFF Cinema
OVER2411A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44265&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, May 25
--------------------------------------------------
7:00 PM - Aleksei Fedorchenko "Silent Souls"
AMC Pacific Place 11
SOUL2511A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44306&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, May 28
--------------------------------------------------
1:00 PM - Raul Ruiz "Mysteries of Lisbon"
Egyptian Theatre
MYST2811E
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44273&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, May 28
--------------------------------------------------
9:30 PM - Various "Animation United" / Damian Nenow "Paths of Hate"
SIFF Cinema
ANIM2811A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44516&FID=206
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44619&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 29
--------------------------------------------------
10:00 AM - Mahamat-Saleh Haroun "A Screaming Man"
AMC Pacific Place 11
SCRE2911M
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44263&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, June 01
--------------------------------------------------
6:30 PM - Rafi Pitts "The Hunter"
Admiral Theatre
HUNT0111A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44238&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Thursday, June 02
--------------------------------------------------
7:00 PM - Mohammad Rasoulof "The White Meadows"
Egyptian Theatre
MEAD0211A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44226&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Sunday, June 05
--------------------------------------------------
9:00 PM - Sergio Caballero "Finisterrae"
Harvard Exit
FINI0511A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44372&fid=206
--------------------------------------------------
Monday, June 06
--------------------------------------------------
9:30 PM - Tsui Hark "Detective Dee & the Mystery of The Phantom Flame"
Egyptian Theatre
PHAN0611A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44307&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, June 08
--------------------------------------------------
4:30 PM - Sivaroj Kongsakul "Eternity"
AMC Pacific Place 11
ETER0811M
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44364&FID=206
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, June 11
--------------------------------------------------
6:00 PM - Anh Hung Tran "Norwegian Wood"
Egyptian Theatre
NORW1111A
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44268&FID=206
