It's that time of the year again! SIFF once again arrives at the end of May, heralding a spectrum of cinema from across the world! This year, like the string of years since 2008, we're witness to a bit of a qualitative diversity-dip in the percentage of foreign cinema, arthouse, auteur and all things challenging or on the more adventurous end of the spectrum. This content once dominated the festival, making it of a caliber to challenge Toronto and New York. Nonetheless, this year's fest isn't as painfully omissive as 2011 or 2010 for that matter. Things have taken a turn for the qualitative with 2012, thankfully being the beginnings of a return to form and 2013 suggesting a further trend in that direction. So here we are possibly at the end of a string of years with a program that looks the strongest SIFF has been since 2008!
That considered, we're again witness to a glut of middle-ground contemporary romances, clever quirky dramas for the sub-Sundance sect and a lot of filler seemingly there to entice some imagined suburban demographic out of their Bellevue hobbles and into the city. But there's a good bit of legitimate, original, challenging, crafted cinema to be found in here too. SIFF in the past has existed as a focal-point of visionary cinema curatorialship, with the resources, funds and legacy to be hugely influential. This year I found some 24-30 films of interest, curiosity or gravitas that I plan to attend, by both directors of note and new developing artists. Overall a quality year, suggesting the promise of a return to the per-capita of more adventurous programming we saw in the decade spanning 1997 - 2007.
I continue to be enthused about their new home at the SIFF Cinema at the Uptown and expanded screens between that venue and their Film Center. Their curation for these year-round venues has exhibited the scope of SIFF, with this year's Recent Raves series suggesting a visionary path forward for the cinema. Anticipating the likely highlights of the festival in Aleksei German's vision of the Strugatsky Brothers allegorical science fiction novel, as though rendering Bruegel on the screen, another entry in 1960's Eastern Bloc science fiction, Ari Folman's animated adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's "The Futurological Congress", early reviews have positioned Tsai Ming-Liang's most recent on growing resource inequality in urban Asia as a condensation of everything he's created to-date, there's also Cattet & Forzani's transgressive, highly stylized ongoing homage to Itialian Giallo, and Mohammad Rasoulof's bold defiance of a 20 year ban on making films.
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Friday, May 16
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10:00 PM - Iain Forsyth "20,000 Days on Earth"
Lincoln Square Cinemas
20001614
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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10:00 PM - Iain Forsyth "20,000 Days on Earth"
Lincoln Square Cinemas
20001614
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 17
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9:30 PM - Ari Folman "The Congress"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
CONG1714
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WHIT1814
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9:30 PM - Ari Folman "The Congress"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
CONG1714
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Sunday, May 18
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1:00 PM - Noaz Deshe "White Shadow"
AMC Pacific Place 11------------------------------
1:00 PM - Noaz Deshe "White Shadow"
WHIT1814
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Tuesday, May 20
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6:30 PM - Alain Resnais "Last Year at Marienbad"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
LAST2014
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21130
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6:30 PM - Alain Resnais "Last Year at Marienbad"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
LAST2014
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Tuesday, May 20
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9:30 PM - Alex van Warmerdam "Borgman"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
BMAN2014--------------------------------------------------
9:30 PM - Alex van Warmerdam "Borgman"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21130
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Wednesday, May 21
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7:00 PM - Pawel Pawlikowski "Ida"
Harvard Exit
IDA2014--------------------------------------------------
7:00 PM - Pawel Pawlikowski "Ida"
Harvard Exit
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21149
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Wednesday, May 21
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7:30 PM - Claude Lanzmann "The Last of the Unjust"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
LAST2114
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7:30 PM - Claude Lanzmann "The Last of the Unjust"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
LAST2114
http://myaccount.siff.net/
Wednesday, May 21
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9:00 PM - Arnaud des Pallières "Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas"
Harvard Exit
AGEO2114
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Thursday, June 5------------------------------
9:00 PM - Arnaud des Pallières "Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas"
Harvard Exit
AGEO2114
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Wednesday, May 21
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9:00 PM - Tsai Ming-Liang "Stray Dogs"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
STRA2114
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9:00 PM - Tsai Ming-Liang "Stray Dogs"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
STRA2114
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Friday, May 23
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7:00 PM - Kelly Reichardt "Night Moves"
Lincoln Square Cinemas
NIGH2314
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7:00 PM - Kelly Reichardt "Night Moves"
Lincoln Square Cinemas
NIGH2314
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Saturday, May 24
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1:00 PM - Aleksei German "Hard to Be a God"
Lincoln Square Cinemas
HARD2414
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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1:00 PM - Aleksei German "Hard to Be a God"
Lincoln Square Cinemas
HARD2414
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Saturday, May 24
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7:30 PM - Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani "The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
STRA2414
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12:00 AM - Sion Sono "Why Don't You Play in Hell?"
Egyptian Theatre
WHYD2414
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7:30 PM - Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani "The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
STRA2414
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 24
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12:00 AM - Sion Sono "Why Don't You Play in Hell?"
WHYD2414
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Sunday, May 25
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1:15 PM - Oliver Hockenfull "From Neurons To Nirvana: The Great Medicines"
AMC Pacific Place 11
FROM2514
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8:30 - Albert Serra "Story of My Death"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
STOR2514
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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9:30 PM - Fruit Chan "The Midnight After"
Lincoln Square Cinemas
MIDN2514
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21287
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1:15 PM - Oliver Hockenfull "From Neurons To Nirvana: The Great Medicines"
AMC Pacific Place 11
FROM2514
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, May 25
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8:30 - Albert Serra "Story of My Death"
STOR2514
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, May 25
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9:30 PM - Fruit Chan "The Midnight After"
MIDN2514
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21287
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Monday, May 26
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7:00 PM - Luc Jacquet "Once Upon A Forest"
Egyptian Theatre
ONCE2614
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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7:00 PM - Luc Jacquet "Once Upon A Forest"
Egyptian Theatre
ONCE2614
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Tuesday, May 27
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7:00 PM - Agnieszka Holland "Burning Bush"
Egyptian Theatre
BURN2714
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7:00 PM - Agnieszka Holland "Burning Bush"
Egyptian Theatre
BURN2714
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Tuesday, May 27
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7:00 PM - Sylvain Chomet "Attila Marcel"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
ATTI2714
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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7:00 PM - Sylvain Chomet "Attila Marcel"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
ATTI2714
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Tuesday, May 27
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9:30 PM - Philippe Garrel "Jealousy"
AMC Pacific Place 11
JEAL2714
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7:00 PM - Michel Gondry "Mood Indigo"
Harvard Exit
MOOD2814
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Thursday, May 29
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7:30 PM - Alejandro Fernández Almendras "To Kill a Man"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
TOKI2914
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21394
Tuesday, May 27
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9:30 PM - Philippe Garrel "Jealousy"
AMC Pacific Place 11
JEAL2714
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Wednesday, May 28
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Wednesday, May 28
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7:00 PM - Michel Gondry "Mood Indigo"
Harvard Exit
MOOD2814
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Wednesday, May 28
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9:30 PM - Yasuhiro Yoshiura "Patema Inverted"
Egyptian Theatre
PATE2814
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9:30 PM - Yasuhiro Yoshiura "Patema Inverted"
Egyptian Theatre
PATE2814
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Thursday, May 29
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7:30 PM - Alejandro Fernández Almendras "To Kill a Man"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
TOKI2914
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21394
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Sunday, June 01
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4:30 PM - Yoji Yamada "The Little House"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
LITT0114
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 01
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7:00 PM - David Zellner "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter"
Egyptian Theatre
KUMI0114
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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4:30 PM - Yoji Yamada "The Little House"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
LITT0114
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 01
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7:00 PM - David Zellner "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter"
Egyptian Theatre
KUMI0114
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 01
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8:00 PM - Richard Linklater "Boyhood"
Harvard Exit
BOYH0114
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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8:00 PM - Richard Linklater "Boyhood"
Harvard Exit
BOYH0114
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Monday, June 02
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9:30 PM - Hong Sang-soo "Our Sunhi"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
OURS0214
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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9:30 PM - Hong Sang-soo "Our Sunhi"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
OURS0214
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Tuesday, June 03
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9:30 PM - Andrzej Wajda "Walesa. Man of Hope"
Egyptian Theatre
WALE0314
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Wednesday, June 04
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9:30 PM - Noh Young-seok "Intruders"
Egyptian Theatre
INTR0414
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21556
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9:30 PM - Andrzej Wajda "Walesa. Man of Hope"
Egyptian Theatre
WALE0314
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Wednesday, June 04
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9:30 PM - Noh Young-seok "Intruders"
Egyptian Theatre
INTR0414
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=334&id=21556
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Thursday, June 05
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4:00 PM - Benjamín Naishtat "History of Fear"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
HIST0514
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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4:00 PM - Benjamín Naishtat "History of Fear"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
HIST0514
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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9:45 PM - Catherine Breillat "Abuse of Weakness"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
ABUS0514
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 08
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1:30 PM - Diao Yinan "Black Coal, Thin Ice"
AMC Pacific Place 11
BLAC0814
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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1:30 PM - Diao Yinan "Black Coal, Thin Ice"
AMC Pacific Place 11
BLAC0814
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 08
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7:30 PM - Mohammad Rasoulof "Manuscripts Don’t Burn"
Harvard Exit
MANU0814
http://myaccount.siff.net/
