Seattle International Film Festival once again arrives bringing a spectrum of cinema from across the world. In working through the program, this year continues the decade long diversity dip seen in the per-capita of all things cutting edge foreign cinema, deep genre gems, auteur, arthouse and experimental. These were content agendas that once had prominence within SIFF, on occasion approaching the programming on offer in Toronto and New York. Those times though, are now decades in the past. That said, it's worthy of note that this year's festival isn't as
painfully omissive as 2011 or
2010 for that matter. We saw string of years that suggested relief from the lackluster programming described above
which waned a bit in 2012 and
a further positive trend in that direction in 2013. For the 2014 festival, their 40th Anniversary was celebrated with SIFF's
strongest programming in almost a decade, suggesting a renewed vision for the festival. That year marked a trend away from
the previously seen glut of middle ground contemporary romances and knowingly clever dramas for the sub-Sundance sect. Thankfully,
2017 also saw a slight return to some of the strengths of seasons past. One can speculate that this middle road approach to programming, which returned in
2015 and
2016 after it, has been taken to entice some imagined Northwest demographic out of their suburban hobbles and inner-city condos. With the inclusion of showcases in the outlying areas of
Bellevue and
Kirkland indicative of such. One can't help but consider these factors alongside the
changing economic and
cultural landscape of
Seattle and what may be SIFF's bid at strengthening ties with it all.
This year sees that same disheartening trend continue, with many of the most notable, and award-winning films from
Rotterdam,
Locarno, and
Berlin, overlooked. SIFF has chosen to bypass opportunities to program
Hu Bo’s astounding debut, "An Elephant Sitting Still",
Sergei Loznitsa's documentary and dramas, respectively, "Victory Day" and "A Gentle Creature", a recently unearthed
Raúl Ruiz' film from 1990 "The Wandering Soap Opera",
Barbet Schroeder's timely documentary, "The Venerable W",
Ted Fendt’s "Classical Period",
Adina Pintilie's Berlin award-winning "Touch Me Not",
Lav Diaz' "Season of the Devil", the newest in a grand series of films by
Aleksei German Jr, "Dovlatov",
Narimane Mari’s Le Fort des Fous",
Huang Hsin-Yao’s "The Great Buddha",
Yui Kiyohara's "Our House",
Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias' much talked about "Cocote", and
Philippe Garrel's New Wave-inspired, "Lover for a Day". Also, no sign of "Insect", the purportedly final film by
Jan Švankmajer,
"Grass" the newest by highly prolific
Hong Sang-soo, Locarno award-winner
Wang Bing's "Mrs. Fang",
Małgorzata Szumowska's "Mug",
Ilian Metev's "3/4",
Fabrizio Ferraro's "Les Unwanted de Europa",
Donal Foreman’s "The Image You Missed", Romanian New Wave mainstay
Corneliu Porumboiu’s "Infinite Football",
Ere Gowda's "Balekempa",
Luise Donschen’s "Casanova Gene", "Transit" from New German Cinema frontman
Christian Petzold, ...and lastly, what ever became of
Agnieszka Holland's much hailed "Spoor"? We can observe, year in and year out, that Seattle continues
to go astray of the high standard of the international festival circuit, embodied by the programming seen in
New York,
Cannes,
Toronto,
Vienna, and
Venice.
Seattle International Film Festival in the past has existed as a focal
point of visionary cinema curatorialship, with the resources, funds and
legacy to be a hugely influential institution. One can can adduce from their contents that even
San Francisco,
Portland, and our neighbors in the north in
Vancouver, continue to program festivals of a caliber that SIFF has seemingly un-learned. Yet there remain a handful of legitimate, original, well crafted cinema to be found in here too. Largely culled from the
Contemporary World Cinema,
Asian Crossroads,
Archival Presentations,
Midnight Adrenaline,
Alternate Cinema,
Documentary Films,
FutureWave,
African Pictures, and
China Stars
sections. This year I was able to generate an approximate 25 films of
interest, curiosity or critical gravitas. These run the spectrum from directors of note,
archival restorations and
new developing artists. As a consequence the majority of the titles
listed below are simply films of interest, rather than essential viewing. Not the least compelling year in recent memory, but
not approaching the par established with SIFF's own stellar run spanning
the decades of 1987-2007. Nonetheless, I continue to be enthused about
their home at
the
SIFF Cinema Uptown and expanded screens between the recently acquired
SIFF Cinema Egyptian and
Film Center. Their curation for these year-round venues has exhibited the scope of SIFF,
with a visionary course forward for the institution once exemplified in the short-lived
Recent Raves series. As the series has been discontinued in the past year, SIFF's venture down this path appears to have come to a conclusion.
Note: The list below contains the totality of this year's festival viewing, as well as a set of this month's short-run films at regional arthouse cinemas.
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Thursday, May 3
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7:15 PM -
Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub "
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach"
Northwest Film Forum
https://nwfilmforum.org/films/chronicle-of-anna-magdalena-bach-huillet-straub/
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Friday, May 4
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9:00 PM -
Rotanak Oudom Oum &
Raw Music International "
Cambodian Rock n' Roll: Film, Talk & DJ Party"
Northwest Film Forum
https://nwfilmforum.org/events/cambodian-rock-n-roll-film-talk-dj-party-with-rotanak-oudom-oum-aka-oro/
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Sunday, May 6
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http://grandillusioncinema.org/
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Thursday, May10
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Friday, May 18
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6:00 PM -
Simon Chung "
I Miss You When I See You"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
IMIS1818
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45053
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Saturday, May 19
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10:00 AM -
Rainer Werner Fassbinder "
Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day"
SIFF Film Center
EIGH1918
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=44968
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Saturday, May 19
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12:30 PM -
Warwick Thornton "
Sweet Country"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
SWEE1918
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45381
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Saturday, May 19
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3:45 PM -
Mohammad Rasoulof "
A Man of Integrity"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
MANO1918
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45121
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Saturday, May 19
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6:30 PM -
Malene Choi "
The Return"
AMC Pacific Place 11
THER1918
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45398
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Saturday, May 19
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8:30 PM -
Julia Nash "
Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records"
Majestic Bay Cinemas
INDU1918
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45057
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Sunday, May 20
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2:00 PM -
Kenji Mizoguchi "
Sansho the Bailiff"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
SANS2018
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45320
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Sunday, May 20
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6:45 PM -
Sebastian Lelio "
Disobedience"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
DISO2018
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=44956
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Monday, May 21
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7:15 PM -
Sara Driver “
Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat"
Northwest Film Forum
https://nwfilmforum.org/films/boom-real-late-teenage-years-jean-michel-basquiat/
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Monday, May 21
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8:30 PM -
Qaushiq Mukherjee "
Garbage"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
GARB2118
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45003
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Tuesday, May 22
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4:00 PM -
Rungano Nyoni "I Am Not a Witch"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
IAMN2218
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45051
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Tuesday, May 22
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8:30 PM -
Derek Jarman "
Edward II"
SIFF Cinema Uptown
EDWA2218
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=44963
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Wednesday, May 23
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4:00 PM -
Filipe Matzembacher "
Hard Paint"
AMC Pacific Place 11
HARD2318
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45041
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Wednesday, May 23
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9:30 PM -
Shireen Seno "
Nervous Translation"
AMC Pacific Place 11
NERV2318
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45162
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Friday, May 25
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6:30 PM -
Hirokazu Kore-eda "
The Third Murder"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
THIR2518
https://myaccount.siff.net/tickets/buy.aspx?fid=350&id=45400
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Saturday, May 26
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Sunday, May 27
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1:30 PM -
Andrei Tarkovsky “
Stalker"
The Grand Illusion Cinema
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Sunday, May 27
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Thursday, June 07
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