It's that time of the year again! SIFF once again arrives bringing a spectrum of cinema from across the world. This year, like the string of years since 2008, sees a qualitative diversity-dip in the percentage of foreign cinema, arthouse, auteur and all things challenging, cutting edge, progressive or adventurous. These were content agendas that once had prominence within the festival, making it of a caliber to challenge Toronto and New York. Those times, I fear, are officially over. That said, this year's fest isn't as painfully omissive as 2011 or 2010 for that matter. We saw a period of relief from the lackluster programming described above which waned a bit in 2012 and 2013 suggesting a further trend in that direction. For last year's festival, their 40th Anniversary was celebrated with what seemed to be a renewed vision as their strongest programming in almost a decade. Nonetheless this year we're again seeing that same 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 Northwest demographic out of their Bellevue hobbles and inner-city condos.
By way of example, two west coast festivals that have produced smaller, yet significantly more qualitative festivals have established a standard that can clearly be seen from year to year. The San Francisco International Film Festival concluding just this week features not only a diverse body of work, ranging from commercial entertainment to the experimental, embracing both award winning auteur works, genre film and potential indie breakouts. A cross section of the programming can be seen in their selection of Dietrich Brüggemann's award winning "Stations of the Cross", Tsui Hark's martial arts adventure, "The Taking of Tiger Mountain", another award winning and critically lauded festival highlight in Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy's "The Tribe", the rising star of Alice Rohrwacher and her most recent, "The Wonders", visual and comic artist Dave McKean's second directorial effort, "Luna", Sergei Loznitsa's highly priased documentary, "Maidan" and extreme Asian cinema is represented with Tetsuya Nakashima's "The World of Kanako". Our neighboring city to the south, though smaller in scale and less urban in some sense, has a strong showing in their Portland International Film Festival again this year. It should be established that with each of them concluding some time before, the content of in each of these festivals was made available to the programming directors at SIFF. They simply made choices otherwise. Which begs the question, what kind of thinking is behind choosing to not program something like Pedro Costa's Film Comment and Sight & Sound year-end charting, "Horse Money"? Or thrilling documentary insights into modern China like J.P. Snaidecki's "The Iron Ministry"? Smaller, developing directors and fringe cinema is also represented in PIFF with works like Tudor Christian Jurgiu's "The Japanese Dog", Mipo O's "The Light Shines Only There" and Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo's "Nuoc 2030". Both producing festivals of a caliber that SIFF has seemingly un-learned as they continue to go astray of the kind of vanguard seen in the international festival circuit of our neighboring cities.
But there remains a handful of legitimate, original, challenging, crafted cinema to be found in here too. 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 hugely influential. This year I found some 15 or so films of interest, curiosity or gravitas that I plan to attend, running 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 curiosity, rather than considered essential viewing. Not the least compelling year on record, but not one even approaching the par established with SIFF's own stellar run spanning the decade of 1997-2007. I continue to be enthused about their home at the SIFF Cinema Uptown and expanded screens between the newly acquired SIFF Cinema Egyptian and 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. Unfortunately the 41st Seattle International Film Festival doesn't continue this high standard.
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Saturday, May 16
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10:00 AM - Hiromasa Yonebayashi "When Marnie Was There"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
WHEN0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 16
------------------------------
12:30 PM - Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell "The Red Shoes"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
REDS0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 16
------------------------------
6:00 PM - Setsuro Wakamatsu "Snow on the Blades"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
SNOW0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 16
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9:30 PM - François Ozon "The New Girlfriend"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
NEWG0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 16
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HALL0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, May 24
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11:00 AM - Satyajit Ray - The Apu Trilogy "Song of the Little Road"
2:00 PM - Satyajit Ray - The Apu Trilogy "The Unvanquished"
4:30 PM - Satyajit Ray - The Apu Trilogy "The World of Apu"
AMC Pacific Place 11
SONG0524 / UNVA0524 / WORL0524
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27218
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27219
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27220
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Sunday, May 24
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9:15 PM - Alan Mak & Felix Chong "Overheard"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
OVER0524
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, May 24
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12:00 AM - Craig Denney "The Astrologer"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
ASTR0524
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Monday, May 25
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9:30 PM - Shim Sung-bo "Haemoo"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
HAEM0525
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Thursday, May 28
------------------------------
4:00 PM - Daniel Garcia & Rania Attieh "H."
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
HHHH0528
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Thursday, May 28
------------------------------
6:00 PM - Robert Siodmak "The Dark Mirror"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
DARK0528
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Thursday, May 28
------------------------------
8:00 PM - Max Ophüls "Caught"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
CAUG0528
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Friday, May 29
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9:30 PM - Lee Kwang-kuk "A Matter of Interpretation"
Harvard Exit
MATT0529
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=26929
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Saturday, May 30
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9:45 PM - Anucha Boonyawatana "The Blue Hour"
Harvard Exit
BLUE0530
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, May 31
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12:00 PM - Chad Gracia "The Russian Woodpecker"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
RUSS0531
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27083
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Sunday, May 31
------------------------------
7:15 PM - Christian Petzold "Phoenix"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
PHOE0531
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, May 31
------------------------------
8:30 PM - Batin Ghobadi "Mardan"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
MARD0531
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Monday, June 01
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7:00 PM - Ousmane Sembène "Black Girl"
Harvard Exit
BLACG0601
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Tuesday, June 02
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4:00 PM - Matthew Heineman "Cartel Land"
Harvard Exit
CART0602
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Tuesday, June 02
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9:15 PM - John Pirozzi "Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
DONT0602
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Wednesday, June 03
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6:30 PM Pan Si Dong "Cave of the Spider Women"
7:30 PM - Ho Meng Hua "Cave of the Silken Web"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
CAVE0603
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Wednesday, June 03
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9:30 PM - Fatih Akin "The Cut"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
CUTT0603
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Friday, June 05
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7:00 PM - Naoki Kato "2045 Carnival Folklore"
SIFF Film Center Festival
20450605
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Friday, June 05
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7:00 PM - Crystal Moselle "The Wolfpack"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
WOLF0605
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, June 06
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9:30 PM - Jonas Arnby "When Animals Dream"
Harvard Exit
WHEN0606
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 07
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12:00 PM - Hao Zhou "The Chinese Mayor"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
CHIN0607
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 07
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2:30 PM - Sergei Eisenstein "Que Viva Mexico"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
QUEV0607
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 07
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5:00 PM - Peter Greenaway "Eisenstein in Guanajuato"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
EISE0607
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, June 07
------------------------------
8:45 PM - Alberto Rodríguez "Marshland"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
MARS0607
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
10:00 AM - Hiromasa Yonebayashi "When Marnie Was There"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
WHEN0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 16
------------------------------
12:30 PM - Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell "The Red Shoes"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
REDS0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 16
------------------------------
6:00 PM - Setsuro Wakamatsu "Snow on the Blades"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
SNOW0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 16
------------------------------
9:30 PM - François Ozon "The New Girlfriend"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
NEWG0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 16
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12:00 AM - Corin Hardy "The Hallow"
SIFF Cinema EgyptianHALL0516
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, May 17
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4:30 PM - James Benning "Natural History"
SIFF Film Center Festival
NATU0517
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Sunday, May 17
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7:00 PM - Bill Morrison "Beyond Zero: 1914-1918"
SIFF Film Center Festival
BEYO0517
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Monday, May 18
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7:00 PM - James Whale "The Old Dark House"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
OLDD0518
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=26808
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Monday, May 18
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7:00 PM - Yukun Xin "The Coffin in the Mountain"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
COFF0518
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Tuesday, May 19
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9:30 PM - Esteban Roel & Juanfer Andrés "Shrew's Nest"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
SHRE0519
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27196
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Wednesday, May 20
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7:00 PM - Sergey Parajanov "The Color of the Pomegranates"
Harvard Exit
COLO0520
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Thursday, May 21
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4:30 PM - Kutluğ Ataman "The Lamb"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
LAMB0521
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Thursday, May 21
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9:30 PM - Joshua Oppenheimer "The Look of Silence"
Harvard Exit
LOOK0521
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Friday, May 22
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6:30 PM - György Pálfi "Free Fall"
Harvard Exit
FREE0522
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Friday, May 22
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7:00 PM - Oren Moverman "Time Out of Mind"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
TIME0522
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Friday, May 22
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12:00 AM - Rodney Ascher "The Nightmare"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
NIGH0522
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 23
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11:00 AM - David Gordon Green "Manglehorn"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
MANG0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 23
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1:15 PM - Christian Braad Thomsen "Fassbinder: To Love Without Demands"
Harvard Exit
FASS0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 23
------------------------------
5:30 PM - Matthias Bittner "War of Lies"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
WARO0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
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Saturday, May 23
------------------------------
8:00 PM - Szabolcs Hadju "Mirage"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
MIRA0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 23
------------------------------
9:45 PM - Fabrice Du Welz "Alleluia"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
ALLE0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
4:30 PM - James Benning "Natural History"
SIFF Film Center Festival
NATU0517
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Sunday, May 17
------------------------------
7:00 PM - Bill Morrison "Beyond Zero: 1914-1918"
SIFF Film Center Festival
BEYO0517
http://myaccount.siff.net/
--------------------------------------------------
Monday, May 18
--------------------------------------------------
7:00 PM - James Whale "The Old Dark House"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
OLDD0518
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=26808
--------------------------------------------------
Monday, May 18
------------------------------
7:00 PM - Yukun Xin "The Coffin in the Mountain"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
COFF0518
http://myaccount.siff.net/
--------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 19
--------------------------------------------------
9:30 PM - Esteban Roel & Juanfer Andrés "Shrew's Nest"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
SHRE0519
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27196
------------------------------
Wednesday, May 20
------------------------------
7:00 PM - Sergey Parajanov "The Color of the Pomegranates"
Harvard Exit
COLO0520
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Thursday, May 21
------------------------------
4:30 PM - Kutluğ Ataman "The Lamb"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
LAMB0521
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Thursday, May 21
------------------------------
9:30 PM - Joshua Oppenheimer "The Look of Silence"
Harvard Exit
LOOK0521
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Friday, May 22
------------------------------
6:30 PM - György Pálfi "Free Fall"
Harvard Exit
FREE0522
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Friday, May 22
------------------------------
7:00 PM - Oren Moverman "Time Out of Mind"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
TIME0522
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Friday, May 22
------------------------------
12:00 AM - Rodney Ascher "The Nightmare"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
NIGH0522
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 23
------------------------------
11:00 AM - David Gordon Green "Manglehorn"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
MANG0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 23
------------------------------
1:15 PM - Christian Braad Thomsen "Fassbinder: To Love Without Demands"
Harvard Exit
FASS0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 23
------------------------------
5:30 PM - Matthias Bittner "War of Lies"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
WARO0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 23
------------------------------
8:00 PM - Szabolcs Hadju "Mirage"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
MIRA0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, May 23
------------------------------
9:45 PM - Fabrice Du Welz "Alleluia"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
ALLE0523
http://myaccount.siff.net/
--------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 24
--------------------------------------------------
11:00 AM - Satyajit Ray - The Apu Trilogy "Song of the Little Road"
2:00 PM - Satyajit Ray - The Apu Trilogy "The Unvanquished"
4:30 PM - Satyajit Ray - The Apu Trilogy "The World of Apu"
AMC Pacific Place 11
SONG0524 / UNVA0524 / WORL0524
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27218
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27219
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27220
------------------------------
Sunday, May 24
------------------------------
9:15 PM - Alan Mak & Felix Chong "Overheard"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
OVER0524
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Sunday, May 24
------------------------------
12:00 AM - Craig Denney "The Astrologer"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
ASTR0524
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Monday, May 25
------------------------------
9:30 PM - Shim Sung-bo "Haemoo"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
HAEM0525
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Thursday, May 28
------------------------------
4:00 PM - Daniel Garcia & Rania Attieh "H."
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
HHHH0528
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Thursday, May 28
------------------------------
6:00 PM - Robert Siodmak "The Dark Mirror"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
DARK0528
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Thursday, May 28
------------------------------
8:00 PM - Max Ophüls "Caught"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
CAUG0528
http://myaccount.siff.net/
--------------------------------------------------
Friday, May 29
--------------------------------------------------
9:30 PM - Lee Kwang-kuk "A Matter of Interpretation"
Harvard Exit
MATT0529
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=26929
------------------------------
Saturday, May 30
------------------------------
9:45 PM - Anucha Boonyawatana "The Blue Hour"
Harvard Exit
BLUE0530
http://myaccount.siff.net/
--------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 31
--------------------------------------------------
12:00 PM - Chad Gracia "The Russian Woodpecker"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
RUSS0531
http://myaccount.siff.net/cinema/reserve.aspx?fid=345&id=27083
------------------------------
Sunday, May 31
------------------------------
7:15 PM - Christian Petzold "Phoenix"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
PHOE0531
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Sunday, May 31
------------------------------
8:30 PM - Batin Ghobadi "Mardan"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
MARD0531
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Monday, June 01
------------------------------
7:00 PM - Ousmane Sembène "Black Girl"
Harvard Exit
BLACG0601
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Tuesday, June 02
------------------------------
4:00 PM - Matthew Heineman "Cartel Land"
Harvard Exit
CART0602
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Tuesday, June 02
------------------------------
9:15 PM - John Pirozzi "Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
DONT0602
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Wednesday, June 03
------------------------------
6:30 PM Pan Si Dong "Cave of the Spider Women"
7:30 PM - Ho Meng Hua "Cave of the Silken Web"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
CAVE0603
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Wednesday, June 03
------------------------------
9:30 PM - Fatih Akin "The Cut"
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
CUTT0603
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Friday, June 05
------------------------------
7:00 PM - Naoki Kato "2045 Carnival Folklore"
SIFF Film Center Festival
20450605
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Friday, June 05
------------------------------
7:00 PM - Crystal Moselle "The Wolfpack"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
WOLF0605
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Saturday, June 06
------------------------------
9:30 PM - Jonas Arnby "When Animals Dream"
Harvard Exit
WHEN0606
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Sunday, June 07
------------------------------
12:00 PM - Hao Zhou "The Chinese Mayor"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
CHIN0607
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Sunday, June 07
------------------------------
2:30 PM - Sergei Eisenstein "Que Viva Mexico"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
QUEV0607
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Sunday, June 07
------------------------------
5:00 PM - Peter Greenaway "Eisenstein in Guanajuato"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
EISE0607
http://myaccount.siff.net/
------------------------------
Sunday, June 07
------------------------------
8:45 PM - Alberto Rodríguez "Marshland"
SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
MARS0607
http://myaccount.siff.net/
