The 52nd Seattle International Film Festival kicks off this week! Running in person from May 7-17 the festival features 203 films playing in-person: with most in SIFF’s Lower Queen Anne Headquarters and at the SIFF Downtown.
SIFF 2026: Closing Weekend Picks
The 52nd Seattle International Film Festival kicks off this week! Running in person from May 7-17 the festival features 203 films playing in-person: with most in SIFF’s Lower Queen Anne Headquarters and at the SIFF Downtown.
SIFF 2026 Northwest Connections Notebook: Assets & Liabilities
I guess this is growing up? Set in Tacoma, Zach Weintraub’s tightly scripted feature finds his fictional counterpart “Zach” settling into the realities of adulthood: making uncomfortable calls to his property management company to weasel his way into having his starter house sold out from under his renters, spending days jockeying his tech job from home, taking care of his young daughter, noticing gray hairs and fine lines around his eyes. It happens to the best of us, gradually and then all at once.
The dark comedy(?) Is God Is spirals down a path of gaslighting and violence
Is God Is follows twins as they navigate the nasty business of revenge. While they have every right to want it for themselves, their motivation is to right a wrong for their Mother who they haven’t seen since childhood.
SIFF 2026: Deadline
In this near-future drama children in an upper crust private school are feeling the pressures of impending final exams, but this isn’t like what we went through. The pressure is beyond ruthless with school, parents and future all looming like a monster overhead. An anonymous “suicide” note litters the school grounds and while teachers try to find its origin, students are succumbing to the stress of it all and may actually make the contents of the note a reality.
For better and worse Billie Eilish’s new concert film with James Cameron brings fans into the arena tour
What a time it is to be a pop star. When the arena tours have done a year of sales, you can share the experience with fans who couldn’t score a ticket via the magic of the multiplex. Taylor did it with Eras, Beyonce did it with Renaissance, immortalizing their mega-shows and collecting some extra cash. Between concert films and jukebox biopics, movies that feature familiar music have become one of the surer things in a shaky industry. Now, curiously enough, it’s Billie Eilish’s turn and she’s doing so by sharing co-directing credit with none other than James Cameron and in 3D, no less. The experiment and its result is mildly perplexing.
SIFF 2026: Opening Weekend Picks
The 52nd Seattle International Film Festival kicks off this week! Running in person from May 7-17 the festival features 203 films playing in-person: with most in SIFF’s Lower Queen Anne Headquarters and at the SIFF Downtown.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 gets the gang back together for nostalgic strut down the runway
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is primarily a nostalgic homage to the drama of everyone’s favorite not-so-fictitious fashion magazine. It doesn’t provide anything particularly innovative, but it’s still an enjoyable return to the world of the original film.
With stunning performances, Mother Mary conjures visions of a pop star in crisis
David Lowery’s latest, Mother Mary, shares with his filmography an openness to the surreal as well as the ability to give main character energy to bolts of fabric. Bolstered by two entrancing performances from Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel, it joins his others as deeply fascinating and surprisingly revelatory examinations of humanity.
The Trouble with Normal
Bob Odenkirk is firmly in his “Liam Neeson phase”: a middle-aged man reluctantly forced to kick a lot of ass in order to protect what really matters.