Well, it’s halfway through SIFF and here at The Sunbreak we’re neck-deep in films from horror to comedy, short animation to feature documentaries. Make sure you check out all the reviews and discussions we’ve posted so far and will continue to add to until the last set of credits roll. For a little fun and a bit more insight into our fest viewing, we decided to give you the lowdown on what we’ve seen so far: the good, the bad and the funny.
How’s your virtual experience with SIFF going so far?
Josh: My festival’s off to a good start; despite home viewing not requiring the usual hopping from theater to theater, queue to queue, or concession line to quick slices of pizza, my personal capacity for SIFF is still in the 1-2 films per day range. I’ve been watching on a newish AppleTV with no issues: everything shows up in my watchlist and (apologies to sponsors) can pretty easily skim through most of the pre-roll and get right into it.
Chris: The virtual experience has been disappointing for me. I ran into some technical difficulties when I found out that the SIFF Android TV app is not compatible with my Android TV device, my Samsung phone or tablet, or my Chromebook. It’s a wonder if it works with any Android devices at all. At least the movies I’ve watched are mostly good.
Tony: As a relative Luddite in the tech department, I haven’t attempted to make SIFF virtual screenings work anywhere but on my Mac (note to self…). That admittedly considerable caveat aside, the streaming experience has been very good to me, and I’ve pretty much lucked out in the movies I’ve selected so far.
Morgen: I had a blast on the first night going into the SIFF “Gather” Lounge. I wasn’t sure I’d really enjoy it, after all the lack of physically interacting with friends and film-goers alike is on the more frustrating side of things, but the software that SIFF utilized to create a fun and honestly social space was fantastic. Arcade games, film trailers, quiet (or loud) discussions at virtual tables, it was a really creative way to engage with their audience that I hadn’t seen with other festivals this year. Thankfully I haven’t had any technical difficulties with viewing so far (sorry Chris!) I’m very happy that there’s an app they created for the Amazon Fire Stick (among many devices). While I’m loathe to admit I use that tech (but do not subscribe to its creator), it’s how I watch most tv and film nowadays. Having the app to download and add films to my “watch later” list through the computer that connects to the tv is really great.
Hutch: My SIFF is going quite well! Many of the films were ones I had already seen at Sundance though there have been some remarkable gems from many new filmmakers that show the future of filmmaking, especially in our region, is bright!
Jenn: It’s been awesome for me. The Roku app has worked like a dream, blessedly. Like Morgen, I love the ability to save a “Watch Later” queue on there to quickly navigate to my next choice, and I love the way they’ve attached Q&As to many of those pages in a very easily navigable way. I’ve also watched 9 of the live Q&As so far and really enjoyed those (easiest to track what’s on when with the live events calendar, which directly links to each event’s Zoom); haven’t gotten to any of the rest of the live programs but SIFF is killing it pulling this all together. I also got a very quick, professional, and friendly response when I popped in to “Gather” and asked staff a question one night; that “virtual lounge” space is nice! Like Morgen’s mentioned, I am also thrilled at the way pretty much every film is available on demand 24/7 so I can be fully in charge of the way I want to organize my schedule: I’ve been going by a complex calculus of what’s on the “Selling Quickly” limited availability list and what’s got live Q&As coming up, crossed with what was highest on my priorities list from when I first pored over the program, and leaving some room for surprises and detours when I hear of a cool recommendation I wasn’t thinking of. I’m a little over 25 feature films in at this point with no intention of slowing down until it’s over!
What’s the best thing you’ve seen since your fest started?
Josh: Faced with nearly a hundred features and around eleven days to get my SIFF-ing in, I’m decided to try to impose some structure on my festival by focusing on selections from the Official and Documentary Competitions. Let’s just say that the rewards of these programs come more in the form of serious insights and powerful investigations than in lighthearted laughs; so I’m not sure if I’ve set myself up for the most traditionally fun times at the movies.
With that said, I’ve seen some pretty good stuff that I might not have otherwise sought out. There’s never a bad time to refresh or remind yourself about the deeply racist roots of our country, but it seems like a particularly apt time to spend a couple hours with ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jeffery Robinson in Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America. In it, directors Sarah and Emily Kunstler use as their core a talk that Robinson gave on Juneteenth 2018 in which he clearly and compellingly outlines our country’s long history of racist policies and actions from pre-Revolution slave trade to the modern plague of police violence. From there, they expand to a series of moving interviews that he conducted with activists, survivors of violence, and families of Black people killed by the police. Despite the heavy material, the film is well paced and never more engaging than when Robinson revisits his own history, including his childhood growing up in Memphis as one of the first Black students in a Catholic school integrated in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. These anecdotes and reunions elevate the film from an essential history lecture to something deeply personal and moving. Robinson and the Kunstlers are scheduled to do a live Q&A with SIFF on Tuesday night, which should be archived on the film’s page later in the week. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing more about the project.
Chris: I can’t envision an end to SIFF where East of the Mountains is not my favorite movie when it’s all done this weekend. It’s an emotional character study about a former doctor who takes a trip out to Eastern Washington to end his life. It reduced me to a puddle of tears. I’ll have more to say in other forums here but I want to preserve my superlatives before I say too much.
Tony: I’m not as far in as some of the rest of you, but of the 8 movies I’ve seen so far, all have been good to great. I have to second Chris’s recommendation for East of the Mountains; like Lane 1974, it’s a nuanced but incredibly emotional slow-burn of a drama with a lot to unpack, in a great way. There’s a three-way tie of very close runners-up for me, so I’ll give a quick nod to Censor, the very effective Thatcher-era fever dream horror movie by Prano Bailey-Bond. WTF fans out there must agree, as Censor’s been purchased to capacity and is no longer available (unless you have the ultra-cool All Access Pass).
Helpful Hint: If you’re worried about seeing a film because of limited availability, you can check out SIFF’s list of sold out and close to sold out films.
Morgen: I’m a big proponent of short films and I think most of my fellows at The Sunbreak tend to stay away from them, so I have been bathing myself in every one of the “categories” that SIFF has set up. I’ve particularly enjoyed the Animation4Adults set. With a lot of complex feelings wrapped up into really creative works (and I mean some truly breathtaking stuff) I can’t wait to see more. One in particular that jumped out at me was Charon. What could have been a somewhat mundane (though highly intriguing) story was transformed by combining live action and still art in a way that left me in awe. The editing on this piece was truly beautiful.
As for feature length films, I second Josh’s call out of Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America. I was devastated and enthralled by the story told by and with ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jeffery Robinson, especially when he visited his old elementary/high school and discovered things about his own story he hadn’t known. Over the last few years I’ve learned a lot of the info the directors (and Robinson) revealed, but it was a well-crafted storyline of events that digs deeper and gets more personal about much of our “hidden” racist history than most films on the subject released recently.
Hutch: The best thing I have seen is All Sorts. Part The Science of Sleep and part Being John Malkovich, it is surreal and abused while also containing a sentimental core. It is a film about trying to find joy and escape in the mundane of our day to day lives, something that at this moment really resonated with me. It has an independent spirit and inventiveness that really captured so much of what I love about movies.
Jenn: It’s not surprising to me that Mogul Mowgli would hit just in my sweet spot, being a known huge Riz Ahmed + Sound of Metal fan as well as a person who works in the music industry, so this was almost a foregone conclusion, but that is in fact the one that stands out to me the most. It’s something special. I’ve also made my way at this point through 100% of the features included in the WTF and Northwest Connections slates and honestly have pretty much nothing but raves to say about every single one of those. The New Zealand comedy This Town is also very very much my thing (slightly dark, slightly cringe, all heart), and the live Q&A for that one (now archived on the film’s page available along with the screening) was quite fun.
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