We’re already at the halfway point of the in-person portion of the modern incarnation of the Seattle International Film Festival. While there will still be an encore streaming week for about 100 features (77%) on the program, the countdown to see the SIFF program in theaters is on, building up to a Closing Night screening of I Like Movies followed by a gala at MOHAI with snacks, drinks, dancing, and opportunities to mingle with fellow SIFFphiles.

Here are some of the screenings we’re most looking forward to seeing over the next few days:

Chris:

L’immensita (2022 | Italy | 97 minutes |  Emanuele Crialese)
Penelope Cruz stars in the first film from Italian filmmaker and screenwriter Emanuele Crialese, which is about a family whose eldest daughter begins questioning her gender identity in 1970’s Italy while her parents’ marriage is falling apart. 

• WEDNESDAY, MAY 17 – Shoreline Community College – 6:00 PM
• THURSDAY, MAY 18 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 6:30 PM
• Available Online: No

Free Money (2022 | USA | 75 minutes | Sam Soko, Lauren DePhilippo)
The socialist part of me is intrigued by the idea of a Universal Basic Income, which provides a baseline of funding for everyone in a community in the hope that it could decrease the wage gap and alleviate poverty.. I’m not sure how it would work in practice but fortunately the filmmakers of Free Money are there to explore the revolutionary concept in a small Kenyan village.

• WEDNESDAY, MAY 17 – AMC Pacific Place – 6:30 PM
• Available Online: No

Josh:

A Disturbance in the Force  (2023 | USA | 86 minutes | Jeremy Coon, Steve Kozak)

A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, Star Wars was just a movie and not an intergalactic intellectual property enterprise controlled by one of earth’s wealthiest corporations. At the far rim of franchise awareness a truly bizarre creature emerged. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the history of 1978’s  infamous and unhinged “The Star Wars Holiday Special”.

• THURSDAY, MAY 18 – Shoreline Community College – 8:30 PM
• FRIDAY, MAY 19 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 3:00 PM
  • Producer Scott Kirkwood scheduled to attend both screenings.
• Available Online: No 

Morgen:

For some reason I’ve decided to recommend two of the oddest films I’ve seen this year, but somehow they just make it work. 

Table for Six  (2022 | Hong Kong | 120 min. | Sunny Chan)
Three brothers, all with varying degrees of blood relation, live in a loft apartment in Hong Kong that used to be their parents’ bbq joint. From the get-go this storyline is ridiculous and the silliness almost rolls over the top, but uses its wackiness wisely. The story is centered around the kitchen table and family dinner that the eldest brother insists they have every night. Seemingly written as a stage play rather than a screenplay, all the scenes are located  within the apartment (except the final one) but it’s more charming than annoying. I needed a huge belly laugh and this film gave it to me. 

• THURSDAY, MAY 18 – Shoreline Community College – 5:45 PM
• Available Online: No 

The Visitor from the Future (2022 | France | 96 min. | François Descraques)
A French sci-fi dystopian dramedy of one man’s decision to build a nuclear power plant bringing about the end of the world and the two men from the future who attempt to change all that. I went into the theater thinking this was going to be a low-budget terrible but awesome sci-fi epic (a la Mystery Science Theater 3000). I was half right: it is lower-budget, but all awesome, not a hint of irony in sight. I don’t know how they did it, but even with low-end special effects, they really hit it out of the park with a solid script, great comedic timing and a fantastic cast. I want to watch it again.

• FRIDAY, MAY 19 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 1:00 PM
• Available Online: No 

Tony: 

Theater Camp (2023 | USA | 88 minutes | Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman)
Yeah, movies about theater people pretty much surface throughout cinema history, but I have hopes for this mockumentary, built out from a 2020 short. A thunderously positive reception, including a standing ovation, at the movie’s Sundance premiere last January certainly doesn’t hurt its case.

• SATURDAY, MAY  20 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 6:30 PM
• Available Online: No 

Mother Superior (2022 | Austria | 71 minutes | Marie Alice Wolfszahn)
I tend to fall hard for gothic horror films dripping with lush, darkly immersive atmosphere, and the trailer for this period Austrian chiller promises that, in spades. It also looks to be the kind of movie that’ll weave its magic most powerfully on a big screen, so it may well behoove you to attend one of those in-person screenings if you can.

• SATURDAY, MAY  20 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 11:59 PM
• SUNDAY, MAY 21  – AMC Pacific Place – 6:30 PM
• Available Online: Yes

On the (Guest) List

Finally, as you plan your schedule, keep in mind that a bunch of screenings will have guests in town. A quick rundown if Q&A’s are your tiebreaker.

• Wednesday May 17: Almamula (Director Juan Sebastian Torales), Even Hell has its Heroes (Director Clyde Petersen, plus cast and crew), Riders on the Storm (Subjects Khaiber Akbarzada and Gulbuddin Mulakhil, and Executive Producer Rocky Collins), Gaga (Director Laha Mebo), Jamojaya (producer Kent Matsuoka)
• Thursday May 18: Mom (director Xun Sero), This Closeness (Writer/Director/Actor Kit Zauhar and Actor Ian Edlund), Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun (Director Banchi Hanuse), Bad Press (Co-Director/Producer Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Producers Garrett Baker and Conrad Beilharz),Coldwater Kitchen (Co-Director Brian Kaufman)
• Friday May 19: Bottle Conditioned (Director Jerry Franck and Producer Courtney Marsh), Egghead & Twinkie (Director/Writer/Producer/Editor Sarah Kambe Holland, Producer Danielle Fountaine, and Editor Kristi League), The Grab (Subject/Producer Nate Halverson), Circus of the Scars – The Insider Odyssey of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow (Director/Editor Cory Wees, Matt ‘The Tube’ Crowley, Tim Cridland aka Torture King, and Producer Jan Gregor), Milisuthando (Director Milisuthando Bongela), We Are Still Here (Director Renae Maihi)
• Saturday May 20: 26.2 to Life (Subject Markelle Taylor, Director/Producer Christine Yoo, and Coach Jim Maloney), ABLED (Director/Producer Einar Thorsteinsson, subject Blake Leeper, and several crew members ), Dreamin’ Wild (Director Bill Pohlad), Food and Country (Director Laura Gabbert, Subject/Producer Ruth Reichl, and Producers Caroline Libresco and Paula Manzanendo ), My Love Affair With Marriage (Director/Writer/Animator/Producer Signe Baumane and Producer Sturgis Warner)

---