SIFF was back in-person with paper ballots and back to their traditional May stomping grounds. Might the 10-day festival be the new new norm? Overall take on this iteration of the festival? What number would you tear on your ballot?

Chris: I had a good time overall. I think I too was nostalgic when SIFF lasted almost a month, especially when life throws you a curveball (or three, in my case) and you end up having to miss a third of the festival. I was encouraged by the screening of Theater Camp I went to, which was packed and everyone was laughing their butts off. I think I ended up seeing around 15 movies and wish I could’ve gotten to about 10 more. I’m not sure what score I’d give SIFF on my paper ballot, but I’d absolutely move it up one star for SIFF acquiring the Cinerama.

Josh: The ten-day in-person festival followed by an online encore seems like the best compromise for SIFF. It brought people back into the theaters and still gives people a chance to catch-up on quite a few titles after closing night. At Sunday’s awards brunch, artistic director Beth Barrett mentioned that the current format required programmers to make tougher selections  in terms of what makes the festival. Compared to the monthslong buffets of days past, as an audience member, I really appreciate their exercising those sometimes difficult choices. I think it makes for a more rewarding, cohesive, event. 

Morgen: While I totally get the huge cost to SIFF for a month-long festival, I miss it. That being said for any festival-goer, this is a great combo effort to allow for folks that aren’t ready (or even want to) go to the theater to see great new films as well as allowing for those who do want the in-theater experience. It also adds accessibility to those outside the city  that maybe couldn’t have afforded a month-long vacation in Seattle but a week and a half is doable. I just hope it all adds up to higher attendance numbers.

Tony: I too had a lot of life-y things hurtled at me over the last couple of weeks, so SIFF being condensed to 10 days, at a time when I barely had any spare breaths to watch–never mind write about–the festival films, means I saw next to nothing. That home stretch of those extra weeks gave my ample opportunity to get caught up, and to have my own cohesive festival experience.

This is in no way a knock at SIFF overall. Like Chris, I had a really good time overall, and in an age where just running a film festival, period, is a herculean effort, the 10-day live, one-week streaming model (as you noted, Josh) is the best compromise for them. And I’ll take a condensed SIFF over no SIFF, any day of the decade.

Josh: While no fool would try to predict the weather in Seattle, it is possible to know when Cannes is holding their film festival. As much as I appreciated the A/C during our little heatwave, I think I prefer a SIFF that’s in April with less competition from the great outdoors and when the film world’s spotlight isn’t shining on a French beach town.

Tony: Gotta say I’m with you on that one, Josh. April feels like it would’ve been really great, timing-wise.

Let’s get into it, the Golden SunBreak Awards: Best Narrative Feature

Chris: I didn’t see a ton of narrative features because I watched so many documentaries, but I was taken with The Night of the 12th, a French true crime thriller about an awful unsolved murder. It’s so riveting. It also won a ton of awards at the French equivalent of the Oscars, including Best Picture. SIFF was extremely savvy in programming this movie’s first screening on May 12. 

Josh: I’d give this to Past Lives if I saw it at SIFF, but that would be cheating. Instead I’ll spotlight The Eight Mountains, another deeply resonant  story of friendship across decades with jaw-dropping cinematography. I’m so glad that I got to see it in a theater to absorb the gorgeous images of the Italian Alps, connect with the quietly affecting performances, and to be transported from daily distractions for the 2.5 hour runtime. It’s coming back to the SIFF Egyptian this weekend; so I hope people make some time for a cinematic getaway during their holiday weekend.

Morgen:  This is a bit tougher for me, weirdly my film consumption was much higher this year than in the past. A few stuck out and I’ll skip Past Lives as well since it was the opening night film and kinda obviously fantastic for that reason. I’ll call out Let the Dance Begin for its playfulness, smart script  and beautiful music. 

Tony: Sadly, my film festival consumption was so minimal, I almost feel unqualified to even remark on this, but I was pretty captivated by Past Lives, the SIFF 2023 Opening Night movie. Artful, terrifically acted, and blessed with an emotional pull that never once seems forced or manufactured. A24 asked for critics who saw it to email them a brief statement as to what we thought of it: I wrote, “Still waters run enchantingly, achingly deep.” I’m still thinking about it.

Best Documentary Feature

Morgen: This is where I’m lacking, I don’t think I was able to catch a single documentary so I’ll leave it to the rest to chime in.

Josh: Only saw a few, but had a lot of fun with Pianoforte, which gave an illuminating behind-the-scenes view into the International Chopin Piano Competition. Extremely talented youth, a high stakes competition, and a director that gets out of their way is my recipe for a great documentary. 

Chris: I think around 75% of my SIFFing was for documentaries and I thought most of them were great, but I have a very clear favorite, Confessions of a Good Samaritan, about director Penny Lane’s decision to become an altruistic kidney donor. The movie was profound but sweet and offbeat and funny, too. I’m pleased my interview with her inspired a pretty good discussion of altruism and why we look down on do-gooders over on Twitter. 

Tony: Again, my vantage point on all of this is incredibly myopic, but I saw three solid documentaries, all of which clicked for me, and all of which I covered last week. I’d give the slight nod to Chickory Wees’s absorbing chronicle of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, Circus of the Scars. It shone a very entertaining light on one of ’90s Seattle’s most signature cultural bellwethers of the time–a once-big phenom that’s now almost completely swallowed by the sands of time and cultural tectonics.

Special Mentions for Best Performances:

Chris: Trace Lysette in Monica was outstanding. Her Monica is a transwoman and sex worker who is pulled into caring for her dying mother who had kicked her out twenty years prior. It’s an extremely nuanced performance and beautifully acted. I saw this on Mother’s Day and cried my eyes out. 

Josh: Set in the early years of Pinochet’s fascistic reign of terror,  Chile ‘76 is nominally about a bourgeois Santiago housewife supervising the renovation of her family’s vacation home and planning a birthday party for her grandchild. But as Aline Küppenheim’s character becomes involved with helping an injured revolutionary, her face tells the story of a society’s bonds of trust disintegrating into suspicion and fear. Advertised as a “thriller”, it’s decidedly slow burn, but her emotional journey is every bit as riveting as her dabbling into the resistance.

Morgen: The Hummingbird’s Pierfrancesco Favino was affecting and emotional. It was the simple yet complex story of a man’s life, both the bad and the good. It could have been mundane but it was beautiful.

Tony: Again, I saw a pathetically low number of SIFF 2023 films, but the genre nerd in me was thrilled by Joely Richardson’s performance as a wife and mother pushed beyond the brink in Matthias Hoene’s terrific thriller, The Last Exit. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that she delivers the kind of performance from which cult idolatry (and franchises) often sprout.

SIFF’s juries and audiences have spoken … 

Any commentary on audience or jury awards or distinctions between passholders and the populous?

Josh: The people  have spoken and the favorite narrative was about an awkward Norwegian pre-teen joining a hip-hop dance crew. The trailer looked cute; so I’m not surprised it was a hit among those who watched it. Among the other audience awards, I only saw Theater Camp and Egghead and Twinkie, both uplifting fare with broad appeal and that end on a note that made people want to tear that “5” star line in their ballot. I was sorry to see that opening night feature Past Lives wasn’t eligible or that a Northwest feature didn’t get more love like last year, but I can’t blame people for wanting to have a fun time at the movies with their whole family. 

Chris: Every year, I feel like I have a sense of what is going to win the awards and every year I’m way off. I think it’s time to give up trying to make sense of what should and what actually does win. I was certain that Monica would do well with award-givers because it was playing at SIFF at the same time it was racking up great reviews in New York and LA. Plus, it was extremely good, but I also think there are a lot of people eager to support a movie with a trans protagonist. But really, just give Trace Lysette the Oscar already. 

Josh: For a contrast to the occasional filmgoers, the full series passholders also keep track of ratings. More than a hundred fanatics saw an average of 30 films. The Blue Caftan was the only overlap on the narrative side, but there was more agreement among documentaries, where 20 Days in Mariupol, It’s Only Life After All, and LIFT ended up in both top five lists. 

Morgen: It’s a weird phenomenon but it seems like the films I choose to attend every year are never the ones that make it on the jury lists and aren’t as heavily attended as the others. No idea what dark magic I hold, but my preferences are almost never aligned.

Josh: The entries in the juried awards are set in advance of the festival and several of them are limited to films without distribution at the time of selection for the festival (and a couple require it to be a director’s first or second film), so it makes sense that they’re a bit more under-the-radar and serve as an opportunity for filmmakers to raise the profile of their films. Still, I tried (again) to make it a goal to see most of the Official Competition and (again) failed to do so, catching only two of the eight: Ingeborg Bachmann – Into the Desert and The Quiet Migration. I liked both, but can see why these contemplative meditations might not have packed as many houses.

Tony: Most years, my viewings have (by accident, really) steered away from the most-buzzed-about films of the fest. But this year, I truly have no skin in this particular game, as I saw literally nothing that made any of these list/polls. Ten days and way too much else going on.

Any wishes for SIFF as it heads for next year’s Big 5-0?

Josh: I really hope SIFF pulls out all the stops to celebrate – particularly with some higher profile premieres or screenings and is able to bring guests to town to mark the occasion. By then they’ll almost certainly have the Cinerama (new name tbd) up and running; so I’m already looking forward to seeing SIFF movies on that gorgeous screen with chocolate popcorn in hand!

Morgen: I agree with Josh about the high profile premieres and maybe try to pull in some bigger stars for the red carpet opening night and the film showings that follow. It adds a bit more glamor and thrill to see those folks come out for a viewing. I also hope they can start to open up the timelines a bit, maybe stretch the fest to two weeks instead of just two weekends and the days in between. I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us!

Tony: Yes, a longer festival would be super welcome (and very convenient for me). But time and funds will tell. A beefier, starrier guest lineup would likely be a great draw, but whether the budget will allow is anyone’s guess. Elated at the Cinerama’s return, and I can’t think of a better steward for that movie palace’s resurrection than the fine folks at SIFF.

Chris: Of course I’d like to see SIFF go bigger than it has since the pandemic, but that may or may not be possible. I’d definitely like to see bigger premieres, and I was, to be honest, a little disappointed that a bunch of movies from Sundance and SXSW didn’t make it to SIFF. Nor were there many big-name guests, compared to years prior. The addition of the Cinerama to the SIFF theater portfolio does seem to imply big things are happening, though! 

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That may be a wrap for this roundtable, but expect a few more reviews to trickle out as SIFF’s online streaming week continues through the weekend.