Festivals Reviews SIFF

SIFF 2024: Quick Picks Roundtable, Tips, and Tricks for the 50th Annual Seattle International Film Festival

by Sunbreak Staff

Starting today, tickets and passes are now available to the public for the 50th Seattle International Film Festival. Running in person from May 9–19, the festival features 207 films playing in-person across the city — including daily programming at the recently-reopened Cinerama (officially SIFF Downtown) — with many getting online encore screenings May 20-27.

The SunBreak got a preview this week night at a reception for press and donors, but we are still soaking up the trailers, digesting the full lineup of 92 features, 47 documentaries, 5 archival presentations, 2 secret films and 115 shorts from 84 countries/regions. Although we got a head start on the list of films – which among the features include 18 world premieres, 26 North American premieres, and 14 US premieres. With a majority (62%) of the entries coming from first or second-time filmmakers, it’s a program rich for discovery. Most also don’t yet have US distribution (59%); so attending SIFF represents a chance to be among the first viewers to find some hidden gems.

While we’re digging through the schedule and plotting our own agendas, we thought we’d start by each highlighting a film (or two) from the program that we’re most excited to see or recommend.

I Saw the TV Glow

ROUNDTABLE: QUICK PICKS!

  • Josh: SIFF is wonderful for discoveries, but it’s also a chance to catch up on highlights from other festivals. I Saw the TV Glow was one of the buzziest titles out of Sundance. With Lynchian threads as applied to post-millennial trans awakenings and grounded in a deep love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Jane Schoenbrun’s eerie, visually entrancing, and sonically inventive cautionary love note to the nineties just might be just be the Donnie Darko for the the Zoomies generation.
    (Friday May 10, Egyptian; Saturday May 11, Uptown)
  • Tony: We horror fans compulsively seek the visceral rush of a genuinely disturbing shocker. And word around the horror-geek campfire has it that Chris Nash’s revisionist slasher, In a Violent Nature, delivers the suspense (and the crimson) in droves.
    (Sunday May 12, Pacific Place; May 14, Downtown)
  • Morgen: I’m in for the Eat Your Heart Out (WTF) shorts program — WTF is always fun and when the theme is good, forget about it… I’m hooked!
    (Thursday May 16, Egyptian; with online encore)
  • Chris: I’d be lying if I said I loved every Harmony Korine movie I’ve ever seen, but he’s never bored me. His newest, Aggro Dr1ft, an experimental film shot using only thermal imaging cameras, looks fascinating, like a live video game. I’m curious.
    (Friday May 17, SIFF Downtown)
  • Josh: In terms of unlike anything I’d ever seen before (and also liked a lot), I’d highly recommend The Mother of All Lies, Asmae El Moudir’s Casablanca-set memory piece that uses intricate handmade models to incredible success in excavating a painful historical moment. It’s a marvel of moviemaking and an intimate view of long-suppressed family secrets and overdue confrontations.
    (Tuesday May 14, Pacific Place; Thursday May 16, Uptown; with an online encore)
  • Morgen: Despite the main character of Bob Trevino Likes It having to resort to Facebook for any kind of positive relationship after her father basically disowned her, I’m also hoping to get a little “this is why Facebook is lame and face to face is way better.”
    (Wednesday May 15 and Thursday May 16, Uptown)
  • Chris: With her sophisticate palate and vast culinary knowledge, celebrity chef Susan Feniger is always a welcome presence when I see her on the Food Network. She’s usually judging a competition, so I don’t know as much as I’d like to but thankfully, she’s the subject of a new documentary playing at SIFF called Susan Feniger: Forked  and it’s about her attempt to open a restaurant without her long-time partner Mary Sue Milliken. It doesn’t go well, as this movie is billed as a “culinary disaster film.” Most culinary disasters begin with food poisoning so I’m anxious to see where this adventure takes us.
    (Wednesday May 15, Majestic Bay; Thursday May 16, Uptown; online)
  • Tony: SIFF had me at Jean-Pierre Melville and Michael Mann. Invoking those titans of crime cinema in the program description of Scorched Earth, a German thriller about an art heist and the thief doing the heisting, has me cautiously psyched for a great neo-noir.
    (Friday May 10, SIFF Downtown, Friday May 17, Shoreline)
  • Morgen: Until non-heteronormative couples get the rights they deserve when it comes to their partner, movies like this need to keep giving them a voice. All Shall Be Well sounds sweet, full of anguish and life affirming. Looking forward to it.
    (Tuesday May 14 and Wednesday May 15, Uptown)
  • Chris: Veteran Northwest documentarian Isaac Olsen has another new movie out, this one about the history of the iconic Rainier Beer. I can’t wait to watch the world premiere of Rainier: A Beer Odyssey as it covers an important part of PNW history and culture. It remains to be seen whether or not this documentary answers the most important question Rainier fans are asking right now: when will my favorite pub have this stuff back on tap?
    (Monday May 13 and Thursday May 16, Egyptian; online)

As a reminder, to  SIFF like a pro, revisit our time- and fest-tested tips, lightly-updated for 2024, subject to updates as we see how the festival plays out on the ground and in the virtual realm.

PARTY PEOPLE

  • Josh: I’ll use my last pick on Opening Night. Grab your tickets to Thelma immediately. Like last year’s festival, SIFF has picked up a Sundance stunner to open this year’s festival. Anchored by a sensational star turn by June Squibb with a bit of scene-stealing from Richard Roundtree in his final onscreen performance, the sweet comedy about a 93-year-old grandmother out for justice after being scammed was the the sweetest, funniest, best time I had at any film during my time at this year’s Sundance. With this selection SIFF has a surefire gently uproarious crowdpleaser to kick off the festival. Writer/director Josh Margolin will be at Opening Night along with SIFF Tribute Recipient June Squibb to unpack their deeply endearing film with a Q&A, followed by a party on the Paramount’s stage and spilling into 9th Avenue. (Tickets: $85 / $75 SIFF Members)
  • “Closing” Night: The in-person festival closes with Sing Sing, starring Colman Doming and Paul Raci among a cast of non-professional actors who tell the true story of incarcerated people finding redemption through theater. The film plays at the SIFF Downtown (“SIFF-erama” to the rest of us) with a Q&A with Director/co-writer Greg Kwedar plus members of the ensemble cast. It’s followed by the traditional afterparty at MOHAI — note, this year it’s held non-traditionally on Saturday instead of Sunday. At age 50, SIFF finally has come to respect the concept of “school nights”. Tickets for the event are $86.50 ($76.50) for both film and party or $51.50 ($46.50) just to crash the soiree.
  • June Squibb stars in the opening night feature, Thelma. On Saturday May 11th, you can have brunch with her at Palace Kitchen and wander over to SIFF Downtown for a tribute event. Tickets are $126.50 ($101.50), festivities start at 10:00 am sharp.
  • On Saturday May 18th, another beloved comic actress, Jean Smart will receive the Hollywood Reporter’s Trailblazer Award followed by a preview screening of episode 7 from the new season of Max hit Hacks on the giant screen at SIFF Downtown. Tickets are $21.50 ($26.50).

Finally, Secret Fest, SIFF’s most exclusive film club, is back. Buy a pass ($42.79/37.69) and get access to two Sunday morning movies that you’ll never be allowed to reveal that you saw. Allegedly/hypothetically/unconfirmed rumblings suggest that these can be anything from films promised to other festivals, rare archival presentations, or underground films rarely seen. The pass and an oath of secrecy get you in. 

Hyped yet? Let’s start memorizing this year’s trailer so that we can all quote along with it by Closing Night!

DEEP DIVES 

  • The festival is organized into multiple intersecting systems, suitable for satisfying various worldviews or problem-solving styles. For the analytic among us, Film Finder lets you search the program with simple queries or dizzying arrays of categorical complexity (not yet ChatGPT-enabled, though). Start with the fairly straightforward – Country/Region, Director, Genre – to narrow your choices. 
  • A very practical search: Film Finder shows you exactly which movies can be watched from home during the festival’s streaming encore week (note that a few are limited to Washington only)
  • If you’d rather match your tastes against expert juries, consider following one of the competitions and see if your favorite aligns with the pros. This year’s juried races include the Official, Documentary, New American Cinema, Ibero-American, Official Competition, and New Directors competitions as well as short film competitions divided between documentary, narrative, and animated juries.
  • Finally, SIFF has selected films as part of an an array of programs, grouped by geography/identity (African Pictures, Asian Crossroads, cINeDIGENOUS, Ibero-American Cinema, New American Cinema, Northwest Connections), themes (Culinary Cinema, Face the Music), appropriateness for younger audiences (Films4Families for kids of all ages; FutureWave for teens), degree of boundary-pushing (Alternate Cinema experimentations all the way to WTF), as well as format (Archival Films and Short Films). Yes, some of these programs have competitions within them. Others are festivals within festivals. SIFF contains multitudes!
  • Keep an eye out for festival guests if you like the opportunity to hear a filmmaker’s take on their work or to have them answer your awkward question following the screening (kidding, but also not).
  • If you’re still stuck, browse the expert advice of the Programmer Picks. This year, 18 tireless SIFF programmers collectively watched something like 6000 films to build the program. They then each identified top bets among the festival’s riches so that you could benefit from their expertise. You could either choose one programmer and follow their lead or go with the consensus!

PLANNING

  • Plan ahead. Get to know the SIFF website. Browse the sortable searchable Film Finder. Check ahead to see if guests will be at the screening for a Q&A, for timing and scheduling purposes, if not for celeb-watching, and monitor the various SIFF Facebook, Twitter; YouTube, and Instagram feeds as well as their News page for updates, so you’ll have the heads up before a screening sells out.
  • Technology is your friend! SIFF is never as tech-integrated as one would like, but the mobile website and an app to keep track of your tickets are still there to fill the void.
  • This year’s festival has both in-person and virtual components. Some films will have encore screenings online after the main festival; so you might take that into account when deciding which lines are most worth your time. 
  • The festival also posts daily updates to their online calendar, coding screenings as “limited availability” or “standby” to alert you to whether tickets are selling fast. 
  • Festival Resources: The festival typically posts a page with all sorts of fun stuff like an Excel sheet of all the films, the film guide, and the whole schedule grid, suitable for printing on a couple sheets of paper and keeping in your back pocket for the whole event. Perfect for survivalists, Luddites, or people worried about being without the schedule in the case of a drained battery.

BUYING

  • Consider buying in bulk. Individual tickets are $18 ($15 for members) for both in-person and online screenings. Although there’s nothing quite like the flexibility of joining the ranks of the passholders, even if you don’t want to spring for that level of commitment, you can still get ticket packages at the incredible value of six tickets for $75 ($63) to save a good amount of money. You can use up to two tickets per screening, so feel free to split with a buddy. 
  • If you want to make a commitment to the passholder line, it’s too late to buy the entry level Film Pass. That means that your options are to go full VIP with the Platinum ($1619.99/$1319.99) which gives you even more perks like reserved seating, line skipping, and just looking extremely cool with one of the shiniest badges at the party. All passes get you access to online films on the SIFF Channel. There’s also a
  • If a film is sold out, all hope isn’t lost, but getting into a film via the standby line is a complete crapshoot — don’t count on it for a popular film. But if a miracle does occur, those tickets are full price and “cash preferred.”

VENUES

  • The core venues for this year’s festival are: the newly-rejuvenated Cinerama (a.k.a. SIFF Downtown), SIFF Cinema Uptown (3 screens), SIFF Cinema Egyptian, the SIFF Film Center, and Pacific Place. There will also be screenings up north at Shoreline Community College and at Ballard’s Majestic Bay Theaters.
  • If you’re trying to make a day of it, Lower Queen Anne offers you the closest thing to one-stop SIFF-ing. All three SIFF Uptown screens will be showing festival films, two blocks  away the SIFF Film Center opens for weekend screenings. The SIFF Lounge is also back in business for pass holders looking to take a breather between movies.
  • For those straying from SIFF central, it’s a fairly short walk between the Egyptian and Pacific Place (slightly less easy the other uphill way around). Light rail stops on Capitol Hill and Westlake Center ease the venue-hopping experience for those shuttling between The Egyptian, Pacific Place. Getting to-and-from the Uptown, you’re at the mercy of downtown traffic or the monorail; so plan accordingly and then double your transit estimates if you’re relying on the bus.

PRACTICALITIES

  • If you’re particular about where you sit, there’s no such thing as arriving too early. In normal times, it was fair to expect every screening to have a long line and a full house. Still, as long as you have a ticket, you’ll have a seat. Ticketholders are usually let into the theater about 30 minutes in advance of showtimes, but SIFFgoers are a bunch who love to queue. Passholders get in first, but there are a limited number of seats set aside for them; so even with a pass, you should show up in time to secure a spot, particularly for movies with big buzz.
  • Regarding those long lines: be prepared with an umbrella, sunglasses, sunscreen, a light jacket, and some reading material to pass the time.
  • Bathrooms! One way to avoid the line is to either head straight to the restroom as soon as you get into the theater, or wait until the lights go down. From there, you’ve got about 7 minutes of ads, trailers, and announcements before the film begins.
  • Consider subtitles. If your film has them and you’re not fluent, find a seat with a clear view of the bottom of the screen. Aisle left or right is generally a good bet. Although the seats on the center aisle (exit row) at the Egyptian have tons of room to stretch your legs, the raking of the theater flattens out for the aisle, so you’re likely to have an obstructed view of the subtitles if anyone of average height or above average skull circumference sits in front of you.

Finally, despite all of this strategic advice, it really never hurts (too much) to try your luck with whatever happens to be playing on whatever night you happen to be free. Not every screening has an interminable line, sometimes that scary-looking line is just hard-core SIFFers with time on their hands and/or an ingrained sense of promptness. Many many times you may walk right into a half-empty theater and end up seeing your favorite movie of the year. It’s the chance to experience seeing something you enjoy on some level, if only just a window to a different world/experience than what you’re used to. We look forward to seeing you at the movies!