Every autumn, locals and visitors alike flock to the quaint town of Eastsound on Orcas Island to celebrate much of the year’s best cinema. Now in it’s ninth year (with one year off for the pandemic), the Orcas Island Film Festival has quickly established itself as the must-attend event for Pacific Northwesterners who relish in spending a long weekend enjoying many of the most prestigious films from the international festival circuit well in advance of their regular release dates.

The festival officially kicked off on Wednesday and runs through the weekend. Across two theaters, three screens, and additional gathering places, the festival sifts through the sparkliest gems from across the world and brings them to the island for a weekend of relaxed cinephile bliss.

Among the highest profile features are Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, TIFF People’s Choice winner American Fiction, and Hayao Miyazaki’s stunning new semi-autobiographical swan song The Boy and the Heron. Among nine films slated to be their country’s official Oscar submission for international feature are Wim Wenders’s mesmerizing story of a Japanese toilet cleaner Perfect Days, Tran Anh Hung’s sumptuous gastro-romance The Taste of Things, and the Mads Mikkelson-starring The Promised Land. They also snagged Alexander Payne’s prickly 70s throwback the Holdovers (with Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa); Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s stirring leap into feature filmmaking that tells the unlikely story of a long-distance swim with stellar performances from Annette Banning and Jodie Foster. A strong documentary program includes Beyond Utopia‘s harrowing look at escaping North Korea and The Mission, which covers the complex story of a Vancouver Washington missionary’s attempt to bring the word to the unconnected peoples of North Sentinel Island. Plus, there’s an encore screening of last year’s surprise musical hit, RRR.

That barely scratches the surface of their stacked lineup! Although full festival passes are sold out, individual tickets and rush screening opportunities abound throughout the weekend. Most — if not all — films screen twice, allowing flexibility and buzz to build. There’s also a host of parties and special events to mingle with fellow film lovers.

Before heading up to the island for a weekend of catch-up and revisiting some festival favorites, I caught up with the festival’s dynamic co-director Donna Laslo.

Great to see the Orcas Island Film Festival is as big (or bigger) than ever in 2023. How does this year’s compare in terms of last year’s? Anything that you’re excited to highlight about the 2023 event?

Donna: We were voted USA TODAY’S Top Ten Festivals in the country for 2023.  This has created a great buzz about the festival and our pre-sale pass sales are the best ever.  This is the first year that we’ve pulled out the stops since Covid.  We are hosting parties again this year.  A Red Carpet Opening night Soiree on Wednesday, Oct. 11 @ 5:00pm.  On Friday night join DJ Bruce Pavitt (founder of Sub Pop records and music historian) for a chat, hang and dance event.  Saturday night we are hosting an all out Bollywood Disco Party with Portland’s DJ Prashant.  (RRR is in our line up)

Has the pass holder system worked well? What do you expect to be the balance between pass holders and availability of individual tickets?

Donna:  Our ticketing system has worked well.  It’s such a perk for attendees to be able to select their seats for all of their screenings ahead of time.  No waiting in lines, no queues.  I expect there will be plenty of individual tickets available.  Maybe not for the bigger films but we always encourage people to show up for rush tickets for sold out screenings.  People’s plans always change.  

Any plans for programming aside from screenings?

Donna:  Our Vanguard Award, which honors a film that exhibits mastery and excellence with a story that illuminates the power of the human spirit, was renamed last year to The  Jean Marc Vallee award.  The prize money has increased from $5,000 to $10,000.  

What do you recommend when guests are taking a break from the films? 

Donna: Food is important to us:  We will have “Poutine Your Mouth”  food truck at Sea View theatre and Delmy’s Tacos and authentic mexican fare at the Orcas Center.  

Our parties are the place to be on Friday and Saturday nights when not taking in a film.   Food and full bar – the event space will be staged with vibey couches and sitting areas for attendees to hang out, talk films, have a bite and a great drink.  

Outside of the festivals, any local favorites to spotlight for visitors to check out?

Donna: Matia; Monti is a cool new speakeasy vibe restaurant and bar; New Leaf Cafe & Bar; Majita’s Mexican; Gerties for Breakfast; and Brown Bear Baking.

Anything else that our readers should know about?

I am really excited about the films this year…I feel our festival just went through a quantum leap in growth and momentum.  It’s pretty cool!

Thanks for taking a break from your incredibly busy pre-festival schedule to get us up to speed. Can’t wait to be back!