The 51st Seattle International Film Festival kicks off tomorrow! Running in person from May 15–25, the festival features 245 films playing in-person across the city — including daily programming at the recently-reopened Cinerama — with many getting online encore screenings the following week. Sorting through the whole program and/or film finder can help you to dial into your exact needs for a cinematic holiday (per SIFF’s vacation-themed, “Trip to the Reel World”), but we’re also here to help.
Last week, we gave you some quick picks in the wake of the press launch. Now, with some more time with the program and some screeners, we have a few more suggestions for how to spend the opening days of the festival.
First up, Opening Night. SIFF kicked off last year’s festival with Thelma, a complete charmer about the adventures of one tough grandma, her attentive grandson, and seeking revenge on a scammer. While June Squibb’s star turn is simply impossible to beat, SIFF’s going back to the comedy well and quadrupling-down on senior citizens. This time around, it’s Darren Thornton’s Four Mothers, where we meet Edward, a gay Irish novelist (James McArdle) who’s put his life on hold for years spent caring for ailing parents. His mother (a steely Fionnula Flanagan) can’t speak after suffering a stroke, but her iPad enables her most demanding tendencies. Just as his book gets rediscovered by a new generation American TikTok Teens, inviting a whirlwind publicity tour, his similarly-stifled so-called friends selfishly dump their own care-requiring moms with him so they can jet off to the Canary Islands for Maspalomas Pride (an event mentioned by name so frequently one suspects its a sponsor). Frustrations, comedic and cathartic, ensue as Edward’s attentions are split between his reinvigorated career and the increasingly complex demands of eldercare in a small town outside Dublin. The degree to which Edward allows himself to be doormat occasionally makes it challenging to root for his success, particularly as he attempts to perpetrate these tendencies on his physiotherapist ex, the film’s sweetest and most grounded character. It’s all a bit silly and under resourceful at times, but with nice performances across the board, the tender humor of the heartfelt story (an adaptation of Mid-August Lunch) should be an inviting entry point to this year’s festival offerings. –Josh
The film plays at the Paramount on Thursday May 15th with co-writer Colin Thornton scheduled to attend. Following the screening, the party spills out onto 9th Avenue complete with music mixed by DJ Derek Mazzone and Orion Entertainment and complimentary drinks and bites. (Limited tickets still available, $88 Non-Members $78 Members)
SOME OF THE MOVIES WE’RE MOST EXCITED ABOUT
Chris
By Design (2025 | USA | 90 minutes | Amanda Kramer)
By Design is one of the more unusual movies I’ve seen, and I loved it. Juliette Lewis stars as a woman who covets a particular chair only for her soul to inhabit the piece of furniture. It’s an absurdist comedy and one of the highlights I’ve seen at SIFF so far.
- TUESDAY, MAY 20 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 9:00 PM
- WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 4:30 PM
- AVAILABLE ON STREAMING: YES
- Cast member Alisa Torres scheduled to attend
Baby Doe (2025 | USA | 100 minutes | Jessica Earnshaw)
My true crime bone is scratched with this engrossing documentary about an Ohio woman who abandoned a child immediately after birth and caught through DNA and forensic genealogy almost thirty years later. It raises a lot of questions about mental health, competency, the justice system, forgiveness, and science.
- TUESDAY, MAY 20 – AMC Pacific Place – 6:00 PM
- WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 3:45 PM
- Director Jessica Earnshaw and co-producer John Rudolf scheduled to attend
Josh
April (2024 | Georgia | 134 minutes | Dea Kulumbegashvili)
Starting my recommendations with one that I saw last year in Toronto. Here’s what I said then, the film has stuck with me ever since: “In shatteringly uncomfortable and precisely composed long takes, Kulumbegashvili challenges us to experience the heavy personal and professional tolls taken on by an OB-GYN following her conscience over the laws and customs in eastern Georgia [the former Soviet Republic, not the US State]. The consequences of her willingness to provide abortions in the remote villages comes into focus after a birth (filmed in more detail than most health classes ever provide) results in unanticipated complications. Devastating and unflinching.”
- FRIDAY, MAY 16 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 12:30 PM
- SATURDAY MAY 17 – SIFF Film Center – 8:00 PM
Remaining Native (2025 | USA | 87 minutes | Paige Bethmann)
Seattle audiences will have to forgive Nevada Paiute teenager Ku Stevens for his lifelong dream of becoming an Oregon Duck. As the only member of his rural school’s cross-country team, he’s a dominant runner with aspirations of making the leap to elite collegiate athletics. As a sports movie alone, Paige Bethmann grippingly films the action from training amid the reservation’s natural beauty all the way to a crucial statewide track meet. But with a protagonist as compelling and thoughtful as Stevens, the documentary’s scope is broader than one big footrace or a record-chasing pace. Like an exceptional university admissions essay, Ku’s narration connects his present aspirations to his family’s heritage, the evil colonialist history of forcibly removing indigenous people to abusive boarding schools, and an eye toward the future. Like his athleticism, the film is a tremendous achievement and an inspiration that’s sure to have audiences standing up to cheer, perhaps while wiping a few tears from their eyes.
- SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2025 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 2:30 PM
- SUNDAY, MAY 18, 2025 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 5:00 PM
- Available on streaming May 25-June 1
- Director Paige Bethmann, producer Jessica Epstein, subject Ku Stevens, and executive producer Billy Mills (Olympic Gold Medalist) scheduled to attend.
BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions (2025 | USA | 113 minutes | Kahlil Joseph)
An expansion of his 2020 Afrofuturist video installation marks the feature debut for Seattle filmmaker Kahlil Joseph. Fusing narrative and documentary, the film weaves archival material and family history into a story shot by master cinematographer Bradford Young and edited by Oscar-winner Paul Rogers. Adding further intrigue, there was a flurry of distributor drama preceding its will-it-or-won’t-it Sundance premiere. I missed it in Park City, so I’m thrilled that SIFF is giving the cerebral “visual feast” a local premiere on their biggest screen.
- SUNDAY, MAY 18 – SIFF Cinema Downtown – 6:30 PM
- MONDAY, MAY 19 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 4:00 PM
- Director Kahlil Joseph scheduled to attend.
Morgen
Paying For It (2024 | Canada | 85 minutes | Sook-Yin Lee)
There are a few films this year that harken back to others that I loved or stuck with me. Paying For It had a very American Splendor feel to it, but far less sad-sack and more personal growth. It’s a beautifully open-minded look at sex work and how to navigate personal relationships. The many awkward moments were balanced with times of great intimacy.
- SATURDAY, MAY 17 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 6:00 PM
- SUNDAY, MAY 18 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 12:30 PM
- Director Sook-Yin Lee scheduled to attend.
Balconettes (2024 | France | 104 minutes | Noémie Merlant)
I can’t wait to see what this film has in store. At first glance it seems like a debauched apartment of three women living their lives as they choose. When things take a turn after getting tangled up with a neighbor panic and fear take over sending them into a tailspin.
- SUNDAY, MAY 18 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 9:00 PM
- MONDAY, MAY 19 – SIFF Cinema Downtown – 3:15 PM
GUEST LIST
SIFF has outdone themselves bringing guests to the festival this year, see below for a preliminary look at who’ll be in town over the next week in support of their films.
- Baby Doe // Director Jessica Earnshaw and co-producer John Rudolf
- BAR // Director Don Hardy
- Beginnings // Producer Eva Jakobsen and cast member Bjørk Storm
- Between Goodbyes // Director Jota Mun
- BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions // Director Kahlil Joseph
- By Design // Cast member Alisa Torres
- Cat Town, USA // Director Jonathan Napolitano and producer James Gannon
- Chain Reactions // Director Alexandre Philippe
- The Chef & The Daruma // Director Mads Baekkevold, producer Matthew Dix, and subject Chef Hidekazu Tojo
- Color Book // Director David Fortune and producer Kristen Uno
- Come See Me in the Good Light // Director Ryan White and producer Stef Willen (May 17); , producer Jessica Hargrave (May 18)
- Drowned Land // Director Colleen Thurston, cinematographer Charles Elmore, and subjects Charlotte Roberts and Spencer Holmes
- Evergreens // Writer/Director Jared Briley
- Fucktoys // Director Annapurna Sriram
- Flamingos: Life After the Meteorite // Director Lorenzo Hagerman and producer Jose Cohen
- Four Mothers // Writer Colin Thornton
- Freeing Juanita // Producer Tristan Call and director’s partner Caitlin Brzezinski
- The Gloria of your Imagination // Director Jennifer Reeves and co-producer Randy Sterns
- Home Sweet Home // Director Frelle Peterson and producer Jonas Bagger
- Idyllic // Director Aaron Rookus
- Invention // Director Courtney Stephens
- Jean Cocteau // Producer/Editor John Northrup
- Know Her Name // Producer Heidi Lasi
- The Librarians // Director Kim A. Snyder and librarian Gavin Downing
- Monarch City // Director Titus Richard
- Mongrels // Director Jerome Yoo
- Monk in Pieces // Director Billy Shebar
- The Nature of Invisible Things // Director Rafaela Camelo
- New Jack Fury // Director Lanfia Wal
- Paul Anka: His Way // Director John Maggio (May 23)
- Paying For It // Director Sook-Yin Lee
- Raptures // Director Jon Blåhed and producer Andreas Emanuelsson
- Ready or Not // Director Claire Frances Byrne
- Remaining Native // Director Paige Bethmann, producer Jessica Epstein, cast member Ku Stevens and executive producer Billy Mills (Olympic Gold Medalist)
- She’s The He // Director Siobhan McCarthy and producers Vic Brandt and Halley Albert
- Slanted // Director Amy Wang
- Sorry, Baby // Director Eva Victor
- Sudden Outbursts of Emotions // Writer/Director Paula Korva
- Starman // Director Robert Stone and cast member Gentry Lee
- Suburban Fury // Director Robinson Devour, producer Jason Reid, executive producer/head archivist Bob Fink, and co-producer Matt Levinthal
- Summer’s Camera // Director/Screenwriter Divine Sung
- Tinā // Director Miki Magasiva and subject Beulah Koale
- Wolf Land // Director Sarah Hoffman and editor David Wulzen
The 2025 Seattle International Film Festival runs from May 15-25 in person and May 26-June 1 online. Keep up with our reactions on social media (@thesunbreak) and follow our ongoing coverage via our SIFF 2025 posts