Josh: My favorite narrative feature was probably Drunken Noodles, a series of vignettes stretching through a few days spanning two summers in the life of an arts graduate student, one during a stint petsitting for a cat while interning at a New York City gallery, another spending a weekend with his intimacy-challenged boyfriend in upstate New York. Seamlessly blending depictions of a handsome guy making fleeting erotic connections with other with surreal flourishes, it plays like a languid realistic fantasy with terrifically observed vibes. (Whether the degree to which casual encounters play out so effortlessly and rewardingly is fantastical or realistic also probably varies a lot, depending on how much someone looks like Laith Khalifeh, who makes for a very alluring protagonist, holding the screen and the attention of other characters with equal ease.) The fragments play out in reverse chronological order, each informing the previous with new depth, until they circle back to the present day with technology interfacing unexpectedly with the past. With its mix of careful observation, realist depictions, and intrusion of dreamlike qualities, it’s an excellent hang.

Morgen:  I have to mention Franz first. I’ve been a Kafka fan for a long time. It’s been ages since I read Metamorphosis but the emotional impact and flat-out weirdness of Kafka’s storytelling is what seared those stories into my brain. Typically, you know the editing is really impressive when you don’t notice it at all and the flow, the story and the actors all work seamlessly to create an experience. This is true of Kafka, but it was so well done, both the script and the editing, that I couldn’t help but notice. It was pieced together in a way that should not have worked. It wouldn’t have worked if it weren’t incredibly well thought out and organized. But the entire film, I felt like I was either in one of Kafka’s stories or being pulled along with one. It was so odd, so unconventional, yet perfectly fitting to the tell the story of a man who himself is odd and unconventional. I think Franz would have approved.

Chris: If there was a movie that was ever designed in a lab solely for me to enjoy, it would the closing night film, The Invite. Though I do bring some bias to this (see above), I believe the film stands on its own as the best of the fest. Updating Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf with a different comedic sensibility, the movie is tense, hilarious, well-acted, and incredibly potent. Olivia Wilde directs and stars in a one-location dramedy about a dinner party between two couples (Wilde and Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton) that goes disastrously off the rails and forces all parties to confront secrets that they’d rather keep dormant.

Tony: I saw a lot of great stuff this time around, but two movies really stood out, both of which were period dramas that dove down the rabbit hole of the very, very dark folk/fairy tale. Gaua marks the third feature film from Paul Urkijo Alijo. Based on his track record, he’s evolving into a singular auteur with an aesthetic that dwells somewhere between Guillermo del Toro and Robert Eggers, with a liberal dose of European absurdism and dark humor stirred in. Gaua ostensibly follows the adventures of young Kattalin (Yune Nogueiras) as she escapes her abusive husband in 17^th century Spain. But Alijo’s crammed everything includingthe kitchen sink into the mix; Kattalin’s search for agency (and escape from her monster of a husband); witches, demons, clandestine lesbian desires, black magic, and atmosphere thick enough to cut with a knife. It also boasts a pretty unique structure that represents an odd sorta-inversion of an anthology movie. Somehow, it all holds together in one fascinating, assured package. Easily the most immersive thing I saw all SIFF.

Josh: In terms of immersion, I’d also toss an honorable mention to the nearly three hour long Silent Friend, which played in the Official Competition. Another collection of loosely intertwined stories of isolation and connection, this one ostensibly follows a trio of academics whose foibles play out, separated by decades, in the general vicinity of a magnificent gingko tree on a German college campus. Tony Leung Chiu-wai gives a wonderfully soulful performance as a visiting neuroscientist whose time left (almost) all alone on the Marburg campus during the Covid-19 lockdown finds his interest turning to the thoughts of plants with remote assistance from Léa Seydoux and to the major annoyance of a reticent security guard. A story set decades earlier finds Enzo Brumm as an escaped farmboy studying literature who rediscovers an interest in plants over one languid summer while plant sitting a bourgeois geranium while his beautiful experimental botanist (Marlene Burow) flatmate decamps for a hiking vacation. A third story, set at the turn of the twentieth century and filmed in evocative black & white finds a brilliant young woman (Luna Wedler) overcoming stereotypes to find a place for herself in a deeply sexist scientific lab. That the film and the tree give the same weight to the resolution of these human arcs is Ildikó Enyedi’s greatest joke. For those who missed it, the Tree Movie opens this weekend at SIFF Cinema for a theatrical run that’s worth your time.

Tony: The other movie that really clicked for me was Taratoa Stappard’s Mārama. It represents an angrier, more blunt examination of a woman overcoming patriarchal abuse and exploitation, this time set in 1850s England. A young Māori woman, Mary (Ariana Osbourne, who’s just brilliant in the role), is invited to become a governess in North Yorkshire for the granddaughter of a wealthy whale hunter. As she gains her sea legs at the job, the gig quickly exposes the deep rot and malevolence of colonialism. Then Mary’s embrace of her heritage—and her outrage at  the pillaging of her culture—come to a head in an epic way. It’s shot, decorated, and lit with incredible lushness, which makes its hard turn into violence all the more brute-force effective. I see every misgiving that could put off some, but I was certifiably riveted.  

Josh: Documentaries are always popular among SIFF audiences and it was invigorating to see so many truly great locally-connected ones. My favorite that I saw at the festival was The Life We Leave, a moving and compelling story of a local entrepreneur who’s part of a transformative movement toward human composting. On its face, the idea sounds instantly revolting, but getting to understand the process, witness the powerful work that trained funeral directors brought to inventing new customs for grieving, and seeing the effect on families who entrust their loved ones to their care was deeply moving in ways that I never expected. Please, consider this my advance directive that when my time comes, turn me to dirt!

Chris: I really loved two local documentaries, Radioheart: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole and Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero. The Kevin Cole documentary was incredibly moving about a fixture in the Seattle music community who has a lifetime of bringing people together through music. There were a handful of deeply moving scenes that required tissues.

The Phoenix Jones doc was much different but it captured a surreal time in Seattle lore. Jones is an enigmatic figure full of contradictions and I think director Bayan Joonam does a good job of unraveling the mystery.

Josh: Although I saw it at Sundance, while we’re mentioning local connections, I’d also mention Ghost in the Machine, an eye-opening and enraging AI documentary. Playing out in a series of chapters, it is deeply informative about the troubled roots of AI as well as deeply skeptical of almost all of its claims. It’s been at the top of my mind for months in terms of cutting through so much absolute idiocy in the field.

Tony: In a crowded field of docs that all sounded worthy, I wound up not catching a single one, so I shall initiate my own category of Best Mockumentary, and place Lady in the winner’s circle. It starts out as an amusing Grey Gardens riff, with BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Sam (Laurie Kynaston) shadowing rich, eccentric heiress Isabella (Sian Clifford of Fleabag fame). Then it becomes increasingly surreal—think a found-footage movie helmed by Dario Argento andLuis Bunuel. Clifford’s a distinctive, full-on presence, and director Samuel Abrahams trains his spotlight on her as she gradually reveals layers of vulnerability and passion beneath her oddball, shallow socialite exterior. Great stuff.

Morgen: I had a couple that really rose to the top. First of all The Seoul Guardians was quite an eye-opening experience. I mentioned this in our opening weekend picks; I had been following along what I thought had been most of the story when Seoul erupted into rallies and riots the night their president declared martial law (and swiftly was voted down and ousted). However, American news barely scratched the surface and this film picks up where that left off. From shaky footage captured by news anchors as they ran into the National Assembly Building before the cops blocked the entrances to civically sourced mobile video as citizens blocked the military invasion with their bodies, it was a truly heroic story of faith in justice, the power of the people and the right to question your leaders. It was beautiful, scary and hit too close to home.

Chris: I was really fond of April X, a sci-fi flick set in futuristic Eastern Europe, though part of the New American Cinema program. It got my first place vote in the Critics Poll. Connor Storrie stars as an Area Man who makes his living in the black-market body-parts industry but finds himself in too deep. He’s fine but his co-star Lilly Krug is phenomenal as his sister who mysteriously vanishes (and then reappears and reappears years later) after trying to get her brother out of his jam. Excellent work for someone who I hope has a big future ahead of her.

Morgen: Again, there were a few standouts in this category but I’ll keep it brief and narrow down to one. Lubna Azabal in Hot Water was absolutely outstanding. Playing the Lebanese-born Layal, at times she expressed a myriad emotions and personal demons without even saying a word. The playful, yet complicated relationship she has with her son, who is just touching the edges of adulthood, is so well reasoned I would have thought they really were actually related. The quirky moments flowed naturally, the arguments and tension-filled pauses didn’t feel forced and the story resolved in a way that seems true to life; almost nothing that happens to us is completely good or completely bad. The chemistry between her and her co-star/son Daniel Zolghadri contributed to the impact of her performance so he played a role in that as well. Hot Water could have ended up another downer of a film, but instead director Ramzi Bashour made an effort to inject silly moments but in an impactful way.

Josh: Drawing again from the stellar Northwest Connections program, I’d highlight the incredible performance of Again Again writer, co-director, and lead Mia Moore Marchant. She brings incredible depth and variety to portray a woman who’s been stuck in a single day time loop with her longtime best friend and sometimes girlfriend. It’s a deeply lived in performance that makes room for the fantasy of a perfect day, the frustration of having lived many imperfect ones, and the anxiety and ecstasy of having escaped it. An impressive debut, across the board.

I’d also mention Ariaana Osbourne from gothic horror Mārama, who plays an indigenous Maori woman who travels to England to uncover the mystery of her past, discovers deeply unsettling secret, and exacts suitably violent revenge. The movie didn’t entirely work for me as well as it did for Tony, but her performance was an unshakeable force.

Tony: Both of the leading ladies in Gaua and Mārama (Yune Nogueiras and Ariana Osbourne, respectively) blew me away, but I also wanted to give the leads in Roid, a quietly absorbing little folk tale/allegory from Bangladesh, a shout-out. Mostafizur Noor Imran’s naturalistic, restrained performance as the weary husband to Nazifa Tushi’s naïve, emotionally volatile, wildly unpredictable bride represented the most involving character arc I saw throughout SIFF 2026. 

The 2026 Seattle International Film Festival runs from May 7-17. Keep up with our reactions on social media (@thesunbreak) and follow our ongoing coverage via our SIFF 2026 posts