A Seattle moviegoing lifestyle magazine
One of the best entries in last year’s SIFF Northwest Connections program is situated 800 miles south on I-5 and a half century in the past: the biography of Sarah Jane Moore, one of two women who independently attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford while he campaigned for election in California. Eschewing typical documentary conventions, the story of the would-be assassin is told by the subject herself, having been released from prison 32 years into her life sentence.
Kahlil Joseph’s multi-sensory film takes inspiration for W.E.B. Du Bois’s dream — unfinished at the time of his death, but realized decades later by a group of scholars led by Henry Louis Gates — of creating an Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience. Acting more as chief curator or executive producer than a typical film director, he assembles a richly textured visual album for the screen that includes a long list of talented filmmakers, collaborators, and guest stars.
This year at SIFF I was struck by two films seemingly about the same thing (dictatorships disguised as Communism), but from completely different perspectives (and in different countries). While the story, the people and the outcomes varied, the toll on the peoples of both countries were felt just as palpably. I didn’t expect to be so intrigued and taken in by these stories but here we are. Below I give you the low down on each and why I think, if you can manage it, you should seek them out at a SIFF venue if they run them again outside of the festival.
One SIFFter’s coverage of most of his SIFF 2025 views.
The in-person portion of SIFF’s 51st Seattle International Film Festival ended on Sunday with the Golden Space Needle Awards and a full day of theatrical screenings. Never fear, this year’s “Escape to the Reel World” continues through June 1st online with a substantial portion of the program available for streaming (included for most pass types, or $20 individual films).
My closing weekend at SIFF inadvertently turned into a trio of films loosely themed about men figuring their stuff out, often alone, in desolate spaces.
This rainy city has always felt like a perfect Ground Zero for film noir, and Seattle’s been packing Noir Czar Eddie Muller’s touring Noir City film festival for years.
So it’s no surprise a noir did surface during the Festival. Kudos to SIFF, however, for getting their mitts on a genuine film noir curiosity (in 3D, no less) that also happens to kinda rule.
SIFF is wrapping up this weekend and there are only a few more days before it’s all done. Eight films are in the Documentary Competition and I’ve seen them all.
Surveying a couple of polar opposite selections from SIFF’s Asian Crossroads program.
The in-person portion of the 51st Seattle International Film Festival is past its halfway point and is barreling toward closing weekend. Featuring 245 films playing in theaters around town until May 25th (and several making online encores the week after), there’s still plenty of time to catch our city’s biggest film festival in the company of other cinemaniacs.
We share some film’s we’ve seen and are eager to recommend as well as a few that are still at the top of our watchlists.
