Festivals SIFF

Are We Not Film? SIFF DocFest returns this week

Tomorrow begins one of my favorite mini-festivals in Seattle: SIFF’s annual DocFest. It’s a week-long festival celebrating some of the best new-ish documentaries out there (and in true Seattle fashion, this week goes from Thursday to Thursday, so it is actually eight days long).

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It is once again time for SIFF DocFest

The time is nigh for SIFF to kick off its third(!) DocFest, a festival of many of the most interesting documentaries around the world. It all goes down starting tonight and running through next Wednesday at the Uptown. I’m most interested in catching two documentaries about two very different writers: John LeCarre and Tom Wolfe. But there’s a lot more to catch the attention of us documentary lovers.

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SIFF DocFest 2022: Chop & Steele

Joe and Nick are also pranksters and their pranks are often hilarious. They created characters who have been successful in duping local TV news programs. Programmers desperate for time to fill on the air, but no time for a quick Google search, have been a ripe target for them. Hilarity ensues when TV anchors try to maintain professionalism when talking to a yoyo master who doesn’t know any yoyo tricks or chefs that don’t actually know how to cook. But it was the characters of “Chop and Steele” that landed them in some trouble

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SIFF DocFest 2022: Hockey Dreams

When PyeongChang, South Korea was named hosts for the 2018 Winter Olympics, the nation was automatically given a spot to compete for the gold medal in ice hockey. Between the time of the announcement and the actual Olympics, South Korea had four years to field a respectable team. Not exactly a hockey juggernaut, the host nation had to basically start from scratch to field a team. 

Festivals Reviews

SIFF DocFest 2021: Storm Lake

Most people haven’t heard of the Storm Lake Times newspaper for the same reason they likely haven’t heard of the Nome (Alaska) Nugget or, say, the Daily World from my hometown of Aberdeen, WA. But the Storm Lakes Times fills an important role in informing the citizens of Buena Vista County, Iowa. Despite having a circulation not much over 3,000 for a bi-weekly, small-community newspaper, it won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for editorial writing and exposing corruption in the agriculture industry. 

Festivals Reviews

SIFF DocFest 2021: a-ha: The Movie

At the beginning of a-ha: The Movie, the three primary and constant members of the legendary Norwegian, synth-pop band tell their likelihood of recording another album. Pål Waaktaar-Savoy says he already has the next a-ha album written; Magne Furuholmen says he’s open to going back in the studio; and Morten Harket says that he sees no point in a-ha putting out another album. It’s a telling story that shows the disparate points of view for this band that’s told through this film. And, for the record, a-ha does have a new album scheduled for release in 2022.