The Seattle International Film Festival has wrapped now, but I wanted to mention here a few other films that stood out from this year’s fest.
Early in the fest I caught Red Eyes, a spectacularly shot and edited doc that follows the Chilean national soccer team, La Roja (The Red), on their eight-year quest to show the world they are as good at soccer as Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, all of whom boast multiple World Cup wins, by qualifying for the World Cup in 2006, and again in 2010.
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It’s hard to believe it’s almost over, but it is — this weekend is your last chance to immerse yourself in SIFF this year! But what to see? Here are trailers for some of the film playing this weekend that you might want to check out …
Buck
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I can’t think of the last time I saw a film about teenagers in which the female protagonist does not flirt with boys, talk about boys, obsess about boys, dress to attract the attention of boys, or engage in rivalry with another girl over a boy. Can you?
Swedish film A Thousand Times Stronger, directed by Peter Schildt, breaks the mold by delving into issues of gender disparity and the silencing of female voices with a story about a how a Swedish school’s gender-divided status quo is shaken up by the arrival of a new girl who’s been schooled all over the world.
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This charming, energetic film out Egypt — shot before the recent Middle East revolutions — had its inception in the director, Ahmad Abdalla, wandering the streets of Alexandria like a tourist, when some graffiti caught his eye. A little research revealed the graffiti artist to be a 19-year-old girl, and thus was planted the seed for Abdalla to make Microphone, a film about the vibrant underground art and music scene — street art, metal bands, and hip-hop artists, skateboarders and filmmakers — in Alexandria.
Abdalla chose to tell a fictional tale based on the real stories he gathered from the art scene in Alexandria, so what we have here is, essentially, roughly fictionalized re-tellings of the stories the artists told about themselves. This lends the a sense of realism to the story of a prodigal son of a retired musician returning home to Alexandria to uncover a world he never knew existed.
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Last Sunday, I took my son Jaxon, aged 11, to see The Sound of Mumbai, which is screening at SIFF in their Films4Families section. Jaxon is on the Films4Families jury this year, which means that for the first time, he’s being asked to view movies as more than just pure entertainment. The Sound of Mumbai was his first real experience with a documentary (other than March of the Penguins, and I’m not sure how much he remembers of that), and I was curious to see how he’d respond to it.
“Is this a real story or a made up story?” he whispered about 20 minutes in, as on the screen we saw the deplorable conditions in which the cheerful main subject lives.
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Every now and again, a filmmaker sets out to do something kind of off-the-wall and experimental, and it ends up working brilliantly. Such is the case with Jess + Moss, an experimental film with a ghost of a story whispering its way through a sumptuous canvas created, as we learned from the director in the post-screening Q&A, almost by happenstance.
The film, very loosely, is a coming-of-age story of sorts about lovely, leggy Jess (Sarah Hagan), who in spite of recently graduating from high school, is still more woman-child than woman, and her 12-year-old second cousin Moss (Austin Vickers). The film loosely follows the things that happen between the two as they play together through lazy summer days on the family tobacco farm, using a dilapidated farmhouse as a clubhouse of sorts where they play with the sort of unfettered freedom that you and I may have enjoyed in our own youth, but which has been largely lost to the children of today’s clean-scrubbed, sanitized, overprotective world.
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Well, not so much raptured as stolen during a SIFF screening in broad daylight on a Sunday morning. No joke.
This morning I took my son Jaxon to see the second of his Youth Jury films, Sound of Mumbai. I’ve wanted to see this one myself, so I was excited to go. Today also happened to be the day of my daughter Neve’s Coming of Age service at church (kind of the Unitarian equivalent of a Bat Mitzvah if you’re Jewish, or Confirmation if you’re of the Catholic peruasion. Pretty big deal). So I got up early and took Jaxon to the 9AM service, figuring I’d be out in time to get us to Renton for the screening at 11AM.
We made the screening, which was at the Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center, adjacent to (or maybe part of?) Renton High School. Parked the car right by the sidewalk, in full view of the entrance. Made sure to lock the car, because it’s Renton. There was a church service, I heard, also going on on the same campus. In other words, lots and lots of people milling about, broad daylight. Performing arts center parking lot.
We got there at 11AM, got out of the screening at 12:30, car was gone. Raptured? Stolen? Probably teens taking it for a joy ride, or to steal the stereo, so sayeth the bored and nonchalant cop who came out to take the report. Of course he can be bored and nonchalant, it’s not his car. Their find rate on stolen vehicles is pretty high in Renton, so sayeth the clerk at the police station who filed the affidavit for us.
The car is fully insured, at any rate, so if it’s found but damaged, we can get it fixed, and if it’s not found they’ll replace it. But still, criminy. It very disconcerting to walk out of a theater after a feel-good movie, discussing it with my son, on our way back to the church to be there in time for the potluck celebration, and find my car gone.
I do have to add, the volunteers working the screening, one of whom may have been the venue manager, were nothing but helpful in trying to resolve things. One of them (I’m so sorry, I didn’t get your name, but thank you) called the police for me, then stayed with us until they go there. She was great. And it’s not SIFF’s fault that it happened. C’est la vie.
I’ll have more on Sound of Mumbai, and also on Jess + Moss, which I finally caught up with last night, soonish. Right now, I need a cup of hot tea.
By the bye, if you are in Seattle, Without screens tonight at Harvard Exit at 9:30PM and tomorrow at the Egyptian at 4:30PM. Go see it. You’ll like it.
Here are trailers for some of the films I featured earlier today in my SIFF 2011 Preview.
Opening Night Film: The First Grader
Submarine
The Interrupters
Terri
Without
WITHOUT from right on red films on Vimeo.
Thursday evening, the 37th edition of the Seattle International Film Festival will kick off with a Gala opening screening of The First Grader, followed by a sure-to-be-packed opening party. Justin Chadwick’s charming drama about an 84-year-old Kenyan freedom fighter who decides to take advantage of the government’s free education program by enrolling in his village’s school is an interesting choice for a festival opener: There are no big stars to parade down the red carpet — but then Seattle’s never really been the kind of festival locals flock to because of the stars. It’s a rather innocuous, crowd-pleasing choice, not likely to offend any festival donors — but then, rebellious Seattle isn’t exactly the kind of town where not offending is the first priority.
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Seattle, WA – The 37th Seattle International Film Festival, the largest and most highly-attended event of its kind in the United States today announced the galas, tribute events and special presentations for this year’s Festival. The 25 day event, which runs from May 19 through June 12, will feature 441 films (257 features, 184 shorts) – including 96 feature and short premieres and a Festival record 74 countries represented – with screenings at venues throughout Seattle, Renton, Everett and Kirkland.
“This year’s Festival will feature one of the largest and most diverse programs that we have ever put together in our 37 year history, highlighting the best in cinema from around the world,” said SIFF Artistic Director Carl Spence. “There’s something for everyone as audiences will have a wide range of films and events to choose from including evenings with our special guests Ewan McGregor, Warren Miller, and Al Pacino as well as our strong line-up of films in competition and a record number of countries represented which all combine to make this one of the leading international film festivals.”
Galas
The Festival begins Thursday, May 19 with the annual Opening Night Gala and a screening of The First Grader (UK/Kenya, National Geographic Entertainment), directed by Justin Chadwick, which tells the remarkable story of an 84-year-old Kenyan villager determined to seize his last chance to get the education he could never afford. The screening is at Seattle Center’s McCaw Hall, with the Opening Night Gala reception at Seattle Center’s Exhibition Hall immediately following the screening.
The Centerpiece Gala will be Saturday, June 4 and feature a screening of Service Entrance (France, Strand Releasing), directed by Philippe Le Gauy, a comedy about a Parisian stockbroker whose life is turned upside down when an exuberant Spanish maid moves into the servants’ quarters above, at the Egyptian Theatre, with the Centerpiece Gala reception at Seattle’s Daughters of the American Revolution Hall immediately following the screening.
The Festival will conclude on Sunday, June 12 with the Closing Night Gala a screening of the groundbreaking documentary Life in a Day (UK, National Geographic Entertainment), directed by Kevin Macdonald, which brilliantly weaves footage submitted by thousands of contributors from around the world to catalog the events of a single day, into a spellbinding mosaic masterpiece. The screening is at the Cinerama Theatre, with the Closing Night Gala reception at the Pan Pacific Hotel immediately following the screening.
Tributes
SIFF 2011 will also feature plenty of star power, with tributes to honor Ewan McGregor and Warren Miller and a special, one night only event with Al Pacino scheduled.
In recognition of his illustrious career, Ewan McGregor will receive this years’ Golden Space Needle Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting at a special tribute event featuring a screening of his new film, Beginners (USA), on Sunday, May 22 at the Egyptian Theatre.
A special tribute dinner for Mr. McGregor and 75 guests will take place immediately following the screening and interview at Prava Studios and will be prepared by James Beard Award-winning chef, Thierry Rautureau of Rover’s and Luc Restaurants in Seattle. Tickets for the dinner are $250, which includes reserved seating to the tribute event, and are available for purchase at SIFF.net.
Special retrospective screenings of Moulin Rouge! andPeter Greenaway’s The Pillow Book, and the Seattle premiere of another of Mr. McGregor’s new films, David Mackenzie’s Perfect Sense,will also be featured at the Festival.
Warren Miller, an industry legend whose name has been synonymous with action sports films for over 60 years, will be honored with the Festival’s Golden Space Needle for Lifetime Achievement on Wednesday, June 8 at Benaroya Hall.
In conjunction with the Seattle Theatre Group, SIFF will also welcome one of cinema’s most riveting stars, Al Pacino, for a special, one night only, event to discuss his passion for acting and directing, up close and personal, at the Paramount Theatre on Saturday, June 11.
Feature Premieres
World Premieres: A Lot Like You (USA), August (USA), Do You See Colors When You Close Your Eyes? (USA), Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (USA), Lys (Germany), Sushi: The Global Catch (USA), The Darkest Matter (USA)
North America Premieres: Above Us Only Sky (Germany), Absent (Argentina), Almanya (Germany), Angel of Evil (Italy), Backyard (Iceland), Bicycle, Spoon, Apple (Spain), Blinding (Canada), Bruce Lee, My Brother (Hong Kong), Every Song is About Me (Spain), Flying Fish (Sri Lanka), Heading West (Netherlands), Johan Primero (Netherlands), Killing Bono (UK), King of Devil’s Island (Norway), The Mountain (Norway), Nobody (Greece), Our Home (Brazil), Qarantina (Iraq), Red Eagle (Thailand), Revenge: A Love Story (Hong Kong), Rosario (Philippines), Sevdah for Karim (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Spud (South Africa), Third Star (UK), A Thousand Fools (Spain), Yellow Sea (South Korea)
U.S. Premieres: The Cashier Who Liked Gambling (Italy), Ex (Hong Kong), Fathers & Sons (Canada), Finisterrae (Spain), Funkytown (Canada, Quebec), The Intruder (Thailand), Late Autumn (South Korea), Norwegian Wood (Japan), Oliver Sherman (Canada), Por El Camino (Brazil), Princess (Finland), Rene Goes To Hollywood (Georgia), Red Eyes (Chile), Silent Sonata (Slovenia), Snow White (France), A Thousand Times Stronger (Sweden), Trigger (Canada), The Whisperer in Darkness (USA), We Are the Night (Germany)
In addition to the above listed feature premieres, this year’s Festival will also include 44 short film premieres.
Pathways
New to this years’ Festival, SIFF has developed ten Pathways to help moviegoers find the film and experience that suites their moods. Instead of using traditional categories, SIFF Pathways easily connect the audience with films by organizing them into areas that help answer the question “what sort of film do I feel like seeing tonight?”
2011 Festival Pathways:
Love Me, Do! Romance and love in all its forms, pleasures, and idiosyncrasies.
Make Me Laugh Films that make you chuckle and tickle your funny bone.
Thrill Me Suspense, thrills, and action. Films with a faster pace that might also surprise you when you least expect it.
Creative Streak The exploration of artistic endeavors from all disciplines: literature, film, art, dance, and performance.
Open My Eyes Revealing films and documentaries revolving around history, politics, and contemporary events from around the world.
Sci-Fi and Beyond Science, technology, environment, the future-and beyond.
Take Me Away Be prepared to be taken to another place – from exotic far-off lands to vibrant experiences outside of everyday life.
Spellbinding Stories Mesmerizing dramas and documentaries that explore thought-provoking questions, realities, and topics.
To the Extreme Explore the outer limits with films that go beyond the edge.
Face the Music Films that intersect the world of music on all fronts: from biopics and concert films, to musicals and live events.
Special Presentations & Parties
This year’s Festival will feature 5 special presentation screenings: The Importance of Being Earnest (Dir. Brian Bedford, United Kingdom); Mysteries of Lisbon (Dir. Raul Ruiz, Portugal); Norwegian Wood (Dir. Tran Anh Hung, Japan); Tornado Alley (Dir. Sean Casey, USA); and The White Meadows (Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran). Two additional films will be presented with after-parties. The New American Cinema Party will feature a screening of The Future (Dir. Miranda July, USA) on May 21 at the Pacific Place Cinemas. The Gay-la party will feature a screening of August (Dir. Eldar Rapaport, USA) on Thursday, June 9 at the Egyptian Theatre. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Dir. Jay Roach, USA), which had its US debut as the closing night film of SIFF in 1999 will be shown as a free outdoor evening screening at Juanita Beach Park on Saturday, May 28.
Competitions & Awards
New Directors Competition Festival programmers select 10 films remarkable for their original concept, striking style and overall excellence. To be eligible films must be a director’s first or second feature and without U.S. distribution at the time of their selection.
2011 Entrees: Absent (Dir. Marco Berger, Argentina); Almanya (Dir. Yasemin Samdereli, Germany); Artificial Paradises (Dir. Yulene Olaizola, Mexico); Belle Epine (Dir. Rebecca Zlotowski, France); Cairo 678 (Dir. Mohamed Diab, Egypt); Every Song is About Me (Dir. Jonas Trueba, Spain); Flying Fish (Dir. Sanjeewa Pushpakumara, Sri Lanka); Gandu (Dir. Q – Kaushik Mukherjee, India); The Most Important Thing in Life is Not Being Dead (Dirs. Olivier Pictel, Pablo Martin Torrado, Mark Recuenco, Switzerland); Por El Camino (Dir. Charly Braun, Brazil)
Documentary Competition Festival programmers select 10 films that are unscripted and uncut, the world is a resource of unexpected, informative, and altogether exciting storytelling. Documentary filmmakers have, for years, brought these untold stories to life and introduced us to a vast number of fascinating topics we may have never known existed-let alone known were so fascinating.
2011 Entrees: An African Election (Dir. Jarreth Merz, Ghana); Bicycle, Spoon, Apple (Dir. Carles Bosch, Spain); The Green Wave (Dir. Ali Samadi Ahadi, Germany); Hot Coffee (Dir. Susan Saladoff, USA); Marathon Boy (Dir. Gemma Atwal, India); PressPausePlay (Dirs. David Dworsky, Victor Köhler, Sweden); Red Eyes (Dirs., Juan Pablo Sallato, Ismael Larrain, Juan Ignacio Sabatini, Chile); Rothstein’s First Assignment (Dir. Richard Knox Robinson, USA); Sushi: The Global Catch (Dir. Mark Hall, USA); To Be Heard (Dirs. Amy Sultan, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Deborah Shaffer, Edwin Martinez, USA)
SIFF Shorts Competition All short films shown at the Festival are eligible for both the Golden Space Needle Audience Award and Jury Award. Shorts Competition jurors will choose winners in the Narrative, Animation, and Documentary categories.
WaveMaker Award for Excellence in Youth Filmmaking Sponsored in part by Adobe Youth Voices and presented to one filmmaker, 18 years old or younger, from the FutureWave program, whose talents celebrate the creative possibilities of film. All FutureWave films shown at the Festival are eligible for the award.
FIPRESCI Jury Award Selected by the International Federation of Film Critics from 10 films from the New American Cinema section.
2011 Entrees: August (Dir. Eldar Rapaport, USA), Black, White and Blues (Dir. Mario Van Peebles, USA), Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (Dir. Madeleine Olnek, USA), Gun Hill Road (Dir. Rashaad Ernesto Green, USA), Jess + Moss (Dir. Clay Jeter, USA), Letters From the Big Man (Dir. Christopher Munch, USA),Love (Dir. William Eubank, USA),Natural Selection (Dir. Robbie Pickering, USA), On the Ice (Dir. Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, USA), Roadie (Dir. Michael Cuesta, USA)
Golden Space Needle Awards Given in five categories (Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Short Film) as voted by festival audiences. Awards are presented on Sunday, June 12 at the Space Needle.
Venues
SIFF venues in Renton, Everett and Kirkland will each have their own Opening Night festivities as well. Renton Opening Night is Friday, May 20 and will feature a screening of Black, White and Blues (2010). Everett Opening Night is Thursday, May 26 and will feature a screening of Young Goethe in Love (2010). Kirkland Opening Night is Thursday, June 2 and will feature the latest filmby award-winning director David Pinillos, Bon Appétit (2010).
Seattle: Admiral Theatre, Benaroya Hall, Cinerama Theatre, Egyptian Theatre, Harvard Exit, Majestic Bay Theatres, McCaw Hall, Neptune Theatre, Pacific Place Cinemas, Pacific Science Center IMAX, Paramount Theatre, SIFF Cinema, SIFF Film Center, SIFF Lounge at boom noodle, The Triple Door
Everett: Everett Performing Arts Center
Kirkland: Kirkland Performance Center, Juanita Beach Park
Renton: Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center
To learn more about this announcement and 2011 SIFF, go to http://www.siff.net/press/pressreleases.aspx
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
