The 49th Seattle International Film Festival, taking place held May 11-21, 2023, will screen 264 films representing 74 countries, including 94 narrative features, 45 documentaries, four archival films, two secret screenings, and 125 short films.

The Festival will open with Celine Song’s heartrending modern romance Past Lives from A24, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Korean-Canadian playwright Celine Song (“Endlings”) makes her directorial debut with this beautiful and delicate romance about the depth of love and connection, as two childhood best friends reunite years after an untimely separation. Writer/Director Celine Song will be in attendance for a Q&A. (d: Celine Song c: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro, USA/Korea 2023, 106 min)

Closing Night will feature I Like Movies directed by Chandler Levack, which follows a 17-year-old Canadian teen and film aficionado with his sights set on NYU. After picking up a gig at a local video store he learns what it takes to grow up and that maybe not everybody wants to hear him bloviate about Paul Thomas Anderson movies all day. Director Chandler Levack will be in attendance for a Q&A. (d: Chandler Levack c: Isaiah Lehtinen, Romina D’Ugo, Krista Bridges, Percy Hynes White, Canada 2022, 99 min)

Additional highlights showing throughout the Festival include 2022 Cannes Grand Jury Prize winner The Eight Mountains from Felix Van Groeningen; an archival 35mm screening of Seven Samurai dedicated to the memory of longtime SIFF Programmer Ruth Hayler; the World Premiere of Year of the Fox from filmmaker Megan Griffiths; a special presentation of The Craft presented by SIFF & CFC with DJ NicFit; and other films streaming both in person and on the SIFF Channel.

“The Seattle International Film Festival has always been a space for discovery: there’s nothing quite like the revelation that can happen inside a movie theater when the lights go down,” said SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “This year, SIFF is celebrating just that—with films, filmmakers and communities from all over the world gathering around the joy of discovering new worlds through cinema.”

Films will be screened at venues across the Seattle area, including SIFF Cinema Uptown, SIFF Cinema Egyptian, SIFF Film Center, AMC Pacific Place 11, The Paramount Theatre, Ark Lodge Cinemas, and Shoreline Community College Theater. The Festival will be followed by a week of select films streaming on the SIFF Channel from May 22-28.

Feature Film Premieres

World Premieres

ABLED
Alan @ Work
ANU
Punderneath It All
The Mattachine Family
Year of the Fox

North American Premieres

20,000 Species of Bees
A House in Jerusalem
A Room of My Own
All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White
Almamula
Coo-Coo 043
Copenhagen Does Not Exist
Douglas Sirk – Hope as in Despair
Even Hell has its Heroes
Feast
Four Little Adults
Hanging Gardens
Hole in the Head
Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert
Irati
Let the Dance Begin
Let The River Flow
Motherland
One Day All This Will Be Yours
Opponent
Superposition
The Last Exit
The Quiet Migration
Whale Nation

U.S. Premieres

Adolfo
Free Money
Gloriavale
Harvest Moon
Matria
Pretty Red Dress
The Echo
The Hummingbird
Yuku and the Himalayan Flower

Competitions

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

20,000 Species of Bees
Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert
Let The River Flow
Opponent
Plan 75
Pretty Red Dress
The Quiet Migration
To Kill a Tiger

NEW AMERICAN CINEMA COMPETITION

Egghead & Twinkie
Fremont
Late Bloomers
The Mattachine Family
Mutt
This Closeness

NEW DIRECTORS COMPETITION

All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White
Copenhagen Does Not Exist
Hanging Gardens
Harka
Next Sohee
A Room of My Own
When It Melts

IBERO-AMERICAN COMPETITION

Adolfo
Almamula
The Echo
The Fishbowl
Let the Dance Begin
Matria
Mom
Sister & Sister

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Against the Tide
And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine
Gloriavale
The Grab
King Coal
Milisuthando
Motherland
The Tuba Thieves

Programs

African Pictures

All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White
The Blue Caftan
Free Money
Harka
MAMI WATA – A West Afrikan Folklore
Milisuthando

Alternate Cinema

ALT Shorts: Transitions (short film program)
Fragments of Paradise
Hole in the Head
The Tuba Thieves
Wild, Terrifying, and For One Night Only

Archival Films

The Incredible Shrinking Man
Midnight Cowboy
Seven Samurai
SIFF & CFC Present The Craft with DJ NicFit

Asian Crossroads

Against the Tide
Ajoomma
Coo-Coo 043
DEMIGOD: The Legend Begins
Feast
Gaga
A Guilty Conscience
Harvest Moon
The Hill of Secrets
Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Next Sohee
Plan 75
Seven Samurai
The Sunny Side of the Street
Table For Six
To Kill a Tiger

cINeDIGENOUS

Against the Tide
Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun
Bad Press
CONNECTED by WATER (short film program)
Gaga
Let The River Flow
Milisuthando
Mom
We Are Still Here

Culinary Cinema

Bottle Conditioned
Coldwater Kitchen
Food and Country
Stella

Face the Music

Dreamin’ Wild
Even Hell has its Heroes
It’s Only Life After All
Love to Love You, Donna Summer
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
Pianoforte
SIFF & CFC Present The Craft with DJ NicFit

Ibero-American Cinema

20,000 Species of Bees
Adolfo
Almamula
The Beasts
Chile ‘76
The Echo
The Fishbowl
Irati
Let the Dance Begin
Matria
Mom
Sister & Sister

New American Cinema

ANU
Dreamin’ Wild
Egghead & Twinkie
Fremont
Jamojaya
Late Bloomers
The Mattachine Family
Monica
Mutt
Past Lives
Theater Camp
This Closeness
Year of the Fox

Northwest Connections

Alan @ Work
ANU
Circus of the Scars – The Insider Odyssey of the Jim Rose Circus
Sideshow
Dreamin’ Wild
Even Hell has its Heroes
Punderneath It All
Sound Visions (short film program)
Year of the Fox

Wild, Terrifying, Fantastic

Circus of the Scars – The Insider Odyssey of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow
DEMIGOD: The Legend Begins
Irati
The Last Exit
LOLA
Mother Superior
My Animal
Revelations in Darkness (short film program)
The Visitor From the Future
Wild, Terrifying, and For One Night Only
WTF – All Turnt On (short film program)