The 50th Seattle International Film Festival will showcase a lineup of 261 films representing 84 countries/regions, including 92 features, 47 documentaries, five archival features, two special tributes, two secret screenings, and 115 short films. The festival takes place held May 9–19, 2024 at venues across Seattle and followed by a week of select virtual screenings on the SIFF Channel May 20–27.
The Festival will open with Josh Margolin’s action comedy Thelma starring June Squibb who will be honored with the 2024 Golden Space Needle Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema for the unforgettable work she’s presented throughout the span of her career.
Closing the Festival is Sing Sing directed by by Greg Kwedar, who will be in attendance and participate in a Q&A after the screening along with members of the film’s ensemble cast, who will receive a Golden Space Needle Award for excellence in Ensemble Acting.
Additional highlights showing throughout the Festival include Focus Features’ Sundance award-winner Dìdi (弟弟), a directorial debut from Oscar® nominee Sean Wang (SIFF 2023 Grand Jury winner for Live Action short); Neon’s Babes written by and starring Ilana Glazer and directed by debut helmer Pamela Adlon; IFC’s stirring and emotional Ghostlight which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; Harmony Korine’s latest boundary-pushing work AGGRO DR1FT; a new 4K restoration of Wim Wenders’ iconic Wings of Desire, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of German Films; and an exciting new slate of cINeDIGENOUS films, including the world premiere of Molokaʻi Bound, directed by Alika Tengan (Kanaka Maoli).
At the festival, Seattle native and Emmy®, Golden Globe®, SAG Award®, and Critics Choice Award-winning actress Jean Smart will be awarded The Hollywood Reporter’s Trailblazer Award for her contributions to storytelling on film, television, and the stage. The event will feature a screening of an episode from the new season of the Max Original comedy series Hacks, followed by the Trailblazer trophy presentation and a conversation between Smart and THR Contributing Editor Stacey Wilson Hunt.
The 50th Seattle International Film Festival will be screened at venues across the Seattle area, including SIFF’s newly opened SIFF Cinema Downtown, SIFF Cinema Uptown, SIFF Cinema Egyptian, SIFF Film Center, AMC Pacific Place 11, The Paramount Theatre, Majestic Bay Theatres, and Shoreline Community College Theater.
Galas
Opening Night Gala
Thelma
Writer and director Josh Margolin makes his feature directorial debut with this action comedy exploring aging, family, and autonomy as 93-year-old Thelma Post sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her after being duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson. Director/Writer/Editor Josh Margolin, Actress June Squibb, Actor Fred Hechinger, and Producers Zoë Worth and Chris Kaye will be in attendance for a Q&A. (d: Josh Margolin, c: June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Richard Roundtree, USA 2024, 97 min)
Closing Night Gala
SING SING
Oscar® nominees Colman Domingo (RUSTIN) and Paul Raci (SOUND OF METAL) lead this powerful ensemble, many of whom play themselves, in this inspirational true story about a troupe of incarcerated people who find healing through the redemptive power of theatre. Director/Writer/Producer Greg Kwedar and ensemble cast including Clarence Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield, Sean San José, Sean ‘Dino’ Johnson, Jon Adrian ‘JJ’ Velazquez will be in attendance for a Q&A.
(d: Greg Kwedar c: Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin, Paul Raci, Sean San José, Jon Adrian Velazquez, Sean Johnson, USA 2024, 107 min)
Tributes
A Conversation with June Squibb
Seattle International Film Festival Tribute Recipient of 2024 Golden Space Needle Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema – moderated by Variety’s Jenelle Riley
A Conversation with Jean Smart and The Hollywood Reporter Contributing Editor Stacey Wilson Hunt Hacks Screening & The Hollywood Reporter Trailblazer Award Presentation
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
All Shall Be Well
Critical Zone
Dìdi (弟弟)
Evil Does Not Exist
Gloria!
Love Machina
Sugarcane
NEW AMERICAN CINEMA COMPETITION
The Black Sea
Bob Trevino Likes It
Moloka’i Bound
Mountains
RATS!
We Strangers
NEW DIRECTORS COMPETITION
Àma Gloria
The Burdened
City of Wind
Excursion
A Journey in Spring
Solitude
Young Hearts
IBERO-AMERICAN COMPETITION
Holy Mother
Igualada
The Major Tones
Memories of a Burning Body
The Quiet Maid
Saturn Return
Sujo
Through Rocks and Clouds
Valentina or the Serenity
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Fragments of a Life Loved
Grasshopper Republic
Hollywoodgate
A New Kind of Wilderness
Porcelain War
The Ride Ahead
So This Is Christmas So Unreal
Programs
African Pictures
Banel & Adama
The Battle for Laikipia
Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story
Grasshopper Republic
The Mother of All Lies
Rising Up at Night
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Voy! Voy! Voy!
Archival Films
Hitchcock’s Pro-Nazi Film
July Rhapsody
The Lavender Hill Mob
SIFF & CFC Event – The NeverEnding Story
Wings of Desire
Alternate Cinema
Aggro Dr1ft
ALT Shorts: See and Be Seen (short film program)
The Box Man
Asian Crossroads
Agent of Happiness
Agra
All Shall Be Well
Black Box Diaries
The Box Man
City of Wind
Dragon Superman
Evil Does Not Exist
Girls Will Be Girls
In Flames
In Our Day
Iron Mask
A Journey in Spring
July Rhapsody
Killing Romance
The Missing
Pigsy
Tenement
Tiger Stripes
cINeDIGENOUS
The Battle for Laikipia
Bring Them Home
Fish War
Moloka’i Bound
Moving Poetry: Indigenous Stories (short film program)
The New Boy
Red, White & Brass
Standing Above the Clouds
Sugarcane
Through Rocks and Clouds
The Tundra Within Me
Valentina or the Serenity
Face the Music
Gloria!
Grandpa Guru
Luther: Never Too Much
Música!
Resynator
Saturn Return
SIFF & CFC Event – The NeverEnding Story
Ibero-American Cinema
Close Your Eyes
The Extortion
Holy Mother
Igualada
The Major Tones
Memories of a Burning Body
My Sextortion Diary
The Quiet Maid
Rioja: The Land of a Thousand Wines
Saturn Return
Sujo
Through Rocks and Clouds
Un Amor
Valentina or the Serenity
New American Cinema
Aggro Dr1ft
Babes
The Black Sea
Bob Trevino Likes It
Dìdi (弟弟)
Empire Waist
Ghostlight
Good One
I Saw the TV Glow
Janet Planet
Moloka’i Bound
Mountains
The Primevals
RATS!
Sing Sing
Stress Positions
Thelma
Tim Travers and the Time Traveler’s Paradox
The Uncertain Detective
We Strangers
Northwest Connections
All We Carry
Fish War
Grandpa Guru
Rainier: A Beer Odyssey
Sono Lino
Sound Visions (short film program)
Tim Travers and the Time Traveler’s Paradox
Ultimate Citizens
The Uncertain Detective
Wild, Terrifying, Fantastic
Aggro Dr1ft
Dragon Superman
Eat Your Heart Out (WTF) (short film program)
In A Violent Nature
I Saw the TV Glow
Killing Romance
Oddity
Once Upon a Nightmare… (short film program)
The Primevals
RATS!
Red Rooms
Scala!!!
So Unreal
Tenement
D a.
Films4Families
The Family Picture Show (short film program)
Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds
Tony, Shelly and The Magic Light
WHY DINOSAURS?
FutureWave
Bob Trevino Likes It
Dìdi (弟弟)
Empire Waist
FUTUREWAVE: Teenaged Terror (short film program)
Pigsy
We Can Be Heroes
Where Is Anne Frank
WHY DINOSAURS?
Young Hearts
4th World Media Lab
4th World Media Lab 2024 Fellows
Victoria Cheyenne – Aymara, El Alto Bolivia / Tsétsêhéstâhese, Northern Cheyenne | Montana Keisha Erwin – Woodland Cree, Lac La Ronge Indian Band | Saskatchewan
Cass Gardiner – Anishinaabe Algonquin, Kebaowek First Nation | New Jersey
Nicolle L. Gonzales (Arthun) – Diné, Navajo Nation | New Mexico
Bruce Thomas Miller – Anishinaabe, Matachewan First Nation | Alberta
Sisa Quispe – Quechua Aymara | New York
Venues
SEATTLE
SIFF Cinema Uptown, SIFF Cinema Egyptian, SIFF Cinema Downtown, SIFF Film Center, AMC Pacific Place 11, The Paramount Theatre, Majestic Bay Theatres
SHORELINE
Shoreline Community College Theater