NAME OF FESTIVAL: Seattle International Film Festival
SINCE: 1976
WHERE: Seattle, Washington
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
SIFF hosts the annual Seattle International Film Festival— traditionally attracting nearly 150,000 attendees to celebrate films from more than 80 countries and regions around the world. Many of the features, short films, and documentaries we screen will not have a return to US cinemas, making it an amazing event to discover new and underrepresented voices and stories.
Seattle International Film Festival
Twaaga, directed by Cedric Ido
The Seattle International Film Festival, the largest and most highly attended festival in the United States, announced today this year’s ShortsFest Jury Award winners. ShortsFest Weekend, SIFF’s celebration of the short film, takes place every year over Memorial Day Weekend at SIFF Cinema Uptown. This year’s Festival (May 15 – June 8) features 168 short films, including 24 World, 8 North American, and 6 US premieres.
The One I Love
Seattle International Film Festival unveiled the complete lineup of films and events for the 40th annual Festival taking place May 15 to June 8, 2014. This year, SIFF will screen 440 films: 198 features (plus 4 secret films), 60 documentaries, 14 archival films, and 168 shorts, representing 83 countries. The Festival will open with the previously announced screening of JIMI: All Is By My Side, the Hendrix biopic starring Outkast’s André Benjamin from John Ridley, Oscar®-winning screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave, and close with Charlie McDowell’s twisted romantic comedy The One I Love, produced by Seattle’s Mel Eslyn and starring Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass.
The Seattle International Film Festival announced that the Opening Night Film for its 40th annual Festival will be Jimi: All Is By My Side. Musician, actor, and style icon André Benjamin stars as Seattle rock legend Jimi Hendrix in this film from Academy Award®-winning screenwriter John Ridley (12 Years a Slave). Ridley is scheduled to attend the Opening Night festivities on Thursday, May 15.
Four Corners
The Seattle International Film Festival taking place May 15 to June 8, 2014, revealed the selection of films from and about Africa as part of its African Pictures program. Supported by a generous multi-year grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, African Pictures brings the best in cinema to audiences in Seattle and the broader Northwest. This year’s lineup includes the world premiere of Leading Lady, the latest comedic romp from the director of SIFF 2013 audience favorite Fanie Fourie’s Lobola. In addition, Four Corners makes its North American premiere and brings a stark and gritty narrative of strategy and the streets to SIFF audiences.
The 39th Seattle International Film Festival announced the winners of the SIFF 2013 Competition and Golden Space Needle Audience Awards – OUR NIXON, directed by Penny Lane won the GRAND JURY PRIZE for Best Documentary and C.O.G., directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez won the GRAND JURY PRIZE for Best New American Cinema. OUR NIXON is described as an “all-archival documentary, constructed from Super8 footage shot by three White House aides (Watergate conspirators Ehrlichman, Haldeman, and Chapin), creates an intimate and complex portrait of the Nixon presidency, as it has never been seen before.” C.O.G. is described as the “first film adaptation of David Sedaris’ work .. a funny and poignant portrait of a lost soul and the amusing characters he meets as he pursues his Steinbeckian dream—to spend his summer working on an apple farm in Oregon.”
“MY RIGHT EYE” (The Apple of My Eye), written and directed by Josecho de Linares (Spain) was the big winner – winning the GRAND JURY PRIZE – when the 39th Seattle International Film Festival announced this year’s ShortsFest Jury Award winners. The film is described as the story of “Zurdo who has a a special relationship with his grandmother. Since he went away to study they have lost contact. On the last day of summer Zurdo decides to visit her with the intuition that he might not see her again.”
The 2013 Seattle International Film Festival will kick off on Thursday, May 16, 2013 with the Seattle premiere of Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. The film stars Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, Reed Diamond, Fran Kranz, and Nathan Fillion.
Mary Bacarella, a long-time Space Needle executive, has been named Seattle International Film Festival Managing Director effective February 1, 2013. Ms. Bacarella will lead the organization in tandem with Artistic Director Carl Spence and succeed Deborah Person, who has served as SIFF’s managing director since 2005. “Mary is the perfect choice to build on SIFF’s significant accomplishments and lead the organization going forward,” said Michelle Quisenberry, SIFF board president. “Mary has been involved with SIFF for 15 years […]
The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) announced Your Sister’s Sister as the opening film to be presented at the 2012 festival’s prestigious Opening Night Gala, Thursday, May 17, 2012. Your Sister’s Sister, written and directed by Seattle’s Lynn Shelton (Humpday) and starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mark Duplass, is SIFF’s first opening selection locally produced and shot by a Seattle filmmaker. SIFF takes place May 17 through June 10. “I am thrilled beyond measure […]
The 37th Seattle International Film Festival, wrapped on June 12th after a 25-day run with the announcement of the SIFF 2011 Competition Awards and Golden Space Needle Audience Awards. The Indian film ‘Gandu’ directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee took the Grand Jury Prize for Best New Dierctor. ‘Gandu’ is described as film about A poor young man in Kolkata befriends a Bruce Lee-obsessed rickshaw driver and begins a strange descent into a world of drugs […]
The 37th Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) will cancel the rare Al Pacino appearance, Pacino: One Night Only, the website seattle.broadwayworld.com reports. The cancellation is due to this week’s announcement that Pacino has been nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Actor for his critically acclaimed performance on Broadway in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Due to the conflict with the Tony Award Ceremony STG and Al Pacino announce a cancellation of his appearance at […]
The 37th Seattle International Film Festival 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 […]