Seattle International Film Festival

Overview

The longest and largest film festival in the United States, and one of the top five festivals in North America, The Seattle International Film Festival opened Thursday, May 18 with the North American Premiere of Director Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost starring Alessandro Nivola and Alicia Silverstone, who were in attendance.

The film played to a packed house of over 2500 at the landmark Seattle Paramount Theater. The Festival, which has a long tradition of attracting film-savvy audiences, proved it's reputation as a prime American launching pad for independent film as it began its 26 day run. Expected to attract 150,000 audience members, the Festival will showcase 214 features and documentaries, and nearly 80 short films from 50 countries around the world.

The Festival, started in 1975 (there was no 13th edition) by Co-Directors Darryl McDonald and Dan Ireland (Director, The Whole Wide World, The Velocity of Gary) as a showcase platform for European films, has returned to its roots this year with a striking lineup of world cinema. "It is a hotbed of filmmaking this year, from countries with strong cinematic traditions," explained Festival Associate Director, Carl Spence. "Spain, France and especially Japan, whose new wave of filmmakers have created a cinema outside of what you'd expect. Japanese filmmakers have emerged from the ghost story and pink film (soft-core porn) training ground with remarkable work."

An impressive line up of US and World Premier status films is included in the Festival's schedule. The 26 US Premiers, including Love's Labour's Lost are: Asfalto (Spain), Director Daniel Calparsoro; Audition (Japan), Director Takashi Miike; Bride of Fire (Iran), Director Khosrow Sinai; Close to Love (Hungary), Director Andreas Salamon; Full Blast (Canada), Director Rodrigue Jean; Harem Suare (Turkey), Director Ferzan Ozpetek; Honour of the House (Iceland), Director Gudny Hallsdorsdottir; Janice Beard: 45 WPM (Great Britain), Director Clare Kilner; The Lady of Ilamre (Denmark), Director Katrina Wiedemann, Vinca Wiedemann; Looking for Alibrandi (Australia), Director Kate Woods; Monday (Japan), Director Sabu; Nobody Knows Anybody (Spain), Director Mateo Gil; Nora (Ireland), Director Pat Murphy; Peppermint (Greece), Director Costas Kapakas; The Ring 2 (Japan), Director Hideo Nakata; Rupert's Land (Canada), Director Jonathan Tammuz; Shikoku (Japan), Director Shunichi Nagasaki; Spellbound (Japan), Director Masato Harada; Tsatsiki, Mum and the Policeman (Sweden), Director Ella Lemhagen; Vulcan Junction (Israel), Director Eran Riklis; Water Drops on Burning Rocks (France), Director Francois Ozon; When the Rain Lifts (Japan), Director Takashi Koizumi; Wojaczek (Poland), Director Lech Majewski; Yara (Germany), Director Yilmaz Arslan.

The eleven World Premiers are all from the United States: The Atrocity Exhibition, Director Jonathan Weiss; Four Dogs Playing Poker, Director Paul Rachman; I'm the One that I Want, Director Margaret Cho; Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel, Director Julia Jay Pierrepont III; Preston Tylk, Director Jon Bokenkamp; Rebels with a Cause, Director Helen Garvey; Rumor of Angels, Director Peter O'Fallon; Silence!, Director Greg Lachow; Skipped Parts, Director Tamra Davis; Trade Off, Director Shaya Mercer; Very Mean Men, Director Tony Vitale.

"We noticed, during our year-long search for festival films," commented Spence, "that this year was truly the year of the international film. There really isn't one theme; these films are so diverse. It's overly apparent now that as much as things are different in the world, we really are all the same...and so too is the human condition as represented on screen."

The Festival revels in the enjoyment of film and has created numerous sidebars designed to capture the spirit of the cinematic shared experience. The standard sidebars this year have been augmented by a number of new programs: Passport to the World: a festival within the Festival screening films from 19 of the 20 Seattle sister cities; the Cinerama Showcase Day: the only operational Cinerama theater in the United States (fully restored and refurbished by Billionaire investor Paul Allen) will screen the three surviving Cinerama films shot using the three-camera Cinerama process, and the Drive-In Party at one of the few remaining drive-in theaters on the west coast featuring schloky B-movies, The Convent and Psycho Beach Party (bikinis and habits are optional; cars are required).

"The Passport to the World series, I believe, has the hottest films of the festival," admitted Spence. "The films are of unusually high caliber and it was a struggle to program, considering the riches we had to choose from."

Other sidebars include: Curiously Strong Midnighters; Films 4 Families; Archival Treasures (including the Russian silent masterpieces Eye of Glass, 1929 and The Young Lady and the Hooligan, 1918 accompanied by an original composition from pianist Yakov Gubanov; Blood Simple, 1984; Eve, 1962; Divorce, Italian Style, 1962; Raging Bull, 1980; Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, 1960, and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, 1972 ), and the Emerging Masters Series, celebrating works by re-known filmmakers still unknown to American audiences. This year the Emerging Masters are: Santosh Sivan (India); Erick Zonca (France); Zhang Yang (China), and Iciar Bollain (Spain).

Juried showcases include the new American Cinema Award; the New Directors Award (for Directors from outside the United States), and the Shorts Awards. Special Presentations and Tributes will honor Director Peter Weir the third weekend of the Festival; the Filmmakers Forum will present a series of master classes/seminars/panels on the art and craft of filmmaking the final week of the Festival, and the perennial Secret Fest (where audience members sign a legally binding oath to never reveal the films they see, many of which are in litigation, works-in-progress, or rough cut) screens every Sunday of the Festival.

The most unique (and now most often copied) program of the Festival is the Fly Filmmaking Program held the final week of the Festival. Three directors are brought into Seattle to conceive, cast, shoot, edit and present a film in six days. The directors are given Seattle producers and production teams as well as casting and vendor assisting before being set loose on the Seattle landscape to create their films. Past directors have included Tim Blake Nelson (co-star, O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Julia Sweeney (It's Pat), Adrienne Shelley (I'll Take You There) and Eric Schaeffer (Fall) among others. The 2000 Fly Directors are Clay Eide (Dead Dogs, winner New American Cinema Award 1999), Jim Taylor (Co-writer Election) and Mary Kuryla (Freak Weather).

The Golden Space Needle Award, voted on by over 40,000 audience members, is the most highly coveted award at an American festival other than Sundance. The Award is given for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Documentary and Best Short Film. Winners in 1999 included Run Lola Run (Best Film), John Sayles (Best Director) and Buena Vista Social Club (Best Documentary). In addition to the award, films that play at the Festival are automatically considered for the IFP American Independent Spirit Award; the Festival is one of only six American festivals to hold that distinction.

Mid-fest report

The massive 26th Seattle International Film Festival marathon, lasting 25 days and screening over 250 films, has reached its mid-point with a packed guest schedule, a tribute to Australian great, Director Peter Weir, and the launch of its famous Fly Filmmaking challenge where three directors have six days to cast, shoot, edit and present three short films.

The mid-fest gala tribute to Weir included an on-stage one-on-one Saturday with Festival Director Darryl Mcdonald hosting, and a screening of Fearless, one of Weir's strongest and most overlooked films, according to Festival programmers. Earlier in the day, Weir gave a blow-by-blow accounting of Picnic at Hanging Rock as film critic and authority Peter Jameson and he studied several key scenes and the circumstances surrounding the shooting of each.

This weekend the Festival also hosted a huge list of directors, producers and various talent including Miguel Arteta (Chuck and Buck), Greg Harrison (Groove), Fenton Bailer and Randy Barbato (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Amy Goldstein (East of A), Nicholas Kendall (Mr. Rice's Secret), Anne Makepeace (Coming to Light) and Kakhaber Kikabidze (The Lake) among many others.

Most highly anticipated, however, was the arrival of the Fly Filmmakers who all landed Saturday, save Director Mary Kuryla (Freak Weather) who was sent to the hospital for emergency surgery and was forced to cancel directing her fly project. Instead, Seattle Director Meg Richman (Under Heaven) stepped in to shoot the project using Kuryla's script.

The other two Fly Directors, Clay Eide (Dead Dogs) and Jim Taylor (co-writer Election, Citizen Ruth) were both in good shape as their locations and actors fell in to place on Sunday. Eide, who is becoming widely known as the director of the "naked fly" due to the nudist theme of his short, is returning to Seattle for the second year having won the American Independent Award at SIFF last year. Taylor, who grew up in Seattle, is counting this his directorial debut.

Three panels, in addition to the Weir scene-by-scene, kicked off the series of panels, seminars and master classes for Day One of the Festival's Filmmakers Forum: Cinema in Transition.

Jim Taylor joined other screenwriting illuminates for In the Beginning There Was the Word. Taylor, Amy Goldstein, Greg Harrison, Randy Sue Coburn (Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle), Thomas Lee Wright (Trade Off, Eight Tray Gangster, New Jack City) and famed grand master, Stewart Stern (Rebel Without A Cause, Summer Wishes Winter Dreams, The Ugly American, Theresa, Rachel Rachel, Sybil) sat together to discuss secrets of the script to screen process (as well as an hysterically funny and startlingly real rebel Basque yell from Stern as he tried to explain his best/worst pitch at the studios).

Other panels of Day One at the Forum included two of local interest: Making Movies in Seattle: A Guide to the City's Formidable Resources and We'll Fix it in Post: The Art of Post Production. The Filmmakers Forum will continue on the final weekend with New Media Day highlighting shooting digitally, selling short films on or via the net, storytelling in the digital age and a look into the cutting edge technology that is revolutionizing the industry of film, on Friday. On Saturday, the Independents' Day will focus on the relationship between distributors and critics, an actors panel will host actors Anthony LaPaglia and Michelle Phillips, and the Fly Films will screen.

Festival attendance continues to be high as organizers predict an increase over last year's nearly 150,000 audience members. Even with a week to go, early bets by Festival staffers are placing When the Rain Lifts from Director Takashi Koizumi to be currently in first place among the voting for The Golden Space Needle Audience Award (voted on by over 40,000 festival attendees). The film, from the last script by film great Akira Kurosawa, received a three minute standing ovation at its first sellout performance. The elegant and humble Koizumi was overwhelmed by the response at this, his US premiere.

Wrap-up

The 26th edition wrapped Sunday, June 11 with upset surprises at the awards ceremony, the triumphant launch of the powerful and political Trade Off from Director Shaya Mercer, and the World Premiere of Peter O'Fallon's A Rumor of Angels starring Ray Liotta and Vanessa Redgrave.

The dramatic story of a young boy's journey to understand death, A Rumor of Angels was followed by the traditional closing night gala held at the city's most famous landmark, the Seattle Space Needle. The cold and windy rains pelting the landscape made this closing night far more subdued than last year's closing night fete following Austin Powers II, yet the Festival still closed with an increase in ticket sales, audience attendance and number of films shown.

Earlier Sunday, Festival guests and press joined with Festival Director Darryl Mcdonald for the awards brunch, also held at the Space Needle. Launching the dozen awards, Mcdonald announced the Festival had received 60,000 ballots for the audience-voted Golden Space Needle Award from nearly 150,000 audience members. Long held as the most prestigious Festival award in the country due to the unusually strong (and therefore coveted) audience opinions found in Seattle, the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film has in past years been awarded to major independent blockbusters prior to their release such as The Usual Suspects and Run Lola Run.

Winning the Best Film award this year was Zhang Yang's Shower from China. As Helen Loveridge from Fortissimo Films, the distribution company who originally handled Shower, accepted the award for Yang (who had already left the festival), she commented that the new film had now won the major award at every festival it had played. Distributed in America by Sony Classics, Shower is the story of a young man's unplanned return to his family's bath house where he finds a closer connection to his past then he anticipated.

While Shower surprised few by winning, Trade Off caught nearly everyone off guard, including its Director, Shaya Mercer, when it won the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Documentary. A former SIFF staffer, Mercer had left Seattle to make films in New York. When the WTO trade talks happened in Seattle last fall, Mercer returned along with Writer/Producer Thomas Lee Wright, to shoot a film chronicling the event as well the power, politics and policies surrounding the showdown.

An extraordinary film, with strikingly solid journalistic coverage as well as a deeply rooted and passionate examination of the global issues impacting our daily lives, Trade Off sold out its World Premiere screening at the 800 seat Cinerama to a standing room only crowd. A surprise win only in that the line up of documentaries at the Festival was remarkably strong with a number of previous award-winners among them, Trade Off's showing straight out of the gate bodes well for the release of the film.

"The policies of the World Trade Organization touch us all," explained Mercer as she sat down to discuss the film just moments after winning the award. "Emotionally, morally and as activists."

"This film addresses the issues on a human level," added Wright. "I think the audience was grateful it wasn't a radical agenda, but rather an examination of the basic, human conflicts involved."

While the Festival is renown for its programming of world cinema, it has struggled in years past to find a profile concerning American Indies. Competing with Sundance and LAIFF to present the World Premieres of newly discovered American works, the Festival this year instead filled its American Indie section with a majority of previously screened works allowing for only a handful of premieres. Additionally, in direct contrast to the warm welcome most Seattle critics offer foreign films, American Indies have also faced strident and unnervingly harsh criticism from those same critics, causing some filmmakers to think twice about premiering at SIFF.

Two strong premiering American Indies included Paul Rachman's Four Dogs Playing Poker and Jon Bokenkamp's Preston Tylk. Rachman screened to receptive and enthusiastic sell out crowds at both showings of his stylish film noir, despite lackluster reviews. "The Seattle audiences are the best," confirmed Rachman. "They got the film, they were with it from the opening scene and they stayed for a great Q&A. The critics mean nothing; the audience means everything."

The Festival also broke with tradition in its Fly Filmmaking Challenge by changing the format for each of the Fly Films. Originally, the three directors invited to come to Seattle and make a short film in six days at the Festival shot on 16mm film stock. This year, the three directors shot on Super 16mm, HDTV and Digital Video. The comparison opportunity was lost however when the projection system at the theater (in front of a sold out crowd of 800) went down and all the films had to screen through an analogue video projector.

The Filmmakers Forum Program at the Festival was again well received, with the largest number of attendees by far at the Digital Day event. Presenting four panels with topics ranging from transferring video to film, choosing format, selling shorts to online distributors, and breaking technology news, the panels reaffirmed the overwhelming interest of both filmmakers and film audience in the new entertainment media.

Winners of the 26th Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Awards are: Best Film, Shower (Zhang Yang, China); Best Director, Zhang Yang (Shower, China); Best Actor, Dan Futterman (Urbania, USA); Best Actress, Nathalie Baye (Venus Beauty Institute, and An Affair of Love, France); Best Documentary, Trade Off (Shaya Mercer, USA); Best Short Film, In God We Trust (Jason Reitman, USA).

Other award winners included The New American Cinema Award, The Magic Of Marciano (Director Tony Barbieri); The New American Cinema Award for Best Writer, Mike White (Chuck and Buck); The American Indie Editing Award, Very Mean Men (Director Gregory Hobson), and a Special Citation of Excellence for an Ensemble Cast Performance for The Weekend (USA). In addition, the New Director's Showcase Award, for debut or second feature films from emerging international directors, was awarded to Laurent Cantent for Human Resources (France).

Special awards went to The Periwig-Maker (Director Steffen Schaeffler, Germany) for the IFILM Short Film Award; to Liz Balken of Utah for Neuter Your Cat for the HBO Pacific Northwest Kids Flick Award, and all three Fly Filmmakers (Clay Eide, Peter's Day in the Sun; Jim Taylor, Living Will; Meg Richman, Girl Sketch) were awarded the AtomFilms Fly Filmmaking Award.