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Seattle International Film Festival
Cinema Sprawl
More titles. More venues. Just plain more. Seattle's annual movie overload is about to begin. An introduction.
SIFF Ticket Info
Thursday, May 25, through Sunday, June 18.
In the SIFF Spotlight
17 must-see titles, surveyed by our critics.
SW Picks for SIFF
Our 36 sight-blind choices for the festival, not otherwise covered in this guide. In addition to a few repertory titles, inclusion here means (a) the film has great buzz, (b) a trusted colleague has seen it, or (c) it has incredible locations or someone incredibly sexy in it.
Lucky Bounce
How a neophyte Seattle director stumbled into making a surefire, lump-in-your-throat sports documentary. But would you give up seven years of your life for a deal with Miramax?
Local Heroes
We meet some of the local figures and explore area connections at SIFF.
Old Master, Fresh Ears
Radio, theater, movies—there's not much difference to America's great cinematic champion of the human voice.
Britons Behind Bars
Whether innocent or guilty, this arresting post-9/11 docudrama shows, one size of orange-jumpsuit justice fits all.
Mr. Franken Goes to Washington?
A Q&A with the comic turned author turned documentary subject ... and now, possible senator?
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Black Orpheus Neptune: 7:15 p.m. Tues., June 6. Marcel Camus' 1959 Brazilian carnival classic will make you want to rumba all night long.
Brothers of the Head Pacific Place: 9:15 p.m. Fri., June 9; 11 a.m. Sat., June 10. Glam-rock conjoined twins become pop stars. Or star, depending on perspective.
Case of the Grinning Cat Northwest Film Forum: 7 p.m. Sat., May 27; 9:30 p.m. Wed., May 31. Cranky French intellectual surveys post-9/11 France, where people really don't hate us that much. Really.
Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon Egyptian: 7 p.m. Tues., May 30. Broadway Performance Hall: 4:30 p.m. Thurs., June 1. Logging culture meets liberal schooling in this Northwest documentary.
Crossing the Bridge—The Sound of Istanbul Harvard Exit: 5 p.m. Sat., May 27; 6 p.m. Tues., May 30. From the director of the excellent Head-On, a wide-ranging examination of the Turkish music scene.
Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out Broadway Performance Hall: 7 p.m. Wed., May 31. Neptune: 4:30 p.m. Fri., June 2. Doo doo doo. Dah dah dah. Drummer-director Stewart Copeland dishes some dirt, we hope, on Sting. Copeland will attend SIFF.
Expiration Date Egyptian: 6:30 p.m. Sat., May 27; 4 p.m. Fri., June 16. Local director Rick Stevenson toys with destiny and lethal milk trucks in this Seattle-shot comedy.
Factotum Egyptian: 6:30 p.m. Sat., June 3. Lincoln Square: 7 p.m. Wed., June 7. Matt Dillon's already gotten raves for this adaptation of some Charles Bukowski stories.
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T Egyptian: 11 a.m. Sat., May 27; 9:30 p.m. Wed., May 31. Weird, weird, weird. The 1953 kid flick inspired many boomer nightmares, courtesy of Dr. Seuss.
The Flowers of St. Francis Harvard Exit: 6:30 p.m. Thurs., June 1. Roberto Rossellini is saluted by this 1953 work, and Rome, Open City (below). Both are paired with daughter Isabella's short, My Dad Is 100 Years Old.
49 Up Neptune: 1:15 p.m. Sun., June 4. Egyptian: 6:30 p.m. Wed., June 7. Michael Apted continues the greatest long-form documentary ever made, now in its fourth decade. U.S. premiere.
George Michael—A Different Story Pacific Place: 9:30 p.m. Sat., June 3; 2 p.m. Fri., June 9. Next thing you know, people will be saying Tom Cruise is gay. Ridiculous.
The Giant Buddhas Neptune: 1:30 p.m. Sat., May 27. Lincoln Square: 4:30 p.m. Fri., June 2. The Taliban wages war against craven imagery in this eye-opening documentary.
Gitmo: The New Rules of War Broadway Performance Hall: 11 a.m. Sat., May 27. Neptune: 9:15 p.m. Mon., May 29. If our friendly Cuban torture camp isn't bad enough in this doc, also see The Road to Guantánamo, p. 27.
The Gold Rush Neptune: 7 p.m. Wed., June 7. Egyptian: 11 a.m. Sat., June 10. Chaplin's (later-composed) score accompanies his 1925 classic. Yes, he eats his shoe.
Heading South Pacific Place: 9:30 p.m. Sat., May 27. Egyptian: 11 a.m. Mon., May 29. Charlotte Rampling on a Haitian sex tour in the late '70s? Sign us up!
House of Sand Pacific Place: 7 p.m. Fri., June 16; 1:15 p.m. Sat., June 17. Kind of like Three Women of the Dunes, a Brazilian family struggles to survive in the desert.
Initial D Lincoln Square: 4 p.m. Thurs., June 8. Neptune: 7:15 p.m. Sun., June 11. Crime, cars, and girls in Hong Kong, from those guys behind Infernal Affairs.
Jonestown: The Life and the Death of Peoples Temple Broadway Performance Hall: 2 p.m. Thurs., June 15. Egyptian: 7 p.m. Sun., June 18. Why'd they drink the Kool-Aid? A new documentary takes a surprisingly sympathetic look at the Christian jungle cult.
The King Egyptian: 4 p.m. Mon., May 29. Neptune: 9:30 p.m. Wed., May 31. Also in the festival-closing The Science of Sleep, Gael García Bernal is here pitted against preacher man William Hurt.
King Leopold's Ghost Broadway Performance Hall: 6:15 p.m. Sun., May 28; 4:15 p.m. Wed., May 31. Another depressing documentary, this time about why the Congo got the way it is today.
Lassie Pacific Place: 11 a.m. Sun., June 4. Lincoln Square: 11 a.m. Sat., June 10. Only the second-greatest dog franchise ever! (After Rin Tin Tin.) Plus Peter O'Toole and Peter Dinklage in two-legged support.
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Neptune: 7 p.m. Fri., June 9; 1:30 p.m. Sat., June 10. Musical genius. Zen master. And he dated Rebecca de Mornay. In other words: Tell us more.
A Lion in the House Broadway Performance Hall: 1:15 p.m. Sun., May 28. A four-hour documentary about kids battling cancer in Cincinnati. Because it's good to be depressed. Really depressed.
loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies Neptune: 9:30 p.m. Sat., June 10. Broadway Performance Hall: 11 a.m. Sun., June 11. The '80s are back, but in such a good way.
Man Push Cart Harvard Exit: 1:30 p.m. Sun., June 11; 9 p.m. Wed., June 14. Neorealism in contemporary New York, as an immigrant Pakistani street vendor struggles to survive.
Maxed Out Broadway Performance Hall: 6:45 p.m. Thurs., June 8; 4:45 p.m. Fri., June 9. Why we're addicted to credit-card debt. Seattle-born director James Scurlock, who'll visit the fest, is also writing a book on the subject.
The Proposition Neptune: 9:30 p.m. Fri., May 26; 1:30 p.m. Sun., May 28. Guy Pearce goes lookin' to kill his brother in this Aussie Western written by Nick Cave.
Rome, Open City Harvard Exit: 9 p.m. Thurs., June 1. From 1945, the second classic Rossellini repertory title at SIFF, a landmark of Italian neorealism.
