Seattle International Film Festival

For alternative meanings of SIFF, see SIFF (disambiguation).
Seattle International Film Festival

Film director Kathryn Bigelow with SIFF Artistic Director Carl Spence - Photo by Matt Daniels
Location Seattle, Washington, United States
Founded 1976
Language English
Website siff.net

The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees.[1] The SIFF runs for more than three weeks (24 days), in May/June, and features a diverse assortment of predominantly independent and foreign films, and a strong contingent of documentaries.

SIFF 2006 included more than 300 films and was the first SIFF to include a venue in neighboring Bellevue, Washington, after an ill-fated early attempt. However, in 2008, the festival was back to being entirely in Seattle, and had a slight decrease in the number of feature films. The 2010 festival featured over 400 films, shown primarily in downtown Seattle and its nearby neighborhoods, and in Renton, Kirkland, and Juanita Beach Park.[2]

History

The festival began in 1976 at a then-independent cinema, the Moore Egyptian Theater. The first five festivals were held at The Moore Egyptian, now back under its earlier name the Moore Theater and functioning as a concert venue. When founders Dan Ireland and Darryl Macdonald of the Moore Egyptian lost their lease, they founded the Egyptian theater in a former Masonic Temple on Seattle's Capitol Hill. The Egyptian theater remains a prime festival venue to this day, although the festival now typically uses about half a dozen cinemas (including, since 2007, its own SIFF Cinema at Seattle Center), with the exact roster varying from year to year.

During the 1980s, SIFF audiences developed a reputation for appreciating films that did not fit standard industry niches, such as Richard Rush's multi-layered The Stunt Man (1980). SIFF was instrumental in the entry of Dutch films into the United States market, including the first major American debut for director Paul Verhoeven.[3]

The nature of the festival

The festival includes a component that is unique among major film festivals: a four-film "Secret Festival". Those who attend the Secret Festival do not know in advance what they will see, and they must sign an oath that they will not reveal afterwards what they have seen.

In general, SIFF has a reputation as an "audience festival" rather than an "industry festival".[4] The festival often partially overlaps the Cannes Film Festival, which can reduce attendance by industry bigwigs; in 2007 there were two days of overlap, May 24 and 25.

The SIFF group also curates the Global Lens film series, the Screenwriters Salon, and Futurewave (K-12 programming and youth outreach), coordinates SIFF-A-Go-Go travel programs (organized tours to other film festivals), and co-curates the 1 Reel Film Feastival at Bumbershoot and the Sci-Fi Shorts Film Festival at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame.[1]

In 2006, Longhouse Media launched the SuperFly Filmmaking Experience, in partnership with the Seattle International Film Festival, which brings youth together from diverse backgrounds to work collaboratively on film projects that promote awareness of indigenous issues and mutual understanding of each other's cultures. Fifty youth from across the United States arrive in Seattle to then travel to a local Pacific Northwest reservation to create 4 films in 36 hours.

SIFF Cinema

November 28, 2006, SIFF and Seattle mayor Greg Nickels announced that SIFF would soon have a home and a year-round screening facility in what has been the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall of McCaw Hall, the same building at Seattle Center that houses the Seattle Opera. The city contributed $150,000 to the $350,000 project. This auditorium was a "flagship venue" for SIFF festivals[1] and the site of most press screenings.

Shortly after the 2011 festival, SIFF moved its operations to the SIFF Film Center on the Seattle Center campus. The Film Center includes a 90-seat multi-use theater, multi-media classroom, exhibition spaces, archives, and offices for SIFF and the Film School.[5] In October 2011, SIFF Cinema moved from McCaw Hall to its current location in the Uptown Theater. SIFF utilizes all three of the Uptown's three screens for year-round programming. SIFF currently has year round programming for four screens in Seattle.

In May 2014 it was announced that SIFF had purchased the Uptown Theater, and would be leasing and renovating the Egyptian Theater (abandoned roughly a year earlier by Landmark Theatres) from Seattle Central College.[6]

Awards

Since 1985, the Seattle International Film Festival has awarded the Golden Space Needle award each year to the festival's most popular movie. Ballots are cast by audience members at the end of each movie. Previous winners of the Golden Space Needle include Whale Rider for 2003, Trainspotting for 1996, Kiss of the Spider Woman for 1985 and Boyhood for 2015, the latter two being the only films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and win the Golden Space Needle.

Golden Space Needle (Best Film) and SIFF Awards for Best Short and Documentary

Year Best Film (Golden Space Needle) Best Short Best Documentary
1985 Kiss of the Spider Woman (dir. Héctor Babenco, Brazil) Frankenweenie (dir. Tim Burton, United States)  
1986 The Assault (dir. Fons Rademakers, Netherlands) The Big Snit (dir. Richard Condie, USA)
1987 My Life as a Dog (dir. Lasse Hallström, Sweden) Your Face (dir. Bill Plimpton, USA)
1988 Bagdad Café (dir. Percy Adlon, West Germany) Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (dir. Jonathon Sanger, USA)
1989 Apartment Zero (dir. Martin Donovan, USA) Tin Toy (dir. John Lasseter, USA)
1990 Pump Up the Volume (dir. Allan Moyle, USA) Knick Knack (dir. John Lasseter, USA)
1991 My Mother's Castle (dir. Yves Robert, France) The Potato Hunter (dir. Timothy Hittle, USA) Paris Is Burning (dir. Jennie Livingston, USA)
1992 Betty Blue (dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix, France) Anima Mundi (dir. Godfrey Reggio, USA) A Brief History of Time (dir. Errol Morris, USA)
1993 The Wedding Banquet (dir. Ang Lee, Taiwan/USA) The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore (dir. Laurie Lynd, Canada) Road Scholar (dir. Roger Weisberg, USA)
1994 Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (dir. Stephan Elliott, Australia) The Wrong Trousers (dir. Nick Park, UK) The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (dir. Ray Müller, Germany)
1995 The Kingdom (dir. Lars von Trier, Denmark) Surprise! (dir. Veit Helmer, Germany) Crumb (dir. Terry Zwigoff, USA)
1996 Trainspotting (dir. Danny Boyle, UK) That Night (dir. John Keister, USA) Hype! (dir. Doug Pray, USA)
1997 Comrades: Almost a Love Story (dir. Peter Chan, Hong Kong) Ballad of the Skeletons (dir. Gus Van Sant, USA) Licensed to Kill (dir. Arthur Dong, USA)
1998 God Said Ha! (dir. Julia Sweeney, USA) Sin Sostén (dir. Rene Castinello, Antonio Urrutia, Belgium) Frank Lloyd Wright (dir. Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, USA)
1999 Run Lola Run (dir. Tom Tykwer, Germany) 12 Stops of the Road to Nowhere (dir. Jay Lowi, USA) Buena Vista Social Club (dir. Wim Wenders, USA)
2000 Shower (Zhang Yang, China) In God We Trust (dir. Jason Reitman, USA) Trade Off (dir. Shaya Mercer, USA)
2001 Finder's Fee (dir. Jeff Probst, USA) Boychick (dir. Glen Gaylord, USA) The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (dir. George Butler, USA)
2002 Elling (dir. Petter Næss, Norway) The Host (dir. Nick Tomnay, Australia) Ruthie & Connie: Every Room in the House (dir. Deborah Dickson, USA)
2003 Whale Rider (dir. Niki Caro, New Zealand) Misdemeanor (dir. Jonathan Lemond, USA) The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (dir. Kim Bartley, Donnacha O'Briain, Ireland/Venezuela)
2004 Facing Windows (dir. Ferzan Özpetek, Italy) Consent (dir. Jason Reitman, USA) Born into Brothels (dir. Zana Briski, Ross Kauffmann, USA)
2005 Innocent Voices (dir. Luis Mandoki, Mexico) Raftman's Razor (dir. Keith Bearden, USA) Murderball (dir. Henry-Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro, USA)
2006 OSS 117: Nest of Spies (dir. Michel Hazanavicius, France) Full Disclosure (dir. Douglas Horn, USA) The Trials of Darryl Hunt (dir. Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg, USA)
2007[7] Outsourced (dir. John Jeffcoat, USA) Pierre (dir. Dan Brown, USA) For the Bible Tells Me So (dir. Daniel Karslake, USA)
2008 Cherry Blossoms (dir. Doris Dörrie, Germany) Felix (dir. Andreas Utta, Germany) The Wrecking Crew (dir. Denny Tedesco, USA)
2009 Black Dynamite (dir. Scott Sanders, USA) Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (dir. Nick Park, UK) The Cove (dir. Louie Psihoyos, USA)
2010 The Hedgehog (dir. Mona Achache, France) Ormie (dir. Rob Silvestri, Canada) Ginny Ruffner: A Not So Still Life (dir. Karen Stanton, USA), Waste Land (dir. Lucy Walker, United Kingdom)
2011 Pájaros de papel (dir. Emilio Aragón, Spain) The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (dir. William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, USA) To Be Heard (dir. Amy Sultan, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez and Deborah Shaffer, USA)
2012 Any Day Now (dir. Travis Fine, USA) CatCam (dir. Seth Keal, USA) The Invisible War (dir. Kirby Dick, USA)
2013 Fanie Fourie's Lobola (dir. Henk Pretorius, South Africa) Spooners (dir. Bryan Horch, USA) Twenty Feet from Stardom (dir. Morgan Neville, USA)
2014 Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater, USA) Fool's Day (dir. Cody Blue Snider, USA) Keep On Keepin' On (dir. Alan Hicks, USA)
2015 The Dark Horse (dir. James Napier Robertson, New Zealand) Even the Walls (dir. Sarah Kuck, Saman Maydani, USA) Romeo Is Bleeding (dir. Jason Zeldes, USA)
2016 Captain Fantastic (dir. Matt Ross, USA) Alive & Kicking: The Soccer Grannies of South Africa (dir. Lara-Ann de Wet, USA, South Africa) Gleason (dir. Clay Tweel, USA)

SIFF Awards for Best Director, Actress and Actor

Year Best Director Best Actress Best Actor
1985 Krzysztof Zanussi (Power of Evil, Poland) Renee Soutendijk (The Fourth Man, Belgium) William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Brazil)
1986 Fons Rademakers (The Assault, Netherlands) Cathy Tyson (Mona Lisa, UK) Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa, UK)
1987 Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog, Sweden) Monique van de Ven (Iris, Netherlands) Gary Oldman (Prick Up Your Ears, UK)
1988 Alan Rudolph (The Moderns, USA) Deborra-Lee Furness (Shame, Australia) Tom Hulce (Dominick and Eugene, USA)
1989 Martin Donovan (Apartment Zero, USA) Wendy Hughes (Boundaries of the Heart, Australia) Rutger Hauer (Legend of a Holy Drinker, Italy)
1990 Denys Arcand (Jesus of Montreal, Canada) Rebecca Jenkins (Bye Bye Blues, Canada) Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, USA)
1991 Peter Greenaway (Drowning by Numbers, UK) Lily Tomlin (Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, USA) Alan Rickman (Close My Eyes / Truly, Madly, Deeply, UK)
1992 Jean-Jacques Beineix (Betty Blue, France) Marianne Sägebrecht (Martha and I, Germany/France) Dermot Mulroney (Where the Day Takes You, USA)
1993 Ang Lee (The Wedding Banquet, Taiwan/USA) Tilda Swinton (Orlando, UK/Russia/Italy/France/Netherlands) Russell Crowe (Romper Stomper / Hammers Over the Anvil, Australia)
1994 Rolf de Heer (Bad Boy Bubby, Australia) Mimi Rogers (Reflection on a Crime, USA) Terence Stamp (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Australia)
1995 Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, USA) Nicole Kidman (To Die For, USA) Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, USA)
1996 Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, UK) Lili Taylor (Girls Town, USA) Vincent D'Onofrio (The Whole Wide World, USA)
1997 Peter Greenaway (The Pillow Book, UK) Robin Wright Penn (Loved, USA) Brendan Fraser (Still Breathing, USA)
1998 Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, USA) Christina Ricci (Buffalo 66 / The Opposite of Sex, USA) Stephen Fry (Wilde, UK)
1999 John Sayles (Limbo, USA) Piper Laurie (The Mao Game, USA) Rupert Everett (An Ideal Husband, UK)
2000 Zhang Yang (Shower, China) Nathalie Baye (Venus Beauty Institute, France) Dan Futterman (Urbania, USA)
2001 Tim Blake Nelson (O, USA) Thora Birch (Ghost World, USA) John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, USA)
2002 Julio Médem (Sex and Lucia, Spain) Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher, Austria/France) Moritz Bleibtreu (Das Experiment, Germany)
2003 Niki Caro (Whale Rider, New Zealand) Moon So-ri (Oasis, South Korea) Sol Kyung-gu (Oasis, South Korea)
2004 Marco Tullio Giordana (The Best of Youth, Italy) Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace (Colombia/USA) Luis Tosar (Take My Eyes, Spain)
2005 Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin, USA) Joan Allen (Yes, USA) Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin, USA)
2006 Goran Dukic (Wristcutters: A Love Story, USA) Fiona Gordon (The Iceberg, Belgium) Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, USA)
2007[7] Daniel Waters (Sex & Death 101, USA) Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, France) Daniel Brühl (Salvador, Spain)
2008 Amin Matalqa (Captain Abu Raed, Jordan) Jessica Chastain (Jolene, USA) Alan Rickman (Bottle Shock, USA)
2009 Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, USA) Yolande Moreau (Seraphine), France) Sam Rockwell (Moon, UK)
2010 Debra Granik (Winter's Bone, USA) Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, USA) Luis Tosar (Cell 211, Spain)
2011 Larysa Kondracki (The Whistleblower, Canada/Germany) Natasha Petrovic (As If I Am Not There, Ireland) Bill Skarsgård (Simple Simon, Sweden)
2012 Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild, USA) Jamie Chung (Eden, USA) Alan Cumming (Any Day Now, USA)
2013 Nabil Ayouch (Horses of God, Morocco) Samantha Morton (Decoding Annie Parker), USA) James Cromwell (Still Mine, Canada)
2014 Richard Linklater (Boyhood, USA) Patricia Arquette (Boyhood, USA) Dawid Ogrodnik (Life Feels Good, Poland)
2015 Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, USA) Nina Hoss (Phoenix, Germany) Cliff Curtis (The Dark Horse, New Zealand)
2016 Javier Ruiz Caldera (Anacleto: agente secreto, Spain) Vicky Hernández (Between Sea and Land, Colombia) Rolf Lassgård (A Man Called Ove, Sweden)

Jury awards

Year New Director Award New American Cinema Award Best Documentary
2007[7] Eric Richter Strand (Sons, Norway) Shotgun Stories (Jeff Nichols, USA) Harald Freidl, (Out of Time, Austria)
Year Short film awards -
Narrative short
Short film awards -
Animated short
Short film awards -
Documentary short
2007[7] Wigald, Timon Modersohn (Germany) Everything Will Be OK, Don Hertzfeldt (USA) Chocolate Country, Robin Blotnick (Dominican Republic / USA)

Premieres

Among the films that have received North American or world premieres at SIFF are:

Gala Event Films

Seattle

Year Opening Night Other Galas Closing Night
1991 The Miracle (dir. Neil Jordan, UK) Uranus (dir. Claude Berri, France)
1992 Le Bal des casse-pieds (dir. Yves Robert, France) Equinox (dir. Alan Rudolph, USA)
1993 Much Ado About Nothing (dir. Kenneth Branagh, USA) King of the Hill (dir. Steven Soderbergh, USA),
1994 Little Buddha (dir. Bernardo Bertolucci, UK) Barcelona (dir. Whit Stillman, USA)
1995 Braveheart (dir. Mel Gibson, USA) Cold Comfort Farm (dir. John Schlesinger, UK)
1996 The Whole Wide World (dir. Dan Ireland, USA) Emma (dir. Douglas McGrath, USA)
1997 Addicted to Love (dir. Griffin Dunne, USA) Addicted to Love Mrs. Brown (dir. John Madden, UK)
1998 Firelight (dir. William Nicholson, USA) Smoke Signals (dir. Chris Eyre, USA) This Is My Father (dir. Paul Quinn, USA)
1999 The Dinner Game (dir. Francis Veber, France) Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (dir. Jay Roach, USA)
2000 Love's Labour's Lost (dir. Kenneth Branagh, UK) A Rumor of Angels (dir. Peter O'Fallon, USA)
2001 The Anniversary Party (dir. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming, USA) O (dir. Tim Blake Nelson, USA)

Liam (dir. Stephen Frears, UK)
Tortilla Soup (dir. Maria Ripoll, USA)
Ghost World (dir. Terry Zwigoff, USA)

Investigating Sex (dir. Alan Rudolph, USA)
2002 Igby Goes Down (dir. Burr Steers, USA) 24 Hour Party People (dir. Michael Winterbottom, UK) Passionada (dir. Dan Ireland, USA)
2003 Valentín (dir. Alejandro Agresti, Argentina) H (dir. Lee Jong-hyuk, South Korea)

Caeser (dir. Uli Edel, USA)
PTU (dir. Johnnie To, Hong Kong)
Together (2002 film) (dir. Chen Kaige, South Korea)
Whale Rider (dir. Niki Caro, New Zealand)

Jet Lag (dir. Daniele Thompson, France)
2004 The Notebook (dir. Nick Cassavetes, USA) Saved! (dir. Brian Dannelly, USA)

Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut (dir. Richard Kelly, USA)
Before Sunset (dir. Richard Linklater, USA)
Criminal (dir. Gregory Jacobs, USA)

Intimate Strangers (dir. Patrice Leconte, France)
2005 Me and You and Everyone We Know (dir. Miranda July, USA) The Dying Gaul (dir. Craig Lucas, USA)

Red Dust (dir. Tom Hooper, UK)
Bombón, el Perro (dir. Carlos Sorín, Argentina)
Côte d'Azur (dir. Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, France)

Last Days (dir. Gus Van Sant, USA)
2006 The Illusionist (dir. Neil Burger, USA) Factotum (dir. Bent Hamer, USA)

Perhaps Love (dir. Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Hong Kong)
A Prairie Home Companion (dir. Robert Altman, USA)
Strangers with Candy (dir. Paul Dinello, USA)

The Science of Sleep (dir. Michel Gondry, France)
2007 Son of Rambow (dir. Garth Jennings, USA) 2 Days in Paris, (dir. Julie Delpy, France)

A Battle of Wits, (dir. Jacob Cheung, Hong Kong)
The Boss of It All, (dir. Lars von Trier, Denmark)
Evening, (dir. Lajos Koltai, USA)

Molière (dir. Laurent Tirard, France)
2008 Battle in Seattle (dir. Stuart Townsend, USA) The Great Buck Howard (dir. Sean McGinly, USA) Bottle Shock (dir. Randall Miller, USA)
2009 In the Loop (dir. Armando Iannucci, UK) Humpday (dir. Lynn Shelton, USA) OSS 117: Lost in Rio (dir. Michel Hazanavicius, France)
2010 The Extra Man (dir. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, USA) Farewell (dir. Christian Carion, France) Get Low (dir. Aaron Schneider, USA)
2011 The First Grader (dir. Justin Chadwick, UK) Service Entrance (dir. Philippe Le Guay, France) LIfe in a Day (dir. Kevin MacDonald, UK)
2012 Your Sister's Sister (dir. Lynn Shelton, USA) The Chef (dir. Daniel Cohen (filmmaker), France) Grassroots (dir. Stephen Gyllenhaal, USA)
2013 Much Ado About Nothing (dir. Joss Whedon, USA) 20 Feet from Stardom (dir. Morgan Neville, USA) The Bling Ring (dir. Sofia Coppola, USA)
2014 Jimi: All Is By My Side (dir. John Ridley, USA) Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater, USA) The One I Love (dir. Charlie McDowell, USA)
2015 Spy (dir. Paul Feig, USA) The End of the Tour (dir. James Ponsoldt, USA) The Overnight (dir. Patrick Brice, USA)
2016 Café Society (dir. Woody Allen, USA) Gleason (dir. Clay Tweel, USA) The Dressmaker (dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse, Australia)

Kirkland

Year Opening Night
2010 The Over the Hill Band (dir. Geoffrey Enthoven, Belgium)
2011 Bon Appétit (dir. David Pinillos, Spain)
2012 Starbuck (dir. Ken Scott, Canada)
2013 Papadopoulos & Sons (dir. Marcus Markou, UK)
2014 The Grand Seduction (dir. Don McKellar, Canada)
2015 Good Ol' Boy (dir. Frank Lotito, USA)
2016 Paul à Québec (dir. François Bouvier, Canada)

Renton

Year Opening Night
2011 Redemption Road (original title: Black White and Blues) (dir. Mario Van Peebles, USA)
2012 Fat Kid Rules the World (dir. Matthew Lillard, USA)
2013 Touchy Feely (dir. Lynn Shelton, USA)
2014 Lucky Them (dir. Megan Griffiths, USA)
2015 The Second Mother (dir. Anna Muylaert, Brazil)
2016 My Blind Brother (dir. Sophie Goodhart, USA)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "SIFF to Create New Home for Great Films at Seattle Center". www.siff.net (press release). November 28, 2006.
  2. "Venues". www.siff.net.
  3. "Twenty-five years of SIFF". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  4. Lynn Jacobson, Locals swarm huge Seattle fest. Variety, Jun. 19, 2005
  5. "ORA: SIFF Film Center". Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  6. Paul Constant, SIFF To Renovate and Reopen the Egyptian Theatre, slog.thestranger.com (blog of Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger, 2014-05-15.) Accessed online 2014-05-17.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Reel News (SIFF), Autumn 2007, p. 5.
  8. 1979 SIFF program (guide/booklet) states this is the World Premiere of Alien
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 News in 2005, SIFF. Accessed 23 November 2006.
  10. Burning in the Wind, SIFF, Accessed 23 November 2006.
  11. "SIFF 2016 to open with Woody Allen's comedy 'Café Society'". The Seattle Times. 2016-04-21. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  12. Hunter, David (January 14, 2000). "'Creature'.". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  13. 1 2 3 Press release, SIFF. Accessed 23 November 2006.
  14. , SIFF, Accessed 29 April 2012.
  15. Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  16. Tomorrow's Weather, SIFF, Accessed 23 November 2006.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seattle International Film Festival.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.