I'll See Your SIFFy and Raise You a STIFFy

National film festival correspondent Kyle Anderson on Seattle's other one

While May 24th is the debut of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), the lesser known, 3rd annual Seattle True Independent Film Festival (STIFF) also kicks off its performance schedule on the same date. The latter appears to be the yin to the former’s yang – one is slang for Syphilis and the other is a rock-hard…whatever. Although it has been documented that Seattleites don’t appear to be aware of the original and much larger SIFF, the need for a 2nd Seattle film festival during the same time period is explained on the STIFF website:

As film festivals across the country strive to raise their profile, they continually pass over inventive, risk-taking films so they can give a sneak preview of the new Jennifer Anniston film a week before it's world-wide release. Somebody needs to help these TRUE Independent gems find an audience on the lookout for the unusual.

These guys don’t fuck around – they even spelled Jennifer Aniston’s name wrong. It upsets me somewhat that I noticed this error, but High School Kyle found that googling “Jennifer Anniston naked” didn’t work so well, or more accurately, Kyle Of Ten Minutes Ago made this discovery. Anyway, STIFF is a grittier, funkier alternative to SIFF and a great way to see work by local filmmakers at venues such as the Jewel Box Theater, Central Cinema, and the Seattle Art Museum. Alcohol consumption is permitted during the showings, and most screenings are followed by a STIFF Licks band performance until 2 in the AM. STIFF schedule and ticket info is available on their website.