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The official SIFF 2009 lineup won't be announced until next Thursday, but we got our sneak peek at the press launch earlier today. The good people at SIFF are hoping to celebrate the "past, present, and future of cinema" with the festival's 392 films over 25 days. Yes, that tally includes shorts as well, and here's the exact breakdown:
203 narrative features, 54 documentary features, and 124 short films from 62 countries, including 31 World Premieres (10 features, 21 shorts), 45 North American Premieres (36 features, 9 shorts), and 13 US Premieres (10 features, 3 shorts).
The festival, now in its 35th year, will include the usual theaters that act as SIFF venues, as well as Kirkland Performance Center and the Admiral Theatre. Don't worry about SIFF letting the Eastside and West Seattle into the mix; unlike in previous years, these far-off venues will show films that also have two other screenings in the city center. (SIFF ticket packages and passes are still available, with individual tickets going on sale next Thursday, the 7th.).
As to the films itself, opening night kicks off with In the Loop, a political farce with James Gandolfini and Steve Coogan. It got okay reviews at Sundance, but whatevs, the gala's at the Paramount this time around, and we have been assured that there will be two free drinks with ticket purchase. There will also be paella care of one of the many restaurants catering the event, and 9th Ave will be closed off, so the post-film party can take place both indoors and out. Start praying for good weather the night of May 21st now.
More on the SIFF film lineup after the jump.
Closing night film (at the Cinerama) is OSS 117: Lost in Rio, the sequel to OSS 117: Nest of Spies, a bumbling French spy comedy that won the SIFF 2006 Golden Space Needle. Midway through the nearly month-long fest, there's the previously announced Centerpiece Gala with Lynn Shelton's Humpday. There's also Passing Strange with Spike Lee in attendance, and Tetro with Francis Ford Coppola (and professional asshole Vincent Gallo) in attendance.
Overall, the lineup is looking good, with plenty of stuff we saw at Sundance (Adam, Cold Souls, Shrink, Downloading Nancy, El General) or wanted to see there: 500 Days of Summer, Amreeka, The Cove, Kimjongilia, We Live in Public, Moon, Paper Heart, blaxploitation flick Black Dynamite (which already is lined up for a couple sequels), and Dead Snow (aka the Nazi zombie movie). There's also a really sad movie about a dog, Lasse Hallstrom's Hachiko: A Dog's Story, Best Foreign Film Oscar winner Departures, and Morris: A Life With Bells On, a mockumentary about "morris dancing" that's in the style of Christopher Guest.
The Archival Features series this year is exceptionally strong, with The Conversation, Once Upon a Time in the West, Sunset Boulevard, The Third Man, and A Woman Under the Influence. And of course, there's the Face the Music Film Series (including No Age providing a live original score to The Bear), Midnight Adrenaline, a bigger Northwest Connections series than ever before, and nine million other interesting things to see. Rest assured that we will cover this more as we get into the thick of SIFF, but for now consider this your heads up: SIFF is coming soon and it's looking good.
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I love going to SIFF. Just wish it didn't go on just when the weather is changing for the better.
I too have wondered why it's held this time of year. But then I think about how standing outside in lines anytime between November and March would be quite the deterrent.