Results tagged “siff”

Joe Dallesandro—former bodyguard at Andy Warhol’s fabled Factory, star of several key Warhol-sponsored cult films in the sixties and seventies, and accidental avatar of the Sexual Revolution—stands outside the W Hotel in downtown Seattle, his back to me. He cuts an almost dangerous-looking figure.

Today's the last day of the 35th annual SIFF, and as such, it's time to give out the festival's five jury awards (New Directors Showcase Award, Best Documentary Award, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short, and Best Animated Short) and the audience Golden Space Needle Awards. More than 60,000 ballots were cast by SIFF audiences to determine the winner in six categories: Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Short Film, Several of our favorite films in the fest were honored, like Black Dynamite, (500) Days of Summer, The Necessities of Life, Moon, and talhotblond, and SIFF Cinema is planning encore screenings next weekend. Full list of winners after the jump.

Special to Seattlest: Tony Kay.

IN FULL GIAMATTIVISION: Cold Souls is the too-grimly titled existential comedy starring Paul Giamatti as Paul Giamatti. While rehearsing Uncle Vanya, Giamatti begins to lose himself in his character's depression, and looking for a temporary fix, stumbles across the new process of "soul extraction," as detailed in the New Yorker. While the movie is deadpan, Giamatti is not. His off-kilter spiral into soullessness is by turns hilarious and touching.

Seattle-born and Mercer Island-bred, Burnett’s the kind of guy you want making movies—He’s genuinely in the business for the love of it, but he still possesses enough savvy to endure amidst the industry rat race. And when you ask him about screening his horror movie The Hills Run Red at the Seattle International Film Festival, he’s pretty much over the moon.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel's swoonworthy indie darling (500) Days of Summer has its final SIFF screening today at the Egyptian at 4:30 p.m. We tell you this not because the film needs our promotional help, but because you need to get there early to ensure you get a seat--at yesterday's screening, they were turning people away. Looks like there's still a few tix available, and at the matinee price ($8) no less. If you'd like something still indie, but non-SIFF-related, there's a free screening tonight of the Dave Eggers-penned pregnant couple road movie Away We Go at the Uptown at 7 p.m. You can still pick up a pass at the Downtown Diesel store.

So in contrast to the morbidly obese maw of cinematic devourings that is SIFF, we also have skinny little STIFF (Seattle's True Independent Film Festival). If you haven't poked around in their offerings, we have at least two films to note: Selfless, an "existential" thriller about a cocky young architect whose life is turned upside down by an identity thief, was shot locally--"We created a modern thriller where both Seattle and Portland are extensions of our protagonist's ego," says co-writer and producer Arnold Pander. That plays tomorrow, Sunday, at 7 p.m. at the Northwest Film Forum. Plus, ubiquitous local film guy Andy Spletzer has a short film ("Best Jewish Comedy!"), Alistair Maclean: Y'did Nefesh, in a shorts collection that shows on Wednesday, 6:15 p.m. at the Jewel Box Theater at the Rendezvous. Here's the whole STIFF schedule--the festival runs through June 14.

True Adolescents, besides being profanely hilarious, is a star-making vehicle for mumblecore's Mark Duplass. If you see one film about a Seattle indie rocker exiled to his aunt's place in Woodinville this year, this is the one. Along with a long-delayed coming-of-age story, director Craig Johnson delivers a love postcard to Washington living.

SIFF's second week is underway, so here's glimpse at some of the films coming up this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which of course cost more.

Lookit, today is a downright glorious day--way too glorious for the beginning of a workweek. We could encourage you to attend all kinds of events, including scads of SIFF films and at least two shows (the dirty electro of Peaches at the Showbox or ex-members of the Unicorns and Arcade Fire making up Clues at Neumo's). But we won't.

Coming out of Moon Tuesday night, there was a huge line waiting to get into the Egyptian, so we quickly checked the SIFF iPhone app--which is great, btw--to figure out what they were there to see. Ah yes, All Tomorrow’s Parties, the documentary on the music festival of the same name. The film features performances recorded by over two hundred filmmakers, fans, and musicians via a variety of formats (Super8, camcorder, and even mobile phone footage) that together comprise a veritable indie who's who: Battles, Sonic Youth, Belle and Sebastian, Patti Smith, Animal Collective, Iggy and the Stooges, Portishead, Mogwai, Slint, Grizzly Bear, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Gossip, Daniel Johnston, and The Boredoms. The last SIFF screening is at the Neptune today at 4:30 p.m.

Sügisball (Autumn Ball) shows at the Uptown at 4 p.m. today. Set in and around crumbling Soviet-era tower blocks in Estonia (which is a real country!), this Cassavetes-like, slice-of-gritty-life drama follows an almost bewildering number of lonely, yearning, unfulfilled people around. At two unflinching hours, it's not for the faint of heart or saddlesore, but it's a beautiful portrait of what you might call social architecture. And then there's Dead Snow, which we previewed and we're pleased to report our high hopes for Nazi zombies were completely justified. That's spattering the Pacific Place with gore and gray matter at 9:30 p.m. Be there.

Looks like someone reading a book doesn't it? Well, yes and no. That's a Kindle! With a nightlight attachment, even. It may seem a small thing, but after writing post after post about the Kindle, we'd still never actually seen one al fresco, as it were. (Which, interestingly, we heard the other day isn't used by Italians the way we use it to mean outdoor dining.) However the other day, the geek planets aligned and we spotted this person whiling away the time before a SIFF screening, so we snapped a picture with our iPhone.

SIFF's first full week is underway, so here's glimpse at some of the films coming up this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which of course cost more. Here's what jumps out at us from the SIFF catalogue:

UK comedy Morris: A Life with Bells On has its last screening tonight at 7 p.m. at SIFF Cinema. Writer, producer, and actor Charles Thomas Oldham will be at the screening, along with all the local Morris dance fans you can shake a staff at. The event should produce a unique Venn diagram overlap of fans of PBS Britcoms and Christopher Guest mockumentaries.

Leave it to Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola to resuscitate (sorry) the sub-genre with Dead Snow, and leave it to the Seattle International Film Festival to bring it to local audiences twice in the next two weeks (once on May 23 for an Egyptian Theater midnight screening, and once at 9:30 p.m. on May 27 at Pacific Place).

THE BIG SHOW: Tonight is the official opening gala of the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival. The film showing is , a wacky British satire of contemporary politics, with a talented ensemble cast including James Gandolfini, who (except for Gandolfini) are expected to be in attendance at the gala tonight. For non-members, you can get in for $50, which gets you into the movie (at the Paramount) as well as a couple drink tickets and some hors d'oeuvres. For $100, you can access to the open bar. And for $200, you get the first-born child of one of Swaziland's most well-regarded actors.

Just saw this over at Publicola, and it's awesome--the Seattle International Film Festival has developed an iPhone app, iSIFF. You can use it the SIFFter service on it, check venue info, even buy tickets! There's also their Twitter feed. Oh, and we should point out--tomorrow night's the grand opening gala, $50 for non-subscribers. Click here to launch iTunes at the iSIFF page, or just search on your phone.

• SIFF is calling for all young film-loving kiddos to apply for a spot on their very first FutureWave Youth Jury (for high schoolers) and the Films4Families Youth Jury (for kids grades 4-8) at this year's festival. Application deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, May 18.
• Washington likes to tweet a lot. Social media-savvy us create the biggest percentage of people who are active Twitter users from across the U.S.
• A brutal lovers quarrel between Granny and Gramps in Lynnwood. She kicked him where it counts for being unfaithful over 35 years ago.

Today's the day! We gave you a brief rundown of SIFF '09 last Thursday, and now you can check out the offerings for yourself. The schedule's on the website, the SIFF box office is officially open on the second floor of Pacific Place, and today's Times has the pullout (that's what she said). So browse through the listings--we suggest the SIFFter if you only have a vague idea of what/where you want to watch--and go get yer SIFF on! GA tickets are $11 a film, but you can still get a six-pack for $57.

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:

SIFF is making a big deal out of snagging local director Lynn Shelton's Humpday for its Northwest Connections program; it'll be the SIFF Centerpiece Gala on Friday, June 5, and hopefully help raise money to help SIFF pay for their office relocation to the Seattle Center's Alki Room. We saw--and liked-- the "mumblecore bromance" Humpday at Sundance. We'll assume you know the HumpFest backstory. The "local" emphasis of the Northwest Connections program makes for a grab-bag experience: Sundance hit The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle will rub elbows with the filmed-in-Wallingford World's Greatest Dad, starring Robin Williams, and Sandy Cioffi's documentary, Sweet Crude.

Breaking news from the Seattle International Film Festival: Spike Lee will be the recipient of the Golden Space Needle Award for lifetime achievement at this year's SIFF. On May 23, SIFF regales lucky ticket holders with a Q&A with the legendary director, followed by a screening of his new movie, , an adaptation of the stage musical, at the Egyptian. And if you're lucky, you can score tickets (onsale at siff.net later this month) to a special dinner with Lee as guest of honor. Also on the bill this year are Francis Ford Coppola (who knew he's still working?) and Vincent Gallo, of legendary blow-job movie and the power to curse critics.

MvB is off to SIFF Cinema for Preston Sturges' Depression-era fable, Sullivan's Travels, and then there's a going-away party for a friend on pilgrimage, held in the medieval pageantry of Canterbury's.

SIFF just opened a week-long showing of the Belgian film Ben X--it runs through March 5. It's a first film from Nic Balthazar, who wrote the novel the movie is based on. The thing about Ben X is that while its hero (played by Greg Timmermans) has Asperger's, it succeeds in stabbing in the guts pretty much anyone who suffered any high school ostracism and bullying. Asperger's just ups the insecurity stakes, because Ben can't tell easily who's a friend and who's not, what's normal and what's not. We spent most of our free time in the library freshman year, but no one tips Ben off to that safe haven.

RIPPED-OFF: Journalist Pratap Chatterjee has seen the face of the beast, and it is Halliburton. Conniving and connected, the Texas oil company has secured itself a prize position in Washington even as its corruption and incompetence cost tax-payers and soldiers dearly. Chatterjee explains all this in a helpful book called , which he's talking about tonight up at Town Hall.

TIMELY LESSON: With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it's only fitting that Inara George and Greg Kurstin are bringing their sexy, breathy version of jazz-influenced indie pop to Chop Suey tonight. An hour and a half of George's luscious vocals making sweet love to your ears will prove an invaluable lesson come Saturday. The Bird and the Bee take the stage tonight after a set by Obi Best.

Every time we've seen Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player in the video store, we've glanced at it and put it back, unable to imagine how the Truffaut we know from Au Revoir Les Enfants would draw good work from a pulp crime novel.

FREE MAN: One of the great ironies of the Obama era is that it both spawns new conversation about race even as it encourages too many to buy into the strange idea that Obama's election moves us into a post-racial era. Tonight at the Northwest African-American Museum, Regina Mason is discussing her co-edited new edition of story of our lifetimes, the meaning of which is, as yet, unapparent. So stop watching TV and go see Mason speak.

WTF, HISTORY?: It was George Santayana, if we recall, who issued the famous dictum about people who don't learn from history having to re-take it or something...honestly we weren't paying attention and apparently neither was anyone else, which is sort of the subject of historian Roger van Oosten's talk tonight at MOHAI: what are the differences and similarities between today and the Great Depression. And he should know, 'cause unlike all the journalists with their accursed similes, he actually studies the '30s and is a recognized expert on WPA art.