Press Screenings: Day Four

For people who were hoping to hear about day two and three of the press screenings: sorry, I wasn't there. But I was there for day four, and while I was hoping for Aloha Thursday vibes, only a few of us brought the love. Sublime (Mariano biasin, 2022, argentina, 100 min) Photo courtesy of SIFF …

Press Screenings: Day One

Along with other changes to the 2022 Seattle International Film Festival from past years is that, instead of press screenings starting a couple weeks early and ending the final week of the festival, they’re only running April 11-14, while the festival proper begins the night of the 14th and runs through the 24th. Due to …

Press screenings-Week One — Anniversary Post

In 2013, I got smart and decided to work the press screenings. I detail below the advantages of working them as opposed to working the festival proper. Unfortunately, when the press screenings moved from the Uptown to Pacific Place in 2016, hourly staff were no longer needed to run them, which saved SIFF money, but …

SIFF 2019: Week One Capsule Reviews

Sibel (Turkey/France/Germany/Luxembourg 2018, 95 min) Digital Screener, Sun 5/19 The good thing about screeners is that you can watch them whenever you want. The bad thing is that you aren't getting the full cinematic experience. While I benefited from seeing Sibel on the small screen in terms of sleep (it was playing that same day …

SIFF 2019: Pre-Festival Press Screenings and Digital Screeners

  Non-Fiction (France 2018, 108 min) Press Screening: Wed 5/1 The latest film from Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper) centers around the future of publishing and the struggles to adapt to new technology, as told through the eyes of a publisher (Guillaume Canet), a novelist who barely clothes his nonfiction with fiction …

One Day, Six Films — Thursday, May 21, 2015

At Ebertfest, I once saw four films in one day.  During the fourth film, time vanished, reality regressed to dreams, and I left the theater unsure where I was.  During SIFF this year, I saw five films last Wednesday (and am planning on seeing five today).  The next day, I did one better.  Somehow, the films remained …

Opening Night Happenings — Thursday, May 14, 2015

1. Arrived at 1:30 for 2 pm press screening.  Told it would be delayed by roughly 45 minutes (it ended up starting 40 minutes late), as the previous screening had issues.  Initially supposed to show Breathe Umphefumlo, but it didn't arrive on time, so screening swapped with Liza, The Fox-Fairy, but then the film arrived, …

SIFF 2014: Closing Night Gala, Final Thoughts, and Thanks

Closing Night Gala--Sunday, June 8 Like last year, the Closing Night Gala was held at the MOHAI.  Unlike last year, I had to work, but my shift ended early enough that I got to the museum in plenty of time.  It helped that I got a ride there from one of my friends (a different …

SIFF 2014: Week Three of Press Screenings

  Monday, May 12 An interesting start to the week, to say the least.  One person came late for the first press screening, then proceeded to make lots of noise as he crawled over several people in the dark on the way to his seat.  During the second screening, some people were apparently on their cell phones, with …

SIFF 2014: Week Two of Press Screenings

Note: On Sunday, we had our annual staff meeting pre-festival.  The difference this time is that we got goody bags -- and a staff photo that included a wardrobe change and balloon hats, in including the ones below:   Monday May 5 Movies today were Ballet 422, Hellion, and Clownwise.  Of the little I heard about each film, …