Seattle International Film Festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington, is purported to be the largest film festival in the United States[1] and among the top film festivals in the world. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees,[2] SIFF runs for three weeks (24 days) and features a diverse assortment of predominantly independent and foreign films and, in recent years, a strong contingent of documentaries.
The 2006 festival ran May 25–June 18, 2006. SIFF 2006 included 300+ films and was the first SIFF to include a venue in neighboring Bellevue, Washington since an ill-fated early attempt.
The 2007 festival will run May 24 to June 17.
The festival began at a then-independent cinema, the Moore Egyptian Theater (now back to its earlier name, the Moore Theater, and functioning as a concert venue). When the owners of the Moore Egyptian lost their lease, they founded the Egyptian theater in a former Masonic Temple on Seattle's Capitol Hill, which remains the prime festival venue to this day, although the festival now typically uses about half a dozen cinemas, 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 success for director Paul Verhoeven.[citation needed]
The festival includes a sidebar that is probably 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".[3] The first week of the festival overlaps the Cannes Film Festival, not a recipe for drawing the industry bigwigs.[citation needed]
November 28, 2006, SIFF and Seattle mayor Greg Nickels announced that SIFF will 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 move-in date is scheduled for January, with screenings beginning shortly thereafter. The city will contribute $150,000 to the $350,000 project. This auditorium will also be the "flagship venue" for future SIFF festivals.[2]
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.[2]
Contents |
[edit] 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 and Kiss of the Spider Woman for 1985.
[edit] 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. Hector Babenco, Brazil) | Frankenweenie (dir. Tim Burton, USA) | |
| 1986 | The Assault (dir. Fons Rademakers, Netherlands) | The Big Snit (dir. Richard Condie, USA) | |
| 1987 | My Life as a Dog (dir. Lasse Hallstrom, 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) | Knickknack (film) (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. Peter Naess, 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 Ozpetek, Italy) | Consent (dir. Jason Reitman, USA) | Born into Brothels (dir. Zana Briski, Ross Kauffmann, USA) |
| 2005 | Innocent Voices (dir. Luis Mandoki, Mexico) | Ratman's Razor (dir. Keith Bearden, USA) | Murderball (dir. Henry-Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro, USA) |
| 2006 | OSS 117: Nest of Spies (dir. Michel Hazanavicious, France) | Full Disclosure (dir. Douglas Horn, USA) | The Trials of Darryl Hunt (dir. Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg, USA) |
[edit] SIFF Awards for Best Director, Actress and Actor
[edit] Premieres
Among the films that have received North American or world premieres at SIFF are
- Arafat, My Brother—Rashid Masharawi (2005, North American premiere)[4]
- Banlieue 13—Pierre Morel (2005, North American premiere)[4]
- Burning in the Wind—Silvio Soldoni (2003, World premiere)[5]
- I Murder Seriously—Antonio Urrutia (2003, North American premiere)[6]
- Last Days—Gus Van Sant (2005, North American premiere)[4]
- Mars—Anna Melikian (2005, North American premiere)[4]
- Mongolian Ping Pong—Ning Hao (2005, North American premiere)[4]
- Monster House (2006, North American premiere) [1]
- Nate Dogg—Thomas Farone (2003, World premiere)[6]
- PTU—Johnny To (2003, North American premiere)[6]
- Tomorrow's Weather—Jerzy Stuhr (2003, North American premiere)[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Annie Wagner, Everything SIFF, The Stranger, May 25 - May 31, 2006.
- ^ a b c SIFF to Create New Home for Great Films at Seattle Center SIFF press release, November 28, 2006.
- ^ Lynn Jacobson, Locals swarm huge Seattle fest. Variety, Jun. 19, 2005
- ^ a b c d e News in 2005, SIFF. Accessed 23 November 2006.
- ^ Burning in the Wind, SIFF, Accessed 23 November 2006.
- ^ a b c Press release, SIFF. Accessed 23 November 2006.
- ^ Tomorrow's Weather, SIFF, Accessed 23 November 2006.
