-The Stool Pigeon-

Its your typical HK thriller - love, revenge, betrayal and STD's

TERRI

Fat kid kills mice, eats beans, meets girl. Misfit teens get naked and come of age. John C is at his Reilliest.

Black Venus
A black African women is brought to Europe and exploited as a wild freak, but told she is beautiful and an actor. She drinks to ease the exhaustion and emotional pain, and scientists want her unique body as a specimen, but this is the least of her worries. Your heart breaks a little more with each new white man who takes advantage of the main character, who, despite her intelligence and the few who stand on her side, is unable to break free of her fate. Relentless and shocking, Sarah Baartman's unfortunate tale will not be easily forgotten.

Fuck My Life/Que Pena Tu Vida!

Ever watched an Apatow comedy about an immature 30yo asshole and wished it was in Spanish and set in Santiago, Chile? Here's your chance! There's even a Chilean Zach Galifianakis. As an improvement over US bromances, there's no ambivalence about calling the Andy Samberg lookalike lead un pendejo(huevon, puta madre, etc.). It has the POV of an abuelita telling her grandson to get his shit together, instead of a 48yo millionaire with barely veiled hostility towards his wife.

Sound of Noise

Swedish drummers attack city and turn it into musical instrument, bringing peace to a tone-deaf detective and love to a tortured music school expelee. Best movie ever with a nod if the head from Purple Mark as his Fave of the Fest.

-Black Field-

Very little dialogue in this visually striking tale of a 17th century wounded soldier (an escaped conscript for the Ottoman Empire) and a convent in Greece. Themes of gender identity, spirituality, sin, loyalty, secrecy, and betrayal. Both leads have fascinating faces and are a pleasure to watch (even if the soldier disturbingly uses the nun's ears as handles during one violent sex scene). Gorgeous, lush, and challenging. Not easily digestible or for casual popcorn viewing, these carefully crafted images will haunt your memory for days.

Lesson Plan
Remember that movie The Wave? You probably saw it in high school. It was about fascism and high school cliques. Well, it was based on a true story. In Palo Alto 1967, Ron Jones conducted the Third Wave experiment to teach about the traps of fascism. 40 years later, they finally interviewed the participants about the whole experience, and collected it into this film. Due to the fallibility of memory, the facts are as loose as the timeline (ranging from 5 days to 2 weeks), but the end result is as fascinating as it ever was.

Finisterrae
A parable on the futility and silliness of upward mobility, Finisterrae focuses on the trials and tribulations of a ghost trying to become bourgeois. Abstract imagery as beautifully shot by Eduard Grau (A Simple Man), this is the ultimate glorified student art film. And, that, is simply amazing...or not. Your mileage WILL vary.

The Last Circus
Pan's Labyrinth meets Santa Sangre in a highly-stylized Spanish film of love, war, jealousy, murder and grease paint. Even leaving out the commentary on the Spanish Civil Wars, this piece of ultra-violence and brutality recalls The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover in tone while riffing through every dark circus movie. Truly, a fucked-up masterwork.

Man at Bath
Godard fucks Camus and makes a hipster gay porn baby. It's all about fucking to fulfill emotional holes. Half of it is like a gay Lost in Translation with more nudity, and the other half is pure neuroticism. They both serve the purpose of emptiness leads to empty sex which leads to deeper emptiness.

Treatment

You got your bromance in my mumblecore. No, you got your mumblecore in my bromance. Treatment is a comedy that examines the dysfunctional relationship between bros who have big dreams of fame, but lack the common sense to make them happen. Joshua Leonard (Humpday) plays the rebel without a clue filmmaker who wants to make an important film for the new millennium, but gets derailed while courting talent in a posh rehab clinic. Sean Nelson (My Effortless Brilliance) plays the begrudging patron of the arts who bankrolls his dreams to avoid getting a job of his own.

Man at Bath
Not all the penises in the world can save a movie. And that is coming from someone who really likes penises.

Man At Bath (Homme Au Bain)

Le zzzzzzzzzz.

Without Shot on Whidbey Island by Seattle native Mark Jackson, Without is 90 minutes of despair and boredom against an emerald PNW background. Young Joslyn takes a job on the island as a live-in caregiver for Frank, a man trapped in a persistent vegetative state. As Joslyn spends her time with Frank in isolation, she processes unresolved feelings about her last relationship, which ended in tragedy. While Jackson clearly wants to impress a feeling of boredom upon the viewer, he does it a little too well. The story moves slowly, and several plot points are left unexplained. You’ll leave unsatisfied. Mama Africa Well before Nelson Mandela was a name known around the world, Miriam Makeba testified before the United Nations on South African apartheid. It was a fitting honor for a woman whose pioneering musical career eventually spanned 50 years and multiple continents. Mama Africa details Makeba’s involvement in the civil rights struggles of Africa and America, but the soul of the movie can be found in the footage of her performances. Makeba’s love of music and Africa comes through in every note; Finnish director Mika Kaurismäki wisely lets her voice stand on its own.

Womb
A transformative love story where a woman clones her dead boyfriend and has the embryo implanted within her womb, and thus she gives birth to him and then lovingly raises him as her son. There isn’t a lot of dialogue, so as the boy grows up, and starts cuddling and tackling his mom, you have plenty of time to keep repeating to yourself, “oh, awkward!” In climatic scenes, the characters tend to just stare at each other or into space, which drives up the emotional tension and makes the relationships feel even more disturbing. Opening credits are too long.

Happy, Happy.

From Norway, comes a funny and wry film about two couples figuring out their relationships, close-up and personal. Kaja is an earnest and eternally optimistic housewife married to Eirik, her sullen husband with a secret. Living out in the middle of nowhere is no fun until glamorous Elisabeth and her sweet husband, Sigve, move next door whose perfect marriage is not-so. Let the games begin.

Add in an weird slavery subplot between their 10-year old sons, Theodor, and Noa, who is black, and you get one odd and amusing film.

Are we allowed to review more than one?

12 Paces Without a Head:
I was so baked for this movie that I'm not sure if the things I was seeing were actually happening. I recall something about Johnny Cash and naked guys hugging it out. There were a few decent beards, but nothing that made you stop and think, "Damn, that's a fearsome piece of hair." I'd also recommend sticking around for the end credits. Nothing actually happens at the end, but taking it easy is pretty awesome and you should always try to relax as much as possible.

Hooked:
This Russian movie about video games would make Zangief do Spinning Lariats in his grave(if he was dead, which he isn't). There was not a single goddamned beard in this entire movie. The respectable action scenes and horrible Engrish subtitles couldn't make up for that fact. I came in expecting some next-level beard manuevers like an upside-down Kremlin hanging from someone's chin. It's like my parents told me I was going to Disney World and then when we arrived it was actually the dentist's office.

Another Earth

Another Earth is not your typical SF film. Yes, it has another Earth, there is space travel, and one of the stars was on Lost, but it's more in the tradition of Speculative Fiction. Our protagonist is dealing with something that happened when she was 17, and she deals with it in non-traditional ways, including saws, sex with men, and touching old Native American men who can't see or hear. You'd think Mudede would like this, but you will too. Unless you're a heartless cold alien.

Check out the short films if you can. Many of the full-length movies will get regular distribution and you'll be able to see them later in the year, but film festivals are pretty much the only place you can see short films.

I love that this app exists, but it quit on me halfway through posting my schedule as events to Facebook.

I too would appreciate its being optimized for iPad. This is the first year I'm using it, and I'd give it a solid C. Like it, but wish it were stronger.

Your feedback is appreciated, and it is good to hear about any bugs, etc. I use the app religiously and find it quite useful, and compared to many other film festival apps (which I am often tied to as an attendee at other fests), I have to say it is one of the easiest to use.

But obviously you are anxious for us to amp it up to the next level, which is totally expected in a tech-savvy community like ours. Development wasn't abandoned, but we do have limited resources and were not able to make any changes to the overall architecture of the program for this year's festival (and a bunch of us are iPad junkies as well, so don't think we didn't go there). But we do have goals to further refine it, most notably to get it to the android market.

There have been a few minor bug fixes since the app went live (like the filter issue which we fixed as soon as we were made aware), and by the start of the festival we should have everything fully updated (at this point mostly just removing outdated venue and genre information).

As for the multitasking - it isn't quite lighting speed, but the app doesn't reset when you click away. There is a brief start-up window, then it takes you back to where you last were, instead of resetting to a home screen. At least that's how it's been working on my iPhone 4G. Let me know if your experience is different.

I double checked with the box office manager who said that in lieu of a student ID, a Washington ID showing student age is fine for getting the discount.

Discount tickets are day-of-show, and you can purchase them as soon as the box office opens that day. People do line up early for the tickets, so try soon as you can for maximum availability. Box offices for all SIFF tickets are located at Pacific Place and at our office building, hours and addresses are here:
http://www.siff.net/festival/tickets/

Also, for teens there is an even BETTER deal than the student tickets if you use Seattle Center's TeenTix program. You can sign up for that for free here: http://www.seattlecenter.com/teentix/default.asp#signupform

It generally takes about two weeks to get a TeenTix pass, but if you do it now then maybe you can get it in time for the festival (drop them a line and ask). The teen pass is good for $5 rush tickets not only to SIFF, but to tons of other arts events.

During a screening of Hipsters during the 2010 SIFF, I left my stuff in what I consider the best seat in the Egyptian, and wandered off to talk to some friends who have other favorite seats. When show time approached, I sat down and wrote some last-minute notes to myself on my smart-phone, about the preceding film. As the film started I switched off my phone.

The woman seated on my right said, "Thank you", in a tone of voice that suggested that she didn't approve of the phone.

I replied something like, "I know the rules; I wouldn't leave it on during the actual movie."

During the film, I peeked over at her a few times, and found her peeking at me too. We laughed at the same parts.

At the end we talked a bit about the film, and exchanged e-mail addresses. I offered her a Facebook friend request, which surprised her since she had just started using Facebook.

We got together again each of the remaining three days of SIFF, and I treated her to a number of films.

Six or seven weeks later, we were engaged. We scheduled our wedding for this coming July. We might have scheduled it sooner -- but we didn't want to miss this year's SIFF.

While I was already attached, waiting in line at a SIFF film will give you a lot of opportunities for conversation with he opposite sex. One girl in particular I would have probably asked out on a date after a long conversation about the films we'd seen and planned on seeing in the future.

So yes, but you'll still need to rely on some classic social skills to get the conversation started.

I'm excited about "Every Day is a Journey" next Wednesday: http://rawstockmedia.com/event/

From the website:

“Every Day is a Journey” is the first ever Synergistic Cinema series, a story with no predetermined arc told in six chapters, written and directed by six distinct Seattle-area filmmakers. Each director must use the characters and threads introduced by the previous chapter to continue the story. The result is an 85-minute feature film with a narrative as unpredictable as life itself.

Since I can't edit my original answer, I'm using my doppelganger account to update my answer:

Full Series pass indeed does NOT cover 3D and IMAX shows. It says it right on the pass (but not in my program handbook, so sorry for my mistake), and I confirmed that is indeed true with the box office manager.

Sorry for the mistake. I did recommend that we make the few limitations of the pass a little more clear on the website next year.

I've actually befriended someone I met through a SIFF movie last year. We both use 4square and he messaged me and asked if I was going to SIFF movies, and if that is how I was becoming Mayor to a couple of theaters. So we figured out what movie we were both going to see and ended up meeting and befriending each other from that.

I also befriend someone in line at a SIFF movie. I noticed he was at same movie prior and we talked about how awful it was. lol After that we have been going to movies together all year long. So get in line early to meet people! lol Go to the midnight movies. Higher percentage of intoxicated people looking to have fun...Higher percentage go to the English movies. Not many intoxicated people like to read subtitles.

There are inexpensive Saturday parties. They include a movie and small party. A little more intimate than the big galas.

Galas you have a huge amount of people you can meet. Wait it out during the parties, it is easier to meet people the later it gets. People have drank a little by then, usually people actually dance at Opening Gala by end of night, and the boring couples have left by then.

Volunteer for SIFF. I've met LOTS of people from volunteering for them. Work at the venues, you get to meet other volunteers AND talk to the people who are attending the movie.

Get on the SIFF Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes you can connect through people on there. And if you both like same thing or interested in same movie, it is easy to make a plan to meet someone at movie you are both interested in.

See lots of movies! Easiest way to break ice with another fellow movie goer. Someone asks someone what movies they've seen. What their favorite film of festival was. Then you can kind of find out if you are compatible with person if you agree. But if you haven't seen any, then you really have nothing to talk about... ;-)

Man, I really wish I could say more on past romances, but I honestly don't know. I do know about a few staff love connections that have taken place, but I'll never tell.

If you're looking for some mingling opportunities, the parties are the place to be. A little wine, some enthusiastic talk about films ("So, what have you seen at the festival so far?" is a great ice breaker), and who knows where that could lead...

Well, I have to argue your thesis. There hasn't been any shift in programming. We've actually made a larger effort to find films from far flung countries that often get ignored. This year we have actually set a new record for the number of countries represented in the festival - 74.

That said, every year is different, and there are a lot of mitigating factors: the global cinema marketplace, what is available to us, and, of course the quality of the films. We spend most of the year searching out films from all over the world and consider as many as we possibly can. We work very hard to make sure every region of the world is represented, but we also don't program films just to fill some sort of quota - it really is based on the overall quality of the films.

What we have changed are our marketing efforts, and with the new "pathways" layout of the program guide the diversity of countries may not be as immediately obvious (there is a country index in the back). Our marketing surveys have determined that a large chunk of our festival audience only see a few films, and one of our goals is to help that audience become exposed to more types of films. So rather than organizing them by "Contemporary World Cinema" and the other traditional categories, the pathways are designed to help answer that question "What sort of film do I feel like seeing?" with as much variety as possible. This engages the more casual moviegoers, and we hope it will introduce them to films from other regions that they may not have considered before. (Note: the traditional categories are still used in our larger program book, which will be available at the start of the festival)

By the way, last year's festival was the best attended yet - up 20% with approximately 155,000 attendees. We've always had an eclectic line-up and will continue to celebrate all kinds of cinema, whether they be "films" or "movies".

BOY, the new film from New Zealand from the director of Eagle Vs Shark is my top choice. Watch the trailer, it's great.
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44234

Also:
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT LIFE IS NOT BEING DEAD reminded me a lot of the early films of Juenet & Caro. Not quite with the same dark sense of humor, but similar in style.
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44384

Iwai Shunji's VAMPIRE is not at all what you would expect. Very surreal and darkly funny.
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44270

SIMPLE SIMON is about a comedy about a young man with Asperger's who is trying to find a girlfriend for his brother. It has a great quirky indie comedy vibe.
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44279

A THOUSAND FOOLS is 15 wild little films in one.
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44538

Then there is FINISTERRAE, about two roaming ghosts (ie, men in sheets). It's more on the experimental side, but really fun to watch, and completely its own strange world.
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44372

There are some other great ones that will be coming out in the US over the next year (BEGINNERS, THE TRIP, TROLLHUNTER, TABLOID), but you can catch them first with us!

Below are my personal picks for the festival (and a bit about them). There's ten actually, but hopefully the descriptions will help you decide what suits your taste. There is also a full list of all the programmer picks in downloadable pdf form here:
http://www.siff.net/_misc/SIFF2011/SIFF2011_ProgrammerPicks.pdf

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE IS NOT BEING DEAD - A magical-realist tale with the a visual bravado reminiscent of early Tim Burton and Jeunet & Caro, this film from the director’s collective OLPAMA (a mash-up of the director’s names) follows the life of a humble piano tuner, and is also an imaginative social satire of Franco era Spain.

NATURAL SELECTION - Hot off it’s win of the grand jury and audience awards at SXSW, Robbie Pickering’s debut is a truly hilarious film about a nice Christian woman whose life is turned upside down by the discovery that her husband is a secret sperm donor. With a remarkable lead performance by actress Rachel Harris.

THE THIEF OF BAGDAD WITH THE MUSIC OF E.L.O. - Who knew that top 40 DJ Shadoe Stevens’ secret passion for the past twenty years has been to provide a rollicking orchestral rock score to Douglas Fairbanks’ silent epic? Now this re-imagining is ready to be unleashed, and you’ll be amazed at how the film seamlessly melds with the music of the Electric Light Orchestra.

BELLFLOWER – With a kinetic style and a truly bitchin’ car, this film is a combination buddy comedy, love story, and thriller told with post-apocalyptic panache.

ROADIE – The new film from Michael Cuesta (L.I.E., 12 AND HOLDING) is a funny and honest tale of an aging rock and roll roadie who returns to his childhood home of Queens after his career takes a serious blow. With a marvelously subtle performance from Ron Eldard, and a marvelously over-the-top performance from Bobby Cannavale.

HOW TO DIE IN OREGON – Following terminally ill patients as they decide whether to take their lives via physician assisted suicide may not sound like an uplifting afternoon at the movies, but director Peter Richardson handles the subject with extreme grace, and main subject Cody Curtis is such a delight that the film becomes a celebration of life though dying with dignity.

HOLY ROLLERS: THE TRUE STORY OF CARD COUNTING CHRISTIANS – Seattle is the home base for one of the largest blackjack teams in the country, and they are all devout churchgoers. It’s fascinating to see how this faith-based team
lets money become their new savior as they practice card counting, don disguises, and find wealthy investors all in their mission to fleece the casinos.

SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! AN AUDIO MISADVENTURE – A classic of found recordings, the audio tapes circulating the underground labeled “Shut Up Little Man” were filled with the secretly taped rants of a pair of roommates in the low rent district of San Francisco. With a punkish flair, this film looks at these characters and why their abusive relationship captivated so many.

MARATHON BOY – A three-year-old slum orphan becomes an unlikely hero through his passion for running, and even though he has a tight bond with his adoptive father and coach, forces are working to drive them apart. Director Gemma Atwal followed this duo for three years, and their story is a
roller coaster of inspiration, triumph, betrayal and tragedy.

PRESSPAUSEPLAY – In the 21st century it is now possible for anyone to create and share their visions with the world without ever leaving their laptop. But now that anyone can be an artist, is the talent pool diminishing? This film takes a well-rounded look at the future of music, film, books, and art in the
digital era.

TILT – This story of a group of skateboarding friends trying to make their way amidst the criminal underworld and corrupt officials of Communist Bulgaria is filled with an anarchistic sprit, a rocking soundtrack, a stylish flair akin to TRAINSPOTTING, and, at the heart of it all, a tender tale of young love.

12 PACES WITHOUT A HEAD – Forget the Caribbean, this is high adventure with German pirates on the Baltic Sea filled with rebellion, friendship, and the struggles of the outlaw lifestyle. But best of all is a thrilling sea battle set to the music of Johnny Cash.

Also, don’t miss your first chance to see: THE FUTURE for the latest from the amazingly talented Miranda July, ANOTHER EARTH for a film that melds drama and scifi with an outstanding lead performance by Brit Marling, THESE AMZING SHADOWS for a peek inside the National Film Registry, TABLOID for a playful new film from Errol Morris, and TRIGGER for the final performance from one of my favorite Canadian actress, Tracy Wright.

Nope. They're included.

Here's a list of all the specially priced events that aren't covered by your pass:
http://www.siff.net/festival/tickets/pricing.aspx