The halcyon days of SIFF Opening Weekend have come and gone. We’ll be discussing what we saw tomorrow in our first roundtable. In the meantime, though, there’s plenty of cinema gold in them thar local venues. Here’s what to SIFF this week from Monday to Thursday.
In terms of Special Events, this week includes An Evening of Cabaret with Robbie Turner that turns the Egyptian theater into the Kit Kat Klub for one night only. Seattle drag icon Robbie Turner, courtesy of RuPaul’s Drag Race, presents an original Cabaret-inspired revue followed by a screening of Bob Fosse’s Academy Award winning 1972 film. (WEDNESDAY, MAY 24 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 7:00 PM)
Odawni’s Picks
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Manifesto. In visual artist Julian Rosefeldt’s second feature film, Cate Blanchett plays 13 definitive characters whose words are inspired by 13 of the key manifestos of the 20th century. First of all, Cate Blanchett! I put her up there with Meryl Streep in terms of her incredible ability to transform herself into a wide variety of characters. Also, unconventional pianist Nils Frahm wrote the music. There’s much to enjoy in this film. (FYI – Both screenings are on standby – tickets may be available at the door.)
- MONDAY, MAY 22 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 9:00 PM
- FRIDAY, MAY 26 – SIFF Film Center – 7:30 PM
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Ghost Hunting. For his film, director Raed Andoni put out an ad for Palestinians in Ramallah who, like him, are former detainees of an infamous interrogation center in Jerusalem called al-Moskobiya. With a psychologist on set, the men re-enact their torturous interrogation experiences as a way to work through their trauma. With Andoni behind and in front of the camera, outbursts, confessions and recountings of long-repressed memories ensue. Winner of Best Documentary at the Berlin Film Festival.
- MONDAY, MAY 22 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 8:30 PM
- SATURDAY, MAY 27 – SIFF Film Center – 7:30 PM
Also on my radar: The Work (documentary about inmates in Folsom Prison and outsiders in group-therapy together)
Josh’s Picks
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Vampire Cleanup Department. The world is basically in a state of permanent catastrophic news days. You can be forgiven for ducking away to see a light Hong Kong horror comedy about a twentysomething whose vampire immunity draws him into the family business.
- TUESDAY, MAY 23 – Lincoln Square – 6:30 PM
- THURSDAY, MAY 25 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 9:30 PM
- FRIDAY, MAY 26 – AMC Pacific Place – 4:30 PM
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It’s Only the End of the World. Xavier Dolan may have been riled by the sharply divided critical response to his film at Cannes, but when all was said and done he still took away the festival’s second highest prize (the Gran Prix). Now, just over a year later, the star-studded story of a long-absent son returning home to tell his dysfunctional family that he’s dying reaches our shores. Since his dazzlingly expressive debut with I Killed My Mother, the young Canadian has been on my list of must-watch directors; so I want to see if the haters on Film Twitter got it all wrong.
- TUESDAY, MAY 23 – Lincoln Square – 9:00 PM
- THURSDAY, MAY 25 – AMC Pacific Place – 9:30 PM
- TUESDAY, MAY 30 – AMC Pacific Place – 4:30 PM
Also on my radar: still hoping to catch a repeat screening of the previously-endorsed Nile Hilton Incident as well as Sami Blood (prejudices of 1930s Sweden through the lens of one indigenous girl) and Hedi (a Tunisian salesman sparked to personal rebellion by a free-spirited adventurer, which screens as part of SIFF’s second “Official Competition”).
Chris’s Picks
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Those Redheads from Seattle. The first full-scale musical to be filmed in 3D, from 1953, gets a grand restoration. It’s about a woman who takes her daughters to Alaska to cash in on the gold rush. You can watch the full version below, but with a deluxe reissue at SIFF, shown in glorious 3D, why would you want to?
- TUESDAY, MAY 23 – SIFF Cinema Uptown 6:30 PM
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Pyromaniac. A Norwegian town is terrorized by a series of arsons in the summer of 1978. The twist? The son of the fire chief is the one setting them.
- MONDAY, MAY 22 – SIFF Cinema Uptown 6:00 PM
- WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 – Shoreline Community College 6:30 PM
Also on my radar: The Nile Hilton Incident (The least-photographed Hilton sibling is an Egyptian cop. Who knew?), Beatriz at Dinner (Salma Hayek, John Lithgow, and some other people, eat). and No Dress Code Required (Mexican documentary about, I think, every Seattle restaurant except for Canlis).
Tony’s Picks
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Bad Black. The bleary-eyed Midnight Movie adventurers have been buzzing about this reportedly-wonderfully demented shoestring-budget action flick since it screened last Saturday. Thank God we’ve got two more chances to see it.
- MONDAY, MAY 22 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 9:30 PM (Producer Alan Hofmanis scheduled to attend)
- THURSDAY, MAY 25 – Majestic Bay – 9:30 PM
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Afterimage. Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda’s final film is a period drama about artist Wladyslaw Strzeminski’s physical and idealogical battles to create his works amidst the rise of Stalin.
- WEDNESDAY, MAY 24 – Pacific Place – 9:30 PM
- FRIDAY MAY 26 – SIFF Cinema Uptown- 3:30 PM
Also on my radar: Rocketmen (Webster Crowell’s long-awaited retro-futuristic web series, playing SIFF movie screens), Ghost Hunting (doc about Palestinian prisoners detained in an Israeli detention center), Pyromaniac (the new thriller from Insomnia director Erik Skjoldbjærg), and of course Vampire Cleanup Department: you do know Chinese Hopping Vampire movies are an honest-to-God horror sub-genre, right? And you’re not really surprised that I’m also chomping at the bit to see this, are you? Thought not.
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