SIFF 2011 Was a Three-Star Year

Oh good holy sweet goddamn, the 37th annual Seattle International Film Festival has finally drawn to a close. After 25 days and a bajillion films, the fest winners were announced yesterday at brunch. Didn’t get enough film fest during the past month? No worries, the Best of SIFF 2011 will play at SIFF Cinema all weekend long, so you can see the individual films you missed or buy yet another series pass. With that in mind, let’s take a look the films Team SunBreak watched over Closing Weekend, as well as our thoughts on all of SIFF 2011. Continue reading SIFF 2011 Was a Three-Star Year

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

SIFF Dispatch: Closing Weekend

This is the end, friends, as the 37th annual Seattle International Film Festival draws to a close this Sunday evening. Don’t forget to check the updates page to see which films are already sold out or are selling fast, especially since this final weekend brings a couple new films added to the schedule. Continue reading SIFF Dispatch: Closing Weekend

Nature Bites Back: An Interview with Krystof Zlatnik, Director of <em>Lys</em>

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

Nature Bites Back: An Interview with Krystof Zlatnik, Director of Lys

Krystof Zlatnik seems quietly awestruck by the uncharacteristically sunny Seattle day that greets him. “It’s quite beautiful outside,” he acknowleges … Continue reading Nature Bites Back: An Interview with Krystof Zlatnik, Director of Lys

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

SIFF Dispatch: Mid-week Three

It’s the middle of the third and final week of SIFF and your loyal correspondents still haven’t burned out on movies. We tell you about Tabloid, Bobby Fischer, zany action movies, and light comedies from the past two days and point you in several directions for Wednesday and Thursday screenings, including a film with Damien Jurado or a Gay-la party at Pnk Ultra Lounge. Continue reading SIFF Dispatch: Mid-week Three

An Interview with <em>Detention</em> Director Joseph Kahn

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

An Interview with Detention Director Joseph Kahn

But Detention is more than just pastiche. All of those disparate threads intersect by the movie’s end, and Kahn delivers the entire sensory-overloaded package with pinpoint accuracy. By backing up its relentless MTV-stoked pace with a distinctive sensibility (and a heart), Detention just might signal a sea change in music video-influenced moviemaking. As The SunBreak’s own Josh Bis said, “I left feeling won over by something that I probably should have hated,” and I too came out of the screening seriously, mightily impressed. Continue reading An Interview with Detention Director Joseph Kahn

A Talk With the Guys Who Filmed H.P. Lovecraft’s <em>The Whisperer in Darkness</em>

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

A Talk With the Guys Who Filmed H.P. Lovecraft’s The Whisperer in Darkness

Director/co-writer Sean Branney, co-writer/actor Andrew Leman, and cinematographer/editor Dave Robertson all hit SIFF in support of their first full-length feature, The Whisperer in Darkness.

The grandly old-school horror flick follows the ill-fated adventures of Miskatonic University professor Albert Wilmarth (Matt Foyer) as he journeys to the remote Vermont farmlands to investigate rumors of strange beings roaming the countryside. Continue reading A Talk With the Guys Who Filmed H.P. Lovecraft’s The Whisperer in Darkness

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

SIFF Dispatch: Week 3

Yes, we are now officially in the final week of SIFF. And if that’s not enough movies for you, STIFF is also in full effect, so check out their schedule too. Continue reading SIFF Dispatch: Week 3