SIFF Spans the World (Again)

32nd Annual Film Festival Boasts Most Diverse Lineup Ever

By Sara Michelle Fetters

www.moviefreak.com

Here we are again.

For the 32nd time, the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) takes center stage today with the local premier of the Neil Burger’s hauntingly atmospheric period puzzle box The Illusionist starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel. After that, it is 24 more days featuring 419 feature length and short films from 62 different countries, a mix of drama, comedy, action, music, horror, documentary and the absolute unexplainable all thrown together in a heady soup unlike any other festival in the entire world.

For me, SIFF is a time of great joy, energy, too much caffeine and far too little sleep. It’s an absolute impossibility to watch everything, even trying to take in a quarter of what is offered almost too exhausting a task to even remotely comprehend attempting. Throw in the many different galas, forums, exhibits, talks and symposiums going on and the sheer volume of it all simply boggles the mind. Cannes, Toronto, New York and Sundance may get the bigger movie stars and the majority of the mainstream press, but SIFF is where real film fanatics flock, even if by the time the festival comes to an end most hardcore need an additional week’s vacation just to recuperate.

As always, there is plenty for everyone at this year’s edition of Seattle’s favorite movie going smorgasbord. With 19 World Premiers, 41 North American premiers and 22 U.S. premiers, a good chunk of these haven’t been seen by anyone in the United States other than SIFF selection committee members. What am I looking forward to? How about the Danish Spotlight, this year’s festival shining the light on 14 exciting and energetic works coming out of the wild wintry wilderness of Denmark. Or what about the annual Weekend Gala Presentations, this year four of the year’s most hotly anticipated films, Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion, Peter Chan Perhaps Love, Bent Hamer’s Factotum and Paul Dinello eagerly awaited Strangers with Candy. Then there’s the Hong Kong Weekend June 9 thru 11 featuring a gravity-defying wirework stunt demonstration sure to thrill anyone who has ever wondered, “How’d they do that?” while watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or The Matrix.

Still from "Shanghai Dreams"

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Emerging Masters for this year’s SIFF are the usual group of eclectics featuring Brazil’s Andrucha Waddington (House of Sand), China’s Wang Xiaoshuai (Shanghai Dreams), Denmark’s Nicola Winding Refn (The Pusher trilogy) and the United Kingdom’s Adam Curtis (The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear). Charlie Chan’s classic The Gold Rush leads the Archival Series, SIFF’s popular Face the Music series returns with a special event featuring Stewart Copeland of The Police along with a screening of the documentary Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out.

As always, the big question is which films will immerge as this year’s Ghost World, Trainspotting, Run Lola Run, Brother, The Full Monty, Dazed and Confused, Much Ado About Nothing or American Splendor (just to name a tiny few). The picture I’m betting on to reach this high standard of excellence is Closing Night Gala feature The Science of Sleep from director Michel Gondry and starring Motorcycle Diaries star Gael Garcia Bernal. After Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party Gondry has proven he’s an original with very few equals. The report out of Sundance was that this surrealistic dark comedy was a mind bending head turner that couldn’t be missed.

Gael García Bernal in "The Science of Sleep"

SIFF is an adventure, an annual cavalcade of thoughts, ideas and entertainments spanning the globe. It is a free-wheeling thrill ride full tears, jeers, applause, chills and laughter unlike anything else a person is likely to experience. It is an event I can’t get enough of, and even though a steady diet of popcorn and Diet Coke can weigh on the tummy more than a little, I wouldn’t trade the stomach aches and sleep deprivation for anything else in the world.

The 32nd Annual Seattle International Film Festival runs May 26 thru June 18, 2006. For more information regarding schedules, tickets and other events please go to www.seattlefilm.org.

Article Posted: May 26, 2006