SIFF Unleashes Its "Battle" Cry

Okay, I admit it, Memorial Day weekend in Seattle is my favorite time of year. Better than Thanksgiving, better than Christmas, heck, it’s even better than my birthday, and the reason for all this enthusiasm and glee has nothing to do with the Summer holiday. It’s SIFF time, and for 25 days starting in May I become a giggly, bubbly enthusiastic cinephile literally bursting at her fetchingly beguiling (and oh-so girly) seams.

For those not having the first clue what it is I’m talking about, that four-letter acronym up above is the shorthand for the Seattle International Film Festival. It’s the largest and most attended event of its type in the United States, and while Cannes, Toronto and Sundance get most of the hype our little cinematic party has been chugging along since 1976, growing in both size and scope each and every year since its launch.

This 34th annual version promises to live up to that statement. Beginning Thursday with the opening night gala presentation of the star-studded WTO riot drama Battle in Seattle (Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Rodriguez, Ray Liotta, Channing Tatum and Martin Henderson, amongst others, star), and finishing up June 14 at the Cinerama with local premier of the spirited wine melodrama Bottle Shock staring Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Chris Pine, Freddie Rodriguez, Rachel Taylor and Eliza Dushku, the festival has over 400 screenings, forums and events to get even the most jaded movie lover excited.

Like what, you might ask? Well, for Seattle residents there are definitely some choice locally produced picks, the chief highlight maybe just being the documentary Bailey-Boushay House: A Living History which chronicles the history of one of the city's most beloved nonprofit organizations. For everyone else, there is also recent Best Foreign Film Academy Award nominee Mongol from Kazakhstan and accaimed director Sergei Bodrov (Prisoner of the Mountains), the critically acclaimed German drama The Edge of Heaven (winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival), the latest genre-busting winner from cult Japanese director Takashi Miike Sukiyaki Western Django, the eery looking French sci-fi noir Chrysalis, the South Korean ghost story Epitaph and the star-studded U.S. comedy The Great Buck Howard with John Malkovich, Emily Blunt and Tom Hanks. Also from Germany comes the world’s first gay zombie movie, Otto; or, Up With Dead People, a sure-fire midnight movie cult sensation if there ever were one.

All in all, SIFF 2008 will showcase films both big (DreamWorks’ latest animated comedy Kung Fu Panda premiers) and small (Bangladesh’s On the Wings of Dreams is a tiny little picture I’m going to be seeing if only for the simple fact it is, well, from Bangladesh -- when the heck do you ever get to see something from Bangladesh?) with plenty of in-between (Alexander Nevsky gets an archival presentation with accompaniment from the Seattle Symphony, F.W. Murnau’s timeless Sunrise screens at the Triple Door, John Waters will be here talking about making movies as a Hollywood renegade, Sir. Ben Kinsley gets a lifetime achievement award and there’s a big Gay-la screening of everyone’s favorite former 90210 resident Tori Spelling’s latest effort Kiss the Bride) to keep viewers of all ages excited and inspired.

Other notable events include more entries in SIFF’s Face the Music series, an afternoon chat with Oscar-winning actor F. Murray Abraham, the return of the ever-popular Fly Filmmaking Challenge, the oh-so-quiet and on the hush-hush Secret Festival, the slam-bang Midnight Adrenaline and the always exciting Films4Families series. Also returning in 2008 is the Planet Cinema program which presents documentaries and features with environmental themes, while the Northwest Connections program highlights 11 films with roots right here in the Pacific Northwest, many of them premiers.

As for me, I’ll be hitting one or more of the venues each and every day of the festival. While I’ll still be checking in with the latest Hollywood has to offer (can’t miss Sex in the City, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted or The Happening after all), mostly I’ll just be sitting in a theater sipping on Diet Coke, munching stale popcorn and watching world and independent cinema come to life on the type of gigantic stage it seldom gets to see but so often richly deserves.

Like I said before, this is as good as it gets, but like Christmas, Thanksgiving and my birthday, the sad fact is it only happens once a year. Hopefully you’ll get the opportunity to make the most of it. I sure as heck know that I will.

- Portions of this column reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle