The 49th annual Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) began last night with a gala screening at the Paramount Theater of writer-director Celine Strong's critically acclaimed Past Lives. It will continue through May 21 at a wide variety of venues throughout the region, including SIFF Cinema Uptown, SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Pacific Place, Ark Lodge Cinemas, and Shoreline Community College, among others. There will also be a week of virtual offerings May 22—28, with many of this year's narrative features, documentaries, and shorts all available to screen in the comfort of festivalgoers' homes.
I sat down with longtime SIFF festival director, Beth Barrett, to chat about this year's event and what it means for the festival to be back in its longtime May slot on the Pacific Northwest calendar. The following are the edited transcripts of what she had to say:
Sara Michelle Fetters: We're back! And we're back in May.
Beth Barrett: We are back in May. [laughs]
SMF: How did that happen?
BB: The complexities of spring breaks, Easter, Ramadan, Passover, all of that. It was complex, so we actually asked the staff and board to vote on which time period [April or May] they thought was a better idea for the festival. May won, so here we are back in May! It's nice to be back fairly close to our traditional spot on the calendar.
SMF: And we're running for 11 days again, like last year.
BB: Yes. Eleven days. Eleven days in person, but then a week of streaming. Encore streaming runs from the 22nd to the 28th.
SMF: And while SIFF isn't back to a pre-COVID volume of offerings, it still looks like there is a fairly full lineup this year of in-person screenings.
BB: Correct. Absolutely. I may have shoved a ton of films into those venues. It's going to be a little bit of "Thanks for coming. Next film. Thanks for coming. Next film." [laughs]
We have 139 feature films and 125 short films. It's an extensive lineup.
Weirdly, we have exactly the same number of films as last year, but in a slightly different configuration. We've got 16 short film packages instead of 13, so a few less features, a few more shorts for 2023. There are also 74 countries represented this year.
SMF: Any new countries we're visiting for the first time in 2023?
BB: No, there's no country that is truly new. I keep hoping something from the likes of the Canary Islands is going to come up on our radar, or Mauritius or St. Barts. Somewhere that is not a traditional filmmaking country. But we still have a deeply international lineup, obviously, and six out of the seven continents are represented. Nothing from Antarctica this year.
That one year where we had all seven continents, though, that was the bomb. Would love for that to happen again.
SMF: Each year I love to check out the various showcases. Like the "African Showcase" or the "Southeast Asia Showcase" from past festivals. Any of this year's showcases we stand out to you?
BB: All of them. [laughs]
In all honesty, absolutely. We've got African Pictures back. That's very exciting. We have four films from sub-Saharan Africa and then two from North Africa, oddly both from Morocco.
Then our Asian Crossroads is particularly strong, with some great titles — 14 of those. All the different regions are well represented. We have a number of Ukrainian titles, docs as well as narrative films. They are all not necessarily from the Ukraine, but many are still about the war that's so sadly still going on.
SMF: Last year you had the perfect opening night film in Navalny. I imagine, for you, it's really important to showcase these topical films, stories that are about what is happening in the world right now. Was this something you and the rest of the programming team talked about?
BB: Yes. We did. But we also still want to make sure we're showcasing a wide variety of films from all over the world. But topicality is always an important factor.
This year we have a film called Motherland, which is a Ukrainian-Belarussian film about ...young people being conscripted into the military. That was a "2022 New Works in Progress" title that then did its world premiere recently at CPH Docs Fest and is coming directly to us as a North American premiere. I excited for audiences to see this one.
We are also showing 20 Days in Mariupol. It's ...a devastating doc. But it's also so important for all of us to watch, to see what is really happening in Ukraine. It is heartbreaking.
SMF: Well, you know how much I love the Midnighters, the fun genre programmers. But, especially right now, I think it's incredibly important that films like this one see the light, and there are so many topics ripe for conversation: abortion, Trans rights, healthcare, climate change, fascism. So much more. Can we expect to see issues like these dealt with in some of this year's festival offerings?
BB: Definitely. Check. Check. Check. All check.
It's crucial to show films that reflect the time. We're trying to reflect what's going on around us in terms of the stories that communities want told and the way they want them told, while at the same time connecting those films with audiences who may not initially know they need to be challenged. Let's open some eyes and start discussions.
Don't misunderstand. It can be hard to say, "Hey! Check out this hard-hitting South Asian documentary about climate change." But films like these, they're the bellwether. Their islands are sinking. We need to know about these kinds of things.
We actually have strong Trans representation this year, mostly in US narrative features, which is great. It's that balance of being educational, empathetic. and entertaining. As programmers, we walk that fine line of how do we get audiences to pay attention? And once we have their attention, how do we put something in front of them that we want them to see? That they need to see? I think many of these films walk that line perfectly.
We do have some bigger, more audience-friendly titles, of course. But the intent is always to say, if you like this big film, maybe you should also check out these 10 other films as well? That's always the goal.
SMF: Speaking of big films, your opening night film probably couldn't get any bigger: Past Lives. As of right now, this is one of the most acclaimed films of 2023, not just from a critical perspective but also from audiences who have watched it at other festivals. How exciting was it for you to get Celine Strong's film as your opening night attraction?
BB: I was so excited. I didn't tell anybody we had it until I had three or four emails from A24 confirming. I was like, I'm just going to keep this to myself. But A24 is terrific to work with and really recognizes connecting audiences in person to Celine's film is so important.
I was at Sundance, and I actually walked into the tent intending to see a different film but then looked over at the Past Lives line. I didn't even know what the line was for, but I could see all the waiting to get into the screening, and it was an impressive lot, let me tell you. I was like, I should get in that line. [laughs]
I went over, and I got in that line and was thankfully one of the last people to be let into this very tiny, 180-seat theater. Sat in the front row on the side. Watched it with my head tilted.
And I was blown away on every level. It's a beautiful film, and to know that it's Celine's debut? Incredible.
SMF: We also have another stellar Pacific Northwest showcase. Would you agree?
BB: I would. It's a little crazy. Northwest Connections covers a lot of ground. There's a lot of documentaries, as always. We're a very strong documentary town. It covers music. Covers puns. But also, the narratives look at all the different parts of the Northwest that we call home.
We have Megan Griffith's new film, Year of the Fox. Very excited! It's the world premiere. We have the world premiere of Sudeshna Sen's first feature, Anu, about a young Indian American girl whose grandfather passes away and how she deals with that. We have the world premiere of Punderneath It All about the pun slam circuit, which, weirdly, is very strong in the Seattle-Olympia area. Who knew? [laughs]
We also have the world premiere of Doug Ing's film about Alan Lau, Alan @ Work, who works at Uwajimaya but is also a cartoonist. A really interesting, interesting guy. We have Dreamin' Wild, Bill Pohlad's new film starring Casey Affleck, about the musicians that had some success in the '70s and then, basically, time forgot about them. They were from just outside of Spokane. They were rediscovered in the 2000s, so that's exciting, and it's nice to share this film with local audiences.
SMF: What can you tell us about some of the other of this year's LGBTQ offerings?
BB: It's very exciting. We have the world premiere of a film called The Mattachine Family, which is Andy Vallentine's debut starring Emily Hampshire from Schitt's Creek. Can't wait for people to see it.
But it's all exciting. There's a shorts package, and it is all Queer docs, which is really an interesting way to go. The Trans films, as I said, it's a wonderful selection. We're bringing Mutt from Sundance. We have Andrea Pallaoro's Monica starring Trace Lysette, which is fantastic. We are doing a single screening of It's Only Life After All, the Indigo Girls doc.
SMF: I know we want to keep a focus on this year's festival, but with more in-person screenings and activities, with more venues this year, I can't help but think SIFF 2023 is something of a trial run for what you are planning — hoping? — to do for next year's 50th anniversary?
BB: I'd say that's a good way to put it. We'll be celebrating the 50th anniversary for all of 2024. You don't just have a birthday; you have a birthday month. For SIFF, we're going to be having a birthday year. [laughs]
I have a lot of thoughts. A lot of plans. We've been working with an archivist to try to find some of our materials so that we can display them. We've got an incredible history of films that we have shown over the last 49 years. Somewhere on the line of 25,000 films. It's unbelievable.
But I have a lot of ideas for how to celebrate the 50th. Bringing back Fly Films is one of them. ...But I haven't gotten those all sorted out yet. But we will. Trust me, we most definitely will. It's going to be a celebration.
SMF: We've had so many interactions over the years. So many conversations. With COVID, with all the changes that have happened in the cinematic marketplace, most notably the rise of streaming, I can't imagine it's been easy to stay focused, to stay positive.
But I sit here, and I can see that your energy and your passion hasn't diminished. How do you keep that up? How do you stay so excited about looking toward the future? What makes you so passionate to keep doing this?
BB: Because people keep coming to SIFF and they keep discovering.
We've been doing a series called "SIFF Movie Club" and, ...it's the first time people have seen [a lot of these films] on the big screen. We showed Alien on March 31, and we asked how many people had seen it before, let alone watched it on the big screen. Half the room had never seen Alien. Watching them watch the film for the first time? Glorious.
I was like, people are still willing to go out and discover these amazing films. Access to film makes our lives better. It makes us better informed. It makes us more empathetic. It brings communities together. Just knowing that the work that I do facilitates that? I mean, I have the best job in the world. I watch movies for a living!
I love it. It's not the same when you watch these pictures at home. It's not. I mean, no film is the same when you watch it at home.
That's not a bad thing, necessarily. I feel just fine having watched numerous films from my couch. But when you can't stand up, press pause, and go reload your laundry? Or sit down, go make dinner, and come back to it later? It's that sense of being in a room, having an experience that can never ever be replicated, because you'll never have those people in that room with that film ever again. It's a unique experience. Every time. Every film.
SMF: Speaking of unique experiences that can never be replicated, what do you want audiences taking away from this year's SIFF?
BB: I want them to take away the feeling of being in community and community centered around film. Seventy-three percent of our films don't have US distribution. Sixty-nine percent of them are by first- or second-time filmmakers. Fifty-two percent are by female- or Nonbinary-identifying humans. The films that we have are truly discovery titles. Many do not as of yet have distribution.
Our titles are coming from all over the world. They're telling stories that we don't get to engage with all of the time. SIFF is an opportunity to honor and engage with those stories that these filmmakers are all telling. These are the kinds of things that you can only learn by watching film, because film allows you to open up, be empathetic, understand, and be challenged in the safety of your cozy cinema seat with your popcorn and a drink, and with the people around you.
But most of all, I also want audience to be entertained! I want everybody to laugh. We have a lot of comedies, too. Swear to God, we do have comedies. Lots of comedies. Everyone should be prepared to laugh. A lot.
Find out more about the Seattle International Film Festival at https://www.siff.net/festival