Seattle International Film Festival Turns Fifty!
by Karen Pecota

A few film festivals are celebrating their “round” birthdays (as Germans would categorize it) this year in 2024, i.e., Sundance turned forty and Slamdance turned thirty. The “round” means that they have been able to celebrate for at least ten years, and then be acknowledged for every ten years thereafter. The higher the number the more accomplished they are.

Celebrating its Fiftieth Anniversary is the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) in May 2024. Since 1976, SIFF has been a thirty-day festival, known as the longest running film festival celebrating independent films. However, due to unforeseen issues since the pandemic, and in order to “keep up with the Jones’s,” SIFF has cut back to a more realistic timeframe with a 10-day run. This year is no exception with the dates, May 9-19, 2024.

Several films showcasing during SIFF have previously been presented at other festivals earlier in the year, such as the film THELMA, which is SIFF’s opening night film. A delightful drama-comedy, THELMA will not disappoint, based on true events from the director’s own grandmother’s story of being taken in by a telephone scam. THELMA is a creative portrayal of a very serious situation in which the elderly of today fall prey to. You may know of someone you love who has had a similar experience. I sure did, as my father received such a call a few years ago.

Aside from a wonderful lineup of SIFF films, my coverage will include part of the films in the Northwest Connections category as it is a special shoutout to local filmmakers, their films and unique stories. The Film4Families, cINeDIGENOUS, Future Wave, and the New American Cinema will all have their place for review as I broaden my coverage and see what I can promote.

A fascinating aspect of this festival is that SIFF has a large number of awards they present including a special acknowledgements category. One rarely sees this type of extended honor among other film festivals. For example: There were roughly twenty main awards presented this year, but in addition, the fourth through the first runner-up winners are acknowledged. All films chosen to showcase their wares at a film festival are winners in their own right; but then to be acknowledged as a runner-up is pretty cool; but of course, the icing on the cake, is when one wins a Golden Space Needle Award (GSNA), or a SIFF Juried Competition Award. An award to be praised!

In typical fashion that honors Seattle’s longstanding glassblowing artistry, the GSNAs are designed by Piper O’Neill, the Principal & Creative Director of Idlewild Union, where each award is forged in glass by a team of artisan glass blowers. A treasure to behold!

Beth Barrett, SIFF Artistic Director says, “Celebrating these filmmakers and honoring the incredible work they have gifted us over the last eleven days feels especially meaningful...” Adding, “With over 300 filmmakers and thousands of patrons (roughly 32,000) coming together around film, this is not just a marker of a momentous occasion for our Festival, but it is a true beacon of a thriving film community in Seattle and around the world.”

In order to give you an idea of SIFF’s origins here are a few excerpts from the festival organizers sharing milestones of the past fifty years from a presentational article: “SIFFTY (FIFTY) YEARS OF SURPRISING CINEMA. Please see the SIFF website (www.SIFF.net) for the SIFF history detailed in a fascinating timeline under the dropdown, About, and then, under Our History. Read a few excerpts below:

“Since our inception in 1976, SIFF audiences have been the Festival’s pulse, inspiring our daring and diverse programming. We cherish the title “audience festival” as a testament to the discerning taste of Seattle cinephiles and our enduring ability to showcase groundbreaking cinema.”

“May 14, 1976, was the first Seattle International Film Festival that opened at the Moore-Egyptian Theatre. The festival’s founders, Dan Ireland and Darryl Macdonald, took over the historic theater the previous year, renovating and installing a screen and sound system while living in the basement.”

“By 1980, the festival had grown to span an entire month, featuring over seventy films and becoming according to The Seattle Times, “one of the city’s most valuable cultural resources.” For their part, Seattle audiences earned a reputation as “a decisive judge of cinematic trends and quality,” making producers and distributors around the world “increasingly receptive to the SIFF as a barometer of this country’s tastes in movies.”

IF interested, one can read the fifty-year timeline in its entirety on the SIFF website but just to add one more milestone that is of great significance is this fact: “With theaters closed due to the pandemic, SIFF struggled with a diminished revenue and staff. Relying on the generosity of supporters, SIFF revives the Festival in 2021 with a ten-day virtual format and returns to theaters that fall with the first DocFest. In 2023 SIFF acquires the former Cinerama (an iconic state of the art theater renovated a few times by the late, Paul Allan), reopening it as SIFF Cinema Downtown, heralding a new phase of growth and expansion.”

In addition to the SIFF’s historical accounts, they proudly share the festival 2024 stats here below: There were 261 films that were screened representing eighty-four countries including ninety-two narrative features, forty-seven documentaries, five archival films, two special tributes, two secret screenings, and 115 short films. The line-up included eighteen world premieres, twenty-six North American premieres, and fourteen U.S. premieres.

Sixty-two percent of the feature films were created by first-or-second-time filmmakers; 43 percent were created by women or nonbinary filmmakers; 35 percent of filmmakers identify as a BIPOC director, and nearly 60 percent are currently without U.S. distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States.

I would say that the success of the SIFF’s Fiftieth Anniversary celebration was a delightful one had by all.