Seattle International Film Festival

The other week was the end of the Seattle International Film Festival, which I have attended every year since 2003. I’ve always been interested in films and I love the chance to see several movies that I otherwise would never have the opportunity to enjoy. It is fun and exciting as I really have no idea what the movie is going to be like, and I rarely look at any trailers.

I do have a couple of rules:

1) Movies are chosen by title, short, synopsis, and/or the thumbnail picture that is on the SIFF website. I do this, because I would rather find a “diamond in the rough” than just go to the popular festival awarded films. However, winning festival awards is not a bad thing in my selection process.

2) I must see a film from a country that I have never seen a film from. I do this for several reasons, but the most important is to be exposed to something that I have never experienced before (a common theme in my film festival experience). I don’t have to tell you that other cultures see the world in radically different ways that your own culture does. It is a pretty fundamental truth. It is wonderful to experience that in a way that only films can. A few years ago, I saw a movie from Iran for the first time, last year it was Denmark, and this year it was Chile.

3) There must be a Seattle or Pacific Northwest film in the selection somewhere for the simple reason that you have to support local artists.

I’ll be doing a review of each of the movies that I have seen (hopefully I’ll finish)…