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I'll Need a Double ... "f this one’s no good I’ll need a double," came the voice from a few rows back just before the lights went down on one of the remarkably punctual three-a-day press screenings well into the home stretch of the 25th annual Seattle International Film Festival, held May 13 to June 6 in this beautiful and vibrant Northwest city. This being Seattle, there’s a fifty-fifty chance the fatigued critic meant coffee -- although the pace and sheer size of this the affable event, lustily endorsed by the city and thus well-attended by the inquisitive and supportive natives, might’ve driven the scribe to a stronger drink. Seattle is a study in contradictions, the golly-gee atmosphere of the civic embrace of the festival. And then there are the locals, the legendarily responsive and nurturing public known for being among the most savvy in the nation ("I’ve heard about you guys," said one visiting filmmaker before the lights went down on the first-ever screening of his film, echoing what a lot of directors think about premiering a movie here). To mark the first quarter century of the festival’s existence, founding director Darryl Macdonald supplemented the usual lineup of international festival favorites and American independent premieres with a sidebar event reprising some of the titles given American premieres at the festival in years past. This impressive list of 10 titles included Denys Arcand’s Jesus of Montreal, Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Alan Rudolph’s Choose Me, Julio Medem’s Cows, Lars von Trier’s Element of Crime, Carl Franklin’s One False Move, and a selection of Dutch films -- which the festival claims to have championed well before other American events -- featuring two early works by Starship Troopers director Paul Verhoeven, 1975’s Cathy Tippel and 1983’s The Fourth Man. The print of Hector Babenco’s The Kiss of the Spiderwoman, previously announced for the section, didn’t make it due to some sort of rights snafu. The remaining bulk of the festival, which numbered some 200+ feature films spread out over six downtown venues, was split into numerous, easy to digest sections. In addition to the de rigeur Contemporary World Cinema, there were sections dedicated to new directors, American independents (including 10 new films in a juried competition), documentaries, archival presentations, new Canadian films, films for families, packages of short works and midnight attractions. Among the most popular programs were the late-festival sneak preview of a new film, each weekend’s "Secret Festival" presentation and an all-night "Drive-In Party" of four B-movie-ish titles culled from the festival at large. One of the more adventurous and opinionated sidebar events was "Emerging Masters," which highlighted recent work by Polish director Dorota Kedzierzawska, French auteur Francois Ozon, British helmer Michael Winterbottom and hot German filmmaker Tom Tykwer (whose new movie Run Lola Run won the festival’s Golden Space Needle Best Film award). The flagship screenings included the opening night gala presentation of Francis Veber’s The Dinner Game, an evening with John Sayles introducing and discussing the American premiere of his new movie Limbo, 25th anniversary presentations of five new high-profile films, and the closing night premiere of the sequel starring everyone’s favorite British agent In Need of a Dentist, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Non-screening festival events included a virtual auction of movie poster art in partnership with Amazon.com, work by 25 local teams of artists inspired by the festival motto "Life. Flashed Before Your Eyes.", the third edition of a self-described movie "boot camp" called "Fly Filmmaking" and a three-day "Filmmakers Forum" featuring round-table discussions with visiting professionals on a broad range of subjects affecting the creative impulse as well as the industry as a whole. One of the programming strategies employed by the Seattle team is to backload the schedule with premieres, which serves to make the last 10 days to two weeks of the event of keen interest to the festival veteran. What follows, then, is a modest cross-section of films seen primarily during the latter stages of the festivities -- in amongst the cozy and laid-back social events that seem to be organized almost every night by the attentive but understandably frazzled staff. Readers seeking further information on the festival and its umbrella organization, Cinema Seattle, are directed to http://www.seattlefilm.com. 1999 Golden Space Needle AwardsBest film:
Runners-up:
Best Director:
Runners-up
Best Actor:
Runners-up:
Best Actress:
Runners-up:
Best Documentary:
Runners-up:
Best Short Film:
Runners-up:
American Independent Award:
American Independent Filmmaker Award Special Jury Prize
New Directors Showcase Award
New Directors Showcase Award Special Jury Prize
New Directors Showcase Award Special Jury Prize
Atom Films Short Film Award
Honorable Mention:
Washington State Screenwriter Award
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