Read more about the films and watch trailers on the SIFF Blog, or watch this video on YouTube.
BAEK: Welcome, Stan and Beth to the first edition of SIFF TV. You all know me, of course. I'm Hannah, SIFF’s Community Engagement Manager. Stan, we have you here – you're the Associate Director of Festival Programming. And then, of course, Beth – Artistic Director. Thank you so much. We're going to have our sneak peak Festival First Look, starting right now, and we're going to get into those films in a second.
But, before that, I just want to talk a little bit more generally about our 51st Seattle International Film Festival. This is happening, of course, in person May 15th through 25th and then online May 26th through June 1st. There's been a lot of work. We all know going into this, so far. So can you tell us a little bit just about, kind of what the process of programming a large festival looks like? And, what's been ramping up to this moment?
SHIELDS: Yeah, sure. I mean, we opened up submissions for the festival back in August, and began taking submissions for people who wanted to submit for consideration to be part of the festival. And we started bringing on our Programming team a few months later, once we had enough for them to start watching.
We ended up with about 4,500 submissions altogether, and we bring on a team of 28 programmers. Generally, those programmers are focused on individual regions of the world or genres, types of film. And so their focus is going to be on those sections of the submissions. And then at the same time, on a parallel track, we're looking at what else is coming out.
We're looking at what's happening at other festivals, what films we know are about to get completed. And so we're kind of taking those two threads. And then the last couple of months on the final stage, we weave those two groups together and say, “Of these, what are the best films we could bring to this audience?” This is a gigantic process and it's a big process.
BAEK: And how are you going out or finding out what is all playing around the world to get that kind of second string?
SHIELDS: We're reading other film festival lineups. Once we have our relationship with the filmmaker, we're always like, “Hey, when your next film is ready, we'd love to hear about it.” And fortunately, they often pick us up on it and tell us.
So, there's a lot of your feet near the fire so you're staying warm and safe near everybody. And just talking with people who represent other, other great filmmakers who are kind of following those communities that revolve around the filmmaking teams that make the films.
BAEK: Beth, anything you want to add?
BARRETT: No, I think that's right. We've been doing this for 50 years, so we have a lot of relationships with festivals,with other festival directors, with filmmakers, with distributors. And it really is a matter of sifting. It is such a huge number of films to start with, to just whittle down to 125-ish, from the 5,000-ish.
It's a lot, but every single one of those films represents thoughtful conversation, arguments, balancing within our committees. Each section has a committee that presents to the larger Programming group what they think is the best, most balanced, most interesting lineup for the year.
BAEK: Beyond balance or just interest, are there any other things that you really look at when you're trying to craft that SIFF lineup?
BARRETT: Yeah, I mean, I think we're always looking for first and second time filmmakers for those new voices. We're always looking to represent diversity, not just of culture, but of genre and style and length and perspectives. We're always looking to really elevate those really independent and especially international titles and stories.
It's like making a vegetable soup, you know, if you only put in potatoes and tomatoes, it tastes one that one way. But if you start putting in parsnips and, you know, celery and chervil and all of that, there's all these different flavors that go into making a really well-balanced and deep soup.
BAEK: That's the soup.
And, you mentioned a bit about the larger Programming team that comes on to help with the festival. But I also know you two have been working together as kind of a Programming duo for a long time. Can you kind of tell us about when you started to program this festival in tandem and what that relationship is like?
SHIELDS: I started as a programmer on the team in 2006. And I've kind of been trying to make myself useful in whatever ways that the organization could use with the talents I have to bring to the table.
And I started slowly kind of working on everything over the years. The shorts moved into shorts and features and helping produce some events. And then in 2017, I came on board as the then Festival Programming Manager. So we've been working together pretty much as a duo in that sense since then.
BARRETT: Yeah, that's all correct.
BAEK: I think it's great to have that kind of dynamic because, you know, in the own kinds of projects, I also get to work on having someone that you're constantly bouncing off ideas, getting that kind of, you know, vibe check from, can I think, make something like even stronger and you stick to the voice even better when there, than when there's just one person kind of running the show.
BARRETT: One of the great things about working with Stan is, you know, when I became the Artistic Director in 2016, one of the things that we really worked with our programmers on is how to bring out their voices and how to really focus on the kinds of programs that they want to put together, the suggestions, the ways that we all work as a very large team. But, managing those folks is a lot. And one of the ways that we sort of shifted the way the Festival is programmed is in committees. Each of the committees has a little bit of free rein to really put forward what they think is going to be the best films in their section and it has led to a lot of really interesting things, films that I would not have chosen because that is not my style or that is not my genre or I didn't think of that, that are really because we bring a number of people into a discussion and we really let them take ownership and responsibility. Like there are definitely some films where I think, “Well, you'll be there to introduce that film, right? Because you're responsible for that film.” And I think it's really led to a lot of programmer and audience trust because the programmers are there, they're explaining why they thought this was an important film to show or why they found it funny when other people did not.
And it really starts that conversation and that is something that, that we're so good at SIFF, presenting the films – we're almost agnostically presenting the films to start that conversation. There's somebody for every film that's in our lineup. There is somebody on our team that loved it, that was its champion, that had to get it from that great morass of, you know, 5,000 films that had to pick that one out and say, “I choose you, and I'm going to fight for you.”
And so while it is a very broad look at the international and independent film world, it is also one that is loved by those 18 people. And managing all of those committees is Stan, making sure that they all have everything they need to succeed and to find those gems and to have those fights. A couple of committeesI mean... it gets a little tense there at the end when you're like, “You can only have eight.” And they're like, “But we have 14.” And it's like, “Well, you can only have eight. Choose the eight.” And within those they're looking at balance, they're looking at genre. They're looking at making sure that first and second time filmmakers or BIPOC filmmakers or female-identifying filmmakers are being brought forward, that we're really discovering those voices.
BAEK: Yeah. I mean, just as a Festival attendee, I know having those introductions from the programmers or even sometimes just the other staff really brings that energy. You might just go to a film because you had free time or your friend wanted to see it, you know, maybe it wasn't necessarily your favorite title, but feeling that enthusiasm from the people who programmed it, I think really adds that extra love that really translates as an audience member.
And, you know, you're mentioning the special ingredients of the soup. What would you say is the ingredient you bring each from your programming perspective? What's your sauce that you're dashing into this, what's your taste?
BARRETT: Pepper. Yeah. Just black pepper. Little bit spicy, but necessary for depth.
BAEK: Excellent. What do you bring to the soup, Stan?
SHIELDS: I think that I bring celery to the soup. I think it's one of those ingredients that kind of slides in there, but without it you would feel the absence. It's a necessary thing to kind of make the roux.
BAEK: Real backbone of the soup. That makes sense given your titles.
Well, Before we get into the films themselves, just one more question about the festival, which I think is really unique because we have a lot of local film festivals, but not at this scope. And then, of course, we have a lot of large festivals in the country, but none quite like SIFF.
So what do you think is really something that makes SIFF kind of what SIFF is as far as a film festival?
BARRETT: You know, when it started in the ‘70s – 1976 – it was really a way to bring international films to Seattle. There were a lot of theaters, but they weren't necessarily showing the kinds of films that Daryl McDonald and Dan Ireland wanted to bring here.
And I think that we've continued that for 50 years and one of the big focuses for us is those international films, those independent films, those voices and films you actually might not see again because they don't have distribution. I think more than 70% of our films don't have a U.S. distributor, don't have a streaming deal in front of them.
So this is a great chance to travel the world to see other places, to meet other people, to challenge yourself. A lot of our films are challenging and that's by design. That's intentional. To start those conversations. And I think that because of our broad nature, because where we are really in our focuses and our genres, in our countries of representation, we're extremely wide, we're really able to bring in audiences for maybe one film, for maybe two films, introduce them to what we do as an organization, introduce them to other films they might like, introduce them to people that are interested in the same thing that they're interested in, and to keep moving that forward and to keep those conversations going.
You know, Seattle is incredibly blessed with depth. Film festivals currently coming up in March are Filmapalooza and the Jewish Film Festival, and the Sea Slug Animation Festival just happened. We're able to partner with lots of other festivals to bring the depth to Seattle, to bring the sort of world coverage, that breadth.
BAEK: I've heard SIFF being described as a festival for audiences. What do you think that really means?
SHIELDS: We think that Seattle is a community of very engaged and enthusiastic supporters of storytelling, and curious people who want to hear stories that are not necessarily the easy ones to access. And I think that the Festival gives them a place where they can actually engage not only with the films, but with the programmers, with the locations of the filmmakers, and with each other to kind of have a robust conversation around these ideas, and I think that's the thing that you don't get in a city even twice the size. And I think that it's a really, really important part of what makes Seattle Seattle.
BAEK: And of course, this is also an Oscar qualifying film festival. So we're operating at an industry level.
BARRETT: We've got lots of levels. Our short films are incredible and we are a qualifier for short films in three different categories. So it is really exciting. You know, shorts are a great way to discover the next voices, the folks that in three or four or 10 years you may see on a different platform that you may see on a larger space, those really incredible, incredible stories.
BAEK: Great, great plug for short films which should always be watched. Always.
BARRETT: Always.
SHIELDS: Always.
BAEK: Okay, I think we're ready to get into the Festival First Look. So can you just list them out? What are the six titles that we are going to drop right now?
BARRETT: Yeah. So when we were trying to think about what six titles sort of represented the different kinds of things that we're bringing to Seattle in May, that also maybe have a little bit of cache, that are from some known directors, have won some awards that people might know, but to get excited about the kinds of things that are going to be happening in the end, the kinds of films that we're going to bring.
So, our first six films from our First Look – we have the new Ferzan Özpetek, who is a SIFF favorite, his new film: Diamante or Diamonds.
We have the new Kiyoshi Kurosawa film, Cloud. I know, it's very exciting.
We all may remember the 2023 SIFF Audience Award winner, Dancing Queen. The sequel, Dancing Queen in Hollywood, is coming – the North American premiere of that.
There's an incredible documentary about US hero Sally Ride [Sally]. And as we're looking at space again, you know, she was the first woman in space and was an incredible, incredible human.
And a couple of Sundance award winners, the Audience Award, DJ Ahmet, and then the jury Award for Documentary, Seeds.
BAEK: Okay, there they are. Well, let's jump in. I mean, one of the titles I'm really excited for because I missed it at several festivals last year was Cloud, the Kiyoshi Kurosawa film. Do you want to tell us a little bit about Cloud, Stan?
SHIELDS: Yeah. So, it's by the really prolific director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and what's really amazing about this film, Kurosawa has a lot of films that explore kind of neo-noir and crime thriller and things like that, but he's also branched off into things that are more about just the state of culture. And this one kind of takes all of those different eras of his storytelling and weaves them all together into one individual kind of slow-burn thriller about a somewhat disaffected young man who has a side hustle as an internet reseller, meaning that he finds things that he can get for a discounted price and then sells them for a huge markup online and does this all through the anonymity of the internet. And over the course of that process, he eventually begins to get a bad reputation, and the people he’s been counting on kind of band together to come after him. And it's really interesting because it's got a great lead performance by an incredibly watchable, young man called Masaki Suda as the Yoshida reseller.
But it's also this kind of emotionless evolution from a really simple character study into this kind of broader social satire and then kind of culminates in a really riveting cat-and-mouse manhunt by the end and all has done inside of the context of just like a very simple day or two in a in a man's life.
BAEK: Worst day or two, maybe in a man’s life.
SHIELDS: I guess it’s more like a week. More like a week.
BAEK: For people who might not be familiar with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, what are some of his other titles that you think are real highlights?
SHIELDS: Sure. I think the most recent thing that a lot of people would remember would probably be Tokyo Sonata, which is probably about 2008. Then of course, he has a couple of those notable crime and mystery dramas, Pulse and Cure, which I think are the two biggest-known films by him.
BAEK: I love Cure. I got to see that at the Egyptian two years ago. And I also just realized that the lead in Cure is a lead in Perfect Days, which we recently showed, and is the gangster and Tampopo, which blew my mind, which we recently showed. What range. I don't think he's in Cloud, but anyway, that's just the Kiyoshi Kurosawa universe for you right there.
SHIELDS: I would mention one of the things that’s fascinating is that Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who kind of was considered kind of a bad boy, l’enfant terrible, of Japanese cinema 20 some years ago now has Japan's official submission for International Feature category with this film.
I think it says a lot about how the lens he's been looking at the world has kind of shaped the way people begin to look at his films, and now it's the resonance of what he's talking about is actually landing on people in a different way. It's a really great synthesis of his vision into a very current topic that makes it really of our time.
BAEK: I feel like that might be a trajectory for a lot of directors that we're going to see at this festival, maybe 20 years down the line. They're feeling indie or underground right now, but they're going to become those like main voices for their national cinemas or for their genres and stuff like that.
Well, I would also love to hear more about Diamonds, the one you mentioned as being a SIFF favorite, Beth,
BARRETT: I mean, that was a great lead in to Özpetek. This is his 15th film, and, and he did Facing Windows, a couple decades ago, which won an award at SIFF. But he has been incredibly prolific. He's a Turkish-Italian filmmaker. And this one starts with him – literally him himself – inviting 18 of Italy's greatest actresses that he's worked with to come to his house, drink a little wine, and read his new film, which is Diamante, about a 1970s costume shop, a millinery in Rome that accept more work for the movies and they can possibly do in one day, and they're extravagant, beautiful costumes. And these 18 women are all working together to create these new spaces, these new visions for an Oscar-nominated film director from America. And so, a lot of the things that he really visits in this film, he really centers women in a lot of his films, especially sort of the matriarchal woman, but also the woman that is pushing forward, that is pushing past the limitations placed on her by society.
He's also revisiting his years in the 1980s, working in the film industry. He was an Assistant Director, and he worked in film and theater with a lot of great costume designers, directors, actors, and worked a lot backstage and just revisiting what it takes to make the kinds of movies that he's making with these. It's very meta on meta on meta, but it's really incredible, sparkling, funny, witty, also melodramatic in the best of all Italian ways. It's a lovely ride.
BAEK: I love a metatextual film about films. I feel like we always have a lot of those in the lineup. So clearly this will appeal to people who just love movies. Who else do you think this film is really going to strike?
BARRETT: If you just want to sit back and be just delighted by 1970s Rome and a very female-forward – I think there's two male characters in this whole film, and they're basically like the delivery boys and they kind of do the jobs and they kind of run around in their tight shirts and muscles.
BAEK: Very Italian.
BARRETT: Yeah, very Italian. But if you just want to sit back and just be delighted by 1970s fancy Rome and maybe a musical interlude or two, this film is for you.
BAEK: I could use that. Yeah, I think we could all use that.
Well, speaking of another very female forward film, could you tell us a little bit about Sally, which won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance? I know that's given to films that have a science focus, but tell us a little bit more about that film.
BARRETT: Yeah. I mean, Sally is the portrait of Sally Ride, the first woman to us, woman in space. And this was, of course at a time in the 1980s – in the early ‘80s – that women were not at those levels, especially in science, especially in astrophysics and space. She was on the 1983 Challenger mission, and she had to fight for everything that she was given. And one of the things that she had to do in order to do that – in order to achieve at that level at that time – was to hide her personal life and her partner of 27 years, Tamara Shaughnessy, who was a tennis player. They were together for, you know, almost three decades, but it was not public because otherwise she would not have been able to achieve the things that she was able to achieve.
So this is a really incredible documentary. Tam is, of course, still with us. And Sally is not. She passed away a number of years ago, but we're able to really see some of the – and the archival footage is incredible – deep emotional things and the ways that especially in science at the time and and even still that that women and, non-binary people are being required to hide parts of themselves in order to achieve in an objective fashion.
And I think, you know, like most films, there's truth in history, but there's also truth in the present day and how history repeats itself and how,if we're not careful, gains that we've made can roll back.
BAEK: I did a little bit of just reading into this film and I noticed that the director, she says that Sally Ride was like her lifelong hero, and that when she was an elementary school student they had to paint a mural on the side of their gym or something, and she picked Sally Ride, and she's standing next to this, you know, kind of from-the-behind shot painting of Sally Ride with “Sally Ride: written on her back.
What do you think this film brings to us having been directed by this young fan, young woman, who's been like a lifelong fan of this person? What is the kind of insight that we get into this life from that perspective?
BARRETT: With something like that, you would always feel like, is this really hagiographic? Is this really just going to, you know, prop her up as a saint. It doesn't. She was a complicated human being and she had a lot of, you know, through facing a lot of those challenges, she was not necessarily who she might have been, as a human, and I think recognizing that in people, that you don't know what people are going through, and you don't know why they're bringing what they're bringing, Sally Ri was also a hero of mine.I was I was in high school when Challenger went up and as a teenage girl, I was like, “Oh, I could go to space… like that's possible for me.” Now, my math scores said, “No, you're not going anywhere near space,” but the idea was there was that glass ceiling that was broken. And, we haven't gone quite as far as we would like in science, especially, to support women, to achieve at that level, but I think that feeling for Christina (the director) Costantini comes through – that Sally Ride represented the possibility, what was possible for a young woman. And that still holds true.
BAEK: Yeah, it sounds like it'll be a really complex and a really loving portrait, because it's coming from two people who love her, her lifelong partner and then someone who thought of her as a hero. So yeah, it’ll be poignant.
BARRETT: Yeah. It's an incredible film.
BAEK: Yeah.
Okay, well, there's another film on this list that I know won a prize at Sundance, just like Sally, that I think it is both very poignant, but is going to take a roller coaster through a lot of tones, kind of a lot of genre-mixing too, I think. So, Stan, would you tell us a little bit about DJ Ahmet?
SHIELDS: Yeah, DJ Ahmet is the debut feature film by a director from North Macedonia named Georgi Unkovski. You are correct that it is a really, really special film. It tells a story about this young boy named Ahmet; he's a 15 year old boy growing up in a shepherding family in a remote conservative village in North Macedonia. The family has kind of suffered some major losses recently, and they're all trying to kind of navigate that. And he finds his relief from the pressures of his family and the conservative community that he's in through discovering and reinvigorating his love of electronic music.
And so, as he is exploring that, he also has the benefit of falling in love for the first time. The challenge of his falling in love is that he falls in love with someone who's already been promised to someone else. And so the film begins to evolve on these two tracks – his exploration of how to kind of navigate his family, navigate this fascination and clumsy affections for this young woman and also his love of music. And he finds ways to hybridize them and opportunities to bring them together in different combination that's really both charming as well as iit never takes his struggles lightly, but handles them with a very light touch and a great deal of humor. It allows him to be a 15-year-old boy struggling with all of these things, but also having this incredibly charming core that he brings to every scene.
It's done by a great acting ensemble, which is led by Arif Jakup, who's the boy who plays Ahmet. And it really has a really punchy, upbeat soundtrack. He goes on a lot of little adventures because also, when to begin to explore, the woods, you know, find that there are rapes and he stumbles on some of those.
There's lots of fun being had with the sheep and how he has to keep track of all the sheep while trying to do all these other things. It's just a really charming, sweet, good-natured coming-of-age story, and it's a really special little treasure.
BAEK: This is already getting my mind whirring, because one of my jobs at SIFF is going to be to make all these screenings even cooler, and I’m like, “Can we have a sheep rave in the woods for this event?” Probably not. No, I know that's a no. I mean I'm just really excited by all the different aspects that this film brings.
And also what's catching my eye is that this is from North Macedonia, and I feel like this must be a country we rarely – maybe even also a region – that we don't always get a lot of films from.
SHIELDS: That is very true.
BAEK: What is interesting about films that are coming from this part of the world?
SHIELDS: Well, I think one thing that interested me, the first reason why I watched it was I said,
“There's a North Macedonian film? That doesn't happen a lot.” But also a lot of those films often are very serious – very, very heavy; very, very somber films – and I thought that while this film touches on many of the topics, it does it in this way that shows you the power of positive optimism and getting through those. It's not Pollyanna in any way, but it's very much like a film that just says, “And, we can also all strive and succeed.”
BAEK: Yeah. That's great. I think especially it seems like it's got a bit of a coming-of-age energy to it, but like a really realistic one where there's fantasy and there's aspirations, but there's some hard stuff going on, but, you know, we'll make it through. Yeah, teen life is hard.
BARRETT: There are a lot of really interesting films coming out of Eastern Europe in the last five years, 10 years. I think a lot of young filmmakers are finding their voice. Tenerationally, it was very much more challenging for folks of their parent's age, but a lot of these younger filmmakers have come of age post-Communism and with access to the West. So, the stories that are coming out reflect that sort of modern life that is tinged deeply with the Communist history and the political ramifications of that. So, it's really fascinating.
BAEK: Excellent.
There's another film on this list that I think is dealing deeply with politics, maybe a bit more forwardly than DJ Ahmet would be. But yeah, this is the last of the ones that we've previewed from Sundance, and that would be Seeds. So, what's going on with Seeds, Beth?
BARRETT: Seeds is Brittany Shyne's debut film. It was shot over nine years with Black farmers in the South and really following, almost at pastoral speed. It's shot in beautiful black and white cinematography – It's a gorgeous film – but at the speed of agriculture. You know, nothing happens fast with plants.They may pop out of the ground, but then it's going to take them another six weeks to get tall enough to do anything. And the film has that feel that if you are able to sort of give yourself to that feeling, the story it's telling is incredible about the loss of generational wealth, that is physical land, that is agriculture, that is the support from the, government, the challenges that Black farmers face in terms of governmental support that white farmers are able to get loans and bridge gap money much faster and much easier than Black farmers are, that within a lot of Black farming communities, there's much more of an interest in age-old or organic farming methods than there are in commercial white-led farms. And so there's that challenge.
So, it's both this sort of elegiac look at these families over nearly a decade, but also a call to action. This is how America is fed. This is a microcosm of what's happening in a larger sense, in terms of generational wealth, in terms of institutionalized racism, but also in terms of family development and looking at how your legacy is passed on, and how you keep your history within your family, but also within your community.
It’s an incredible, incredible film, and I think everyone should see it.
BAEK: I’m seeing that this film is focusing on Black farming families in Georgia, but two things I know about Washington state where we are is a huge farming state. You go into any grocery store in the country probably and the Apple has come from Washington State. And also, we have a really serious and pretty devastating history with institutionalized racism in Seattle, including really devastating redlining. So I'm seeing this as one of those really unique opportunities where while this story may not be local local, it has really local resonance so I'm really excited to see that hopefully on a huge screen, because I'm really intrigued by this black-and-white take, and I'm wondering how the style of the film – which I don't think is necessarily typical of serious sort of politically leaning documentary – is really intersecting with the message or the experience of watching it.
BARRETT: That's a great question. I think that the black-and-white lends it this sort of somberness. There's a lot of joy, like, these farmers love their land, they love what they do. But there's also this somberness. But in the shadows, in the black-and-white cinematography we're really able to see sort of the complexity without thinking about the color. And I mean, they're, they're growing food, but if you're distracted by the red of the apple, you're not seeing the whole picture.
And so, you're absolutely right that it has this devastating effect across the South specifically, but also anywhere that agriculture is an ongoing industry, and anywhere that institutionalized racism is preventing generational legacy and generational wealth.
BAEK: This seems like essential viewing. I'm really eager to see it.
BARRETT: Yeah, it's a gorgeous film.
BAEK: Well, we have one film left. I think it's going to be a bit of a more happy note in going from black-and-white, maybe to, like, Technicolor.
So, let's end on Dancing Queen in Hollywood.
BARRETT: Yeah, so, you may remember the 2023 Audience Award-winning Dancing Queen’s Mina and Marcus. Well, they did not win the competition, but they got a great consolation prize, which is to go to LA to be in a music video with a Norwegian pop star. So off they go with their families, the whole crew, and land in La La Land – in the land of sunshine and bright lights – and Mina is discovered and given an opportunity to audition for a big Hollywood film, and she has to decide whether she's going to follow her dreams to act with Brad Pitt or to remain loyal to her crew.
BAEK: Real indie versus mainstream. This feels like really relevant just to film in general. And yeah, obviously anyone who liked Dancing Queen from a couple years ago would probably love to see these characters follow up.
Is this also a film that's going to be really accessible to, say, teens or young people?
BARRETT: Yeah, absolutely. It's part of our FutureWave program, which are films that we think teens will actually enjoy and really vibe with. So, I think teens for sure. There are some interpersonal challenges that might prevent younger viewers. But teens, yes.
BAEK: Excellent.
Speaking of Hollywood and just the rest of this gigantic lineup, we have six films kind of discussed. Now, how many more features can we expect? And maybe even how many more shorts can we expect to get announced on April 23rd, when the full lineup goes public?
BARRETT: About 120 more features.
BAEK: Wow, that's so many.
BARRETT: I know, so many.
SHIELDS: And shorts – I haven ‘t crunch the numbers, but I would say we're probably about 100 and 120 of those as well.
BAEK: Any other highlights or just insights and kind of how the program seems to be shaping up right now?
BARRETT: I mean, when we're looking at this year, the last couple of years have been complicated and filmmaking with the double strikes and just the sort of uncertainty within the industry. So, the films out there right now are really independent. They're really new voices. They're really international. They're incredible. Some of them are very challenging and still joyful, and some of them are really joyful with just a tinge of challenge – because the world is a complicated place. And the films that we're looking at with the festival reflect what's going on in the world and reflect some of the political challenges, religious challenges, reflect wars, reflect joy and happiness and some of the real achievements of humanity, as well as some of the harder parts.
BAEK: Feels like this year, the “I” IN SIFF is “international” and “independent.” Very much standing for both.
BARRETT: Yes, and “innovative.” 'm going to go with “innovative.” We have a number of really curiously innovative films, different ways of telling maybe the same stories that we've heard, from an entirely different perspective or an entirely different genre.
SHIELDS: Yes, definitely. We can't tell you what those are yet.
BAEK: I won’t pry you, but I will say, I think audiences are really hungry for innovative new stories right now, soI think this will be a huge treat of 200 something total shorts and features. I can't wait to work on it.
Well, that's the Festival First Look, but I can't let you guys go without doing, a new little feature that is going to be consistent throughout SIFF TV, which is a game we're calling “This or That?” So, we're going to just popcorn.
This or that – you tell me, Beth. Camping or hotel?
BARRETT: Hotel all the way.
BAEK: Why?
BARRETT: You know, sleeping outside is not really my jam. It gets cold, or maybe it gets hot. It’s.. you know… I like a hotel.
BAEK: Fair enough. Stan, camping or hotel?
SHIELDS: Oh. Hotel.
BAEK: I'm a camper, but it's been a while also. So maybe I have to admit, hotel.
Stan, how about this or that – first day or last day of Festival?
SHIELDS: Oh, probably I'm going to say… well, I would say as an experience, first day… very closely followed by last. But first day there's that great moment when the lights finally come down and everyone's expectations kind of rise and meet the first film and there's that sense that you are embarking on the journey that we've set out ahead of you. And I think there's something you can't replace with that.
BAEK: Amazing. Beth, first day or last day of festival?
BARRETT: Last day, followed very closely by first day. Last day, because, you know, I'm able to think back on all of the incredible experiences and think back on all the incredible people that I've met… and also look forward to sleeping.
BAEK: Yeah. That's fair.
Well, this is the, you know, the back and forth of the Programming deal. I think that's so good. You have to have both perspectives.
Beth, this or that – buttered popcorn or chocolate popcorn?
BARRETT: I'm going to enter a third option – mix. I am a die-hard mix.
BAEK: Stan?
SHIELDS: I will go with the buttered popcorn with a little nutritional yeast stand.
BAEK: Stan, this or that – aisle seat or center seat?
SHIELDS: I'm a very tall guy with old knees, and aisles are always the way to go.
BAEK: Yeah, I feel that. Yeah.
Beth, aisle or center seat?
BARRETT: Oh, aisle all the way. I fidget too much.
BAEK: Yeah, I love an aisle seat.
And let's see – this or that, Beth. Intermission. Yes or no?
BARRETT: That's complicated, because if the director put an intermission in there, I absolutely love a chance to stand up. If they did not, that's not really my role to insert an intermission.
BAEK: And, Stan, are you an intermission fan or no?
SHIELDS: I'm firmly on the same boat as Beth there, where we're here to bring filmmakers' visions’ to the public, and if that's the vision they have with an intermission then sure, but if not, we can't summarily choose that.
BAEK: That's fair. I love an intermission because otherwise, if you need a bathroom break, you're going to impose an intermission no matter what, and, that's always disappointing for me, although there are speakers in the bathroom of the [SIFF Cinema] Downtown which are very useful.
I think my last question – just to kind of reflect on our theme this year before we kind of leave and go back to our normal lives — is, this year's theme is escape to the Reel World. I would love to hear any of your thoughts on the theme and kind of how does film or a specific film really transport you to a different place?
BARRETT: I think film just in general transports you because you're in a space, the lights go down, you're having this experience with these other people, you're all watching the same thing, but you're all experiencing it completely differently.
And I love our theme for this year, Escape to the Reel World, that you're you're able to walk in and not really know exactly where your journey is going to take you, that you're going to go somewhere, you're going to have some experience, you're going to have some emotions, you're going to have all of these things. It’s like walking into a hotel for the first time. You’re like, “I don't know exactly what my room is going to look like. Maybe I got the penthouse room with the balcony, or maybe I got one that's not like that. But my room is going to be an experience, and I’m going to be in there and I'm going to give myself to that.”
And I love that. And like hotels, every room is different. If you love a certain genre, that's great. , but you might like a different kind of film, too, so you might as well give it a try and see if someone will put you in a different room.
SHIELDS: I think it goes back a little bit to what Beth was saying earlier. These are all films from storytellers from around the world, people who are filmmakers who want to bring you a story about what they're seeing or their feeling, or how they just kind of want to share these thoughts they have, and this is a way for us to enter into a room and go on these journeys all around the world to see all of these different stories and storytellers in their own spaces. And I think that sometimes it's escapism, sometimes that's immersion, and sometimes that's an eye-opening experience, and I think it could be all of the above, sometimes simultaneously. I think that's what festivals are really all about.
BAEK: Yeah, yeah. Seattle International Film Festival: the boutique hotel of cinematic experience.
BARRETT: There we go.
BAEK: Next tagline.
Well, thank you so much, Stan and Beth, for chatting about our Festival First Look. I'm very eager to see all the rest of the titles, including the shorts, and start digging into those more with you both as the weeks come by.
See you at Opening Night, May 15th. Thank you.
BARRETT: Thanks, Hannah
SHIELDS: Thank you.
