‘Devo’ takes home inaugural SIFF DocFest Audience Voted Award

SEATTLE – SIFF announced today that Devo, Chris Smith’s documentary on the unfiltered truth about the radical and deeply political band, took home the inaugural SIFF DocFest Audience Award voted on by festival attendees. SIFF’s fourth annual DocFest ran October 3-10, screening 15 films at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

The audience voted award for favorite Documentary was new this year and saw hundreds of DocFest pass and ticket holders submitting votes. “Seattle has one of the most enthusiastic documentary-going audiences in the world, which is what initially inspired us to conceive of this Festival in 2021,” says Stan Shields, SIFF’s Associate Director of Festival Programming, “Documentaries are meant to engage and ignite conversation, and we’re looking forward to hearing directly from our audiences on this expansive lineup with this new award.”

About Devo:
Since winning a Grand Jury Prize in 1999 at Sundance for American Movie, prolific documentarian Chris Smith has established himself as a go-to for getting genuine weirdos to talk about their art on camera. Recently, he’s stared into the blazingly disastrous Fyre Festival and shadowed Robert Downey Jr.’s emotional exploration of his father’s outsider filmmaking career. Smith’s latest assembles an authentic account of Devo, the metamorphic art rockers who formed amid traumatic disillusionment following the National Guard’s deadly confrontations with Vietnam War protestors at Kent State in 1970. Founding members Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh’s direct-to-camera recollections make up the spine of the film, but Smith deftly dodges talking head tropes. Engaging tales of their collective’s inspirations, uncertain early days, and rocky road to improbable ubiquity are ornamented with vibrant collages of contemporaneous footage, innovative costumes, and deep dives into an extensive library of ahead-of-their-time video projects.

With a focus on the band’s massive first wave, the documentary contextualizes their music as just one arm of a wide-ranging philosophical project of “de-evolution.” Fans will revel in revisiting performances and hearing backstories of how admirers like David Bowie, Brian Eno, and Neil Diamond launched them from an annoying performance art project into an indelible facet of the collective conscience. Bring your Energy Domes; this one plays all the hits. —Josh Bis

"Chris Smith’s Devo is a documentary that’s every bit as fun as its subject. For Devo fans, it’s 90 minutes of irresistible pop history and dazzlingly edited surrealist audio-visual candy."—Owen Gleiberman, Variety

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About SIFF:

Beginning in 1976 with the annual Seattle International Film Festival, then expanding into year-round programming, SIFF is a 501c3 cultural arts organization whose mission is to create experiences that bring people together to discover extraordinary films from around the world. It is through the art of cinema that SIFF fosters a community that is more informed, aware and alive.

In its four theaters, SIFF offers year-round screenings, Film Talks and a series of spotlight festivals throughout the year. SIFF also serves the community through educational programs and SIFFsupports, a partnership program that hosts and provides technical support to a variety of special screenings and festivals.

For showtimes and event updates, visit siff.net.