NOIR CITY RETURNS TO SEATTLE

SEATTLE - January 17, 2018 - The 2018 incarnation of the world's most popular Film Noir festival, Noir City, is returning to the legendary Egyptian theater February 16 through 22, with exceptional films from the most "noir" of decades, 1941 to 1951. The festival presents 18 classic films as they were experienced on their original releases, pairing a top-tier studio "A" with a shorter, low-budget second feature, or "B" film. All but two of the films will be presented in glorious 35mm.

The host of Noir City, Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, will also be back to delight audiences with twisted tales and anecdotes about each film. If you've seen his show "Noir Alley" on Turner Classic Movies, then you know what an incomparable master of the darkest corners of human motivation he is. Eddie is available for interviews via phone or SKYPE.

Opening Night the Egyptian will be transformed into a haven for gangsters, molls, vixens, and villains, with Noir-themed wine and a shadowy cityscape photo booth to capture patrons at their sinister best. Presented in 35mm, the Opening Night film, The Maltese Falcon (1941), John Huston's remarkable directorial debut, sets the tone for this year's stellar line-up. The As include The Blue Dahlia (1946), starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, which incredibly is making its first appearance in Noir City, and Flesh and Fantasy (1943), by renowned French director Julien Divivier and featuring a dazzling cast including Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, and Robert Cummings.

Our Bs include Quiet Please, Murder (1942), a surprisingly racy film starring George Sanders as a cunning forger that must match wits with an equally cunning femme fatale (Gail Patrick), and Bodyguard (1948), a film that ironically stars real-life lawbreaker Lawrence Tierney as a lawman framed for a murder in a meat-packing plant. This breakneck-paced thriller is also distinguished by the co-writer, Robert Altman.

On closing night, the Film Noir Foundation's latest restoration, an independently made noir crowd pleaser The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950), will have its Seattle premiere (the world premiere is only a couple of weeks earlier at the San Francisco Noir City). Thanks to the generosity of FNF donors, the Foundation was able to fully fund the restoration of this film. Starring Lee J. Cobb, this James M. Cain-style thriller gets maximum impact from its San Francisco locations, including a memorable climax at Fort Point.

"We are excited for this year's Noir City to return," says SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. "The 1915 Masonic Temple building that houses the Egyptian has some dark shadows of its own. There's definitely no better or more atmospheric movie palace to host Noir City in Seattle, one of the greatest movie-going cities in the nation."

Passes for Noir City 2018 are on sale. Full schedule and individual tickets are available now.

Friday, February 16 - Thursday, February 22
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
Festival Passes: $150 | $100 Members
Single film admission: $15 | $10 Members | $14 Seniors and Youth
SIFF Cinema Vouchers accepted at the rate of two for each single admission.

NOIR CITY 2018 LINEUP

Friday, February 16
The Maltese Falcon (35mm)
Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical, tough-talking private eye, becomes ensnared in a web of deceit when a simple missing persons case becomes a deadly hunt for a missing statuette. (d: John Huston c: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, 1941 101 min)

Quiet Please, Murder (35mm)
A book thief/forger sells a fake book to a Nazi through a female agent. A detective tries to uncover who the forger is and gets in the middle of a three way struggle for rare books and revenge in a public library. (d: John Larkin c: George Sanders, Gail Patrick, Richard Denning, 1942, 70 min)

Saturday, February 17
Shadow of a Doubt (35mm)
In Alfred Hitchcock's glimpse into the dark side of suburbia, a young woman discovers her visiting uncle may not be the man he seems to be. (d: Alfred Hitchcock c: Joseph Cotton, Teresa Wright, Hume Cronyn, 1943, 108 min)

Address Unknown (35mm)
The film tells the story of two families caught up in the rise of Nazism in Germany prior to the start of World War II. (d: William Cameron Menzies c: Paul Lukas, Peter van Eyck, Carl Esmond, 1944, 75 min)

Flesh and Fantasy (35mm)
Two members of a gentlemen's club tell three tales of the supernatural in this atmospheric pre-cursor to "The Twilight Zone." (d: Julien Divivier c: Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, Robert Cummings, 1943, 94 min)

Destiny (35mm)
Originally conceived as a fourth "episode" in Flesh and Fantasy, this expanded story is about a cynical ex-con and the blind girl that may be the key to his redemption. (d: Reginald Le Borg c: Alan Curtis, Gloria Jean, Frank Craven,1944, 65 min)

Sunday, February 18
Mildred Pierce (35mm)
Joan Crawford delivers a ferocious, Oscar®-winning performance as a hard-working housewife who struggles to provide the best life for her little girl Veda, only to find herself trapped in a dark world of thwarted desires. (d: Michael Curtiz c: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, Eve Arden, Bruce Bennett, 1945, 111 min)

Jealousy (35mm)
A successful alcoholic writer is murdered and his wife is accused. (d: Gustav Machatý c: Jane Randolph, John Loder, Karen Morley, Nils Asther, 1945, 71 min)

The Blue Dahlia (35mm)
Writer Raymond Chandler's only original screenplay is a classic about a returning vet being framed for his unfaithful wife's murder. (d: George Marshall c: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Doris Dowling, William Bendix, 1946, 96 min)

The Big Sleep (35mm)
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. (d: Howard Hawks c: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Elisha Cook Jr., 1946, 114 min)

Monday, February 19
Maltese Falcon (35mm)
Encore Screening

Mildred Pierce (35mm)
Encore Screening

Kiss of Death (Digital)
With his law-breaking lifestyle in the past, an ex-con, along with his family, attempt to start a new life, knowing a betrayed someone from the past is bound to see otherwise. (d: Henry Hathaway c: Victor Mature, Richard Widmark, Coleen Gray, Karl Malden, 1947, 99 min)

Blind Spot (35mm)
Veteran Columbia star Chester Morris delivers a terrific performance as a hard-drinking, hard-luck writer who pitches his skeptical publisher an ingenious "locked room" mystery . . . only to have the crime come true. (d: Robert Gordon c: Chester Morris, William Forrest, Constance Dowling, 1947, 73 min)

Tuesday, February 20
I Walk Alone (Digital)
An ex-convict leaves prison expecting his equal share from his ex-partner. But his partner has no intention of sharing. (d: Byron Haskin c: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Lizabeth Scott, Marc Lawrence, Wendell Corey, 1948, 97 min)

Bodyguard (35mm)
An ousted Los Angeles homicide detective goes to work for a widow and is framed for murder. (d: Richard Fleischer c: Lawrence Tierney, Priscilla Lane, Phillip Reed, Steve Brodie,1948, 62 min)

Wednesday, February 21
The Accused (35mm)
When a college student grows inappropriately fond of his psychology professor and tries to rape her, she fights back. But as she defends herself, she accidentally kills her attacker. (d: William Dieterle c: Loretta Young, Robert Cummings, Wendell Corey, Douglas Dick, 1949, 101 min)

The Threat (35mm)
Murderer Arnold "Red" Kluger has a score to settle: When he was convicted, he promised revenge on the people who put him in prison. (d: Felix E. Feist c: Charles McGraw, Virginia Grey, Michael O'Shea, Anthony Caruso, 1949, 66 min)

Thursday, February 22
The Man Who Cheated Himself
A woman in the process of divorce shoots her husband and gets her police lieutenant boyfriend to help hide the body. (d: Felix E. Feist c: Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, John Dall, Harlan Warde,1950, 81 min)

Roadblock
An honest LA insurance detective becomes corrupt and turns to crime after falling in love with a gold-digger model. (d: Harold Daniels c: Charles McGraw, Joan Dixon, Lowell Gilmore, 1951, 73 min)

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About the Film Noir Foundation

The Film Noir Foundation is a non-profit public benefit corporation created as an educational resource regarding the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of film noir as an original American cinematic movement.

As a focal point of the classic film noir revival, the Foundation serves as a conduit between film companies and repertory cinemas still eager to screen these films in 35mm. Revenues generated by ticket sales encourage studios film archives to strike new prints of films that are at risk of disappearing from public view, either through neglect or scarcity. Once these films are unearthed and returned to circulation, the chances exponentially increase that they will be reissued on DVD, available in pristine, affordable form for future generations of film-lovers.

About SIFF

Founded in 1976, SIFF creates experiences that bring people together to discover extraordinary films from around the world with the Seattle International Film Festival, SIFF Cinema, and SIFF Education. Recognized as one of the top film festivals in North America, the Seattle International Film Festival is the largest, most highly attended film festival in the United States, reaching more than 140,000 annually. The 25-day festival is renowned for its wide-ranging and eclectic programming, presenting over 400 features, short films, and documentaries from over 80 countries each year. The 44th annual Seattle International Film Festival will be held May 17 through June 10, 2018. SIFF Cinema exhibits premier theatrical engagements, repertory, classic, and revival film showings 365 days a year on five screens at the SIFF Cinema Uptown, SIFF Cinema Egyptian, and SIFF Film Center, reaching more than 175,000 attendees annually. SIFF Education offers educational programs for all audiences serving more than 13,000 students and youth in the community with free programs each year.