Cinema Dissection: It’s a Wonderful Life

December 21, 2024

There are two staples of Christmas cinema: your favorite adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Frank Capra’s quintessentially American parable It’s a Wonderful Life. A box office failure upon its first release, Capra’s film became a beloved holiday classic through countless seasonal television airings. And while often mischaracterized as an exercise in small town nostalgia, the film delves into far darker emotional territory, encapsulating the fraught anxieties of post-WWII America, all of which are marvelously captured in James Stewart’s note-perfect performance.

Join facilitator and SIFF Programmer Dan Doody for a scene-by-scene breakdown of George Bailey’s life in Bedford Falls as he searches for happiness, love, and, of course, Zuzu’s petals.

PASSES & TICKETS
Cinema Dissection Pass: $130 | $100 SIFF Members
Individual Tickets: $30 Sustainer | $25 Regular | $20 Member

Buy Pass

SIFF year-round passes and vouchers are not valid for this event.

Tickets

Select showtime for pricing and tickets.

Saturday, December 21, 2024

SIFF Film Center

10:00 AM

CLASS SPECIFICS

Saturday, December 21, 2024
10:00am–4:00pm PT
SIFF Film Center

ABOUT CINEMA DISSECTION

Cinema Dissection affords film lovers an exciting opportunity to dig deeper into the films that they love. Inspired by Roger Ebert's annual Cinema Interruptus in Boulder, CO, attendees will participate with a facilitator in a six-hour scene-by-scene, and sometimes shot-by-shot, deconstruction of the featured film. While the facilitator will certainly share their thoughts, anyone in the audience may call out "Stop" and either ask a question of the group or make an observation around a certain shot or moment in the film.

About the Instructor: Dan Doody

About the Instructor:

A Seattle-area native, Dan Doody received a degree in English from Western Washington University, and began working for the Seattle International Film Festival in 1999. He programs both features and short films for the festival, serving on the WTF! committee and as the festival's lead coordinator for its Oscar® qualifying ShortsFest section. He is an enthusiast of the gothic in both film and literature, the pagan-haunted pastorals found in English ghost stories, and the seedy streets of film noir. He could quite happily live in a crumbling castle so long as it was within walking distance of a neon-lit diner on a rain-slicked city boulevard.