Films & Events
siffter
SIFFter is an easy-to-use visual search tool that will help you sift through the more than 400 films and narrow down choices based on your preferences including genre, country, time of day, and other filters. The SIFFter is also available on iSIFF, our fantastic iPhone app.
SIFF Programs
Celebrate SIFF in style with our Gala Presentations and Events featuring incredible special guests, exclusive parties at great venues, top-notch entertainment, and hors d'oeuvres, desserts, and drinks from the Festival's fine food and libation sponsors.
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Travel the world with SIFF's Special Presentations—We have chosen a handful of films that embody the broad range of programming at SIFF. Explore the world underwater, discover the family you never knew you had, and consider events in the past that are still happening today.
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This year we honor inimitable actress Sissy Spacek and the groundbreaking director William Friedkin with the Seattle International Film Festival Awards for Outstanding Contributions to their craft.
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Displaying the early marks of mastery in their craft, it’s our pleasure to introduce SIFF audiences to 2012’s Emerging Masters, Andrea Arnold and Alain Gomis.
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Free Screening! Join us under the stars as we celebrate Sissy Spacek in her Oscar®-winning role as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter. Film begins at dusk at the Mural Amphitheater at Seattle Center.
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Join us over Memorial Day Weekend at SIFF Cinema Uptown for ShortsFest Weekend, our annual celebration of the short form.
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Documentary filmmaking is often described as an attempt to put reality on screen. In truth, these films are so much more.
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SIFF is international in scope, but has never forgotten its roots in the fertile Pacific Northwest film community. Each year, the Puget Sound region makes its presence felt at SIFF, whether as a moody location, a source of inspiration for local filmmakers, or even as a character in its own right.
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SIFF has a rich history of presenting a broad range of cinematic voices from Asia, and 2012 is no exception. This year, our selection highlights 24 films from 13 countries, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Pakistan.
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This year we’re pleased to highlight an exciting crop of new and provocative films from Spain. The region has long been known as ripe for producing delicious cinematic experiences, transporting from our sun-deficient locale to a country that, with each viewing, can seem more and more like paradise.
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American film is in a constant state of flux, continually redefining itself relative to the culture, trends, and values of the present time. 2012 is no different, and we are proud to present a selection of New American Cinema that is certainly a bold step forward for U.S. independent filmmakers.
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It’s easy to find people in Seattle who claim to hate country music, but when pressed, they’ll admit to liking Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton or old Hank Williams. In that respect, experimental films are the “country music” of the festival world
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Celebrating the preservation of classic cinema for a new generation—Each spring in Seattle, it’s all about the movies (we can’t count so much on sunshine). Whether it’s your first or 50th time, there’s nothing like watching your favorite classic films on the big screen.
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This year, we’re pleased to launch a brand-new subsection of New American Cinema named SIFF Catalyst. Catalyst describes the role of the filmmaker in the evolving creative landscape from which these selected films emerged.
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From D.C. to Doe Bay, the films of this year’s Face the Music offer a revealing glimpse into the stories behind some of the world’s most talented musicians.
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Occupy Midnight! Fellow denizens from the dark, twisted corners of midnight movies: Unite! Too long have the “purveyors of quality cinema” and the so-called “defenders of good taste” dictated what is “acceptable” to the masses.
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Carpe Diem …. But Keep it Quiet! The first rule of the Secret Festival is: DO NOT TALK about the Secret Festival. Ever.
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Not just apprentice works or warm-ups to feature films, short films have their very own strengths, a lot of charm—and often pack just as powerful a punch.
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SIFF is proud to showcase the mentorship of Adobe Youth Voices programs, empowering youth in 32 countries around the world to communicate their ideas and take a leadership role in the communities using media.
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With each passing year, the output from American filmmakers continues to surprise, confound, and inspire us. From lyrical science fiction to stark realism, we have assembled this set of 12 films that we are sure will delight audiences looking to explore the exciting vanguard of New American Cinema.
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This year, 12 new international voices have been selected for our New Directors Competition, which presents the freshest and most exciting perspectives in global cinema.
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Unscripted and uncut, the world around us is a perennial resource of unexpected, informative, and altogether absorbing storytelling. For years, documentary filmmakers have brought these untold stories to life and introduced us to a vast array of fascinating topics we may have never known existed, le...
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Join SIFF each weekend morning throughout the Festival for extraordinary matinee experiences of both international and new American films created for children and the young at heart.
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In 2010, SIFF formed the SIFF FutureWave Committee, comprised of 20 students aged 15 to 20 from 18 different schools across the Puget Sound region, who have defined themselves as a group of young film enthusiasts.
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Students of all ages may attend free workshops through SIFF’s Festival Forums and Digital Media Lab. In the Forums, filmmakers and interested audiences may explore a variety of topics from family documentation filmmaking to major fundraising.
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SIFF audiences know that their experience with a film doesn’t end when the credits roll. Talking Pictures offers an engaging, provocative, and entertaining post-screening forum for opinions, ideas, and understanding through lively debate.
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SIFF is teaming up with The Next 50—the Seattle Center's six-month celebration of the 1962 World's Fair’s 50th anniversary—for a series of films and forum discussions that highlight different focuses. All screenings are Wednesdays at 7:00 PM at SIFF Film Center and are free to the public.
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