SIFF SIFF 2007: Father’s Day Finale
posted by on June 17 at 10:08 AM
It’s the very last day of the festival, wherein awards are distributed (I’ll post an update once they’re announced), parties stretch long into the night, and I finally get some sleep. The Stranger’s recommendations for every slot in the film festival wrap up below. Check out www.thestranger.com/siff if you don’t like scrolling down the Slog.
SUNDAY JUNE 17
Neptune, 11 am. I apologize for saying Arctic Tale was too big for the film festival. This film, from the producers of March of the Penguins, seems like a cri de coeur at the way MoP was taken by social conservatives. Arctic Tale is insistent about the danger global warming poses to the adorable animals of the arctic.
It seems to include the not-so-cute walrus baby for two reasons: 1) to introduce kids to the delicate relationship between predator and prey that forms a backbone of any given ecosystem; and 2) to provide an example of alternative family structures that exist in nature. Walrus babies are apparently raised by their mothers and what Queen Latifah dubs an “auntie”—another big fat female walrus who bonds to and helps to guard the baby as though it were her own. Arctic Tale is not as beautifully filmed as March of the Penguins or as elegantly assembled, but it’s definitely worth seeing. Good for older kids, though they’ll make merciless fun of the music, if the tween crowd at the Neptune last night was any indication.
Pacific Place, 1:30 pm. The Bet Collector is deeply sobering, but has some of the best acting in the festival.
Late afternoon is a tough one. Should you see Cthuhlu so you can jump into the city-wide fight, siding with the “it’s innocent camp, which is the only camp—hooray!” crowd or the “oh my god, how embarrassing for all involved” crowd? Warning: the video projection may not be pretty. Or watch Sex and Death 101, the major-motion-picture debut of the Heathers screenwriter? (I didn’t catch this on Friday. Anybody?)
Harvard Exit, 6:30 pm. Skip the tedious closing-night movie and rejoice in the extra screening of For the Bible Tells Me So, a gays-versus-fundamentalism doc that David Schmader loved. First Run Features has picked up the film for distribution, so you should be able to see it in Seattle later this year or in 2008.
There’s not much worth seeing in the final slot of the festival. Sneak into the party or sneak off to bed.
Looks like they fixed the projection for CTHULHU at 4:00 at the Neptune - fingers crossed, it should look as pretty as it's supposed to.
i saw arctic tale in dc last night. the filmmakers were present for questions, and an eight year old girl came up to the mic and asked "so, when you named the baby polar bear and the baby walrus - did you just name them on your own, or did you ask them their names?"
I can't believe it's over so soon.
The winners have been announced and are listed on the siff site (do links here work?). The audience awards once again have much embarrassment. Outsourced best film? Sex & Death 101 best directing? So sad. But very happy that Shotgun Stories received the juried New American Cinema Award.
Links do work, but you have to remember the quotation marks. I fixed it for you.
And thanks, by the way! They must have posted this while we were still sitting in suspense at the awards ceremony. I wish the Space Needle had wi-fi.
Sex and Death 101 stunk. It was like Maxim magazine started making movies. I couldn't bear to stick around for the Q+A afterward since Wynona didn't show.
Wish I could have seen Shotgun Stories though.
Looks like the enemies of the Elder Gods are on a swarm. Good luck, my brethren in Cthulhu...
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It was fun partying with Grant and the Cthulhu crew on Saturday and Sunday nights.
That said, the Closing Night film was great!
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