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Monday, June 4, 2012

SIFF / Film Yesterday at SIFF: "Secret Festival" Screening Inspires Treasonous Response!

Posted by David Schmader on Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 1:41 PM

The Secret Festival is a grand old SIFF tradition. From the official description (bolds mine):

The first rule of the Secret Festival is: DO NOT TALK about the Secret Festival.

Ever.

Consider the Egyptian Theatre your cave and the hundreds of fellow Secret Festival-goers your comrades in Extreme Artistic Adventuring. Each of the four Secret Festival screenings is held at 11:00 AM every Sunday. Your ceremonial offering of $53 ($43 for SIFF members) allows you to see screenings of one-of-a-kind, coming-soon, unreleased, forgotten, altered, found, private collection, rare, really rare, and exceedingly rare films. But only you will know what they are—and we want to keep it that way...Hold fast, and take these secrets to your grave!

However, after yesterday's Secret Festival screening, at least two attendees were driven to break ranks and publicly decry the poor choice of film (which, anti-spoiler alert, remains unnamed). From an email sent last night to The Stranger:

You should check out XXXXXX's rant about the Secret Festival on SIFF Facebook—I tried to post but I couldn't (did they shut it down for comments?) The film was...yeah. Every kind of violent sexual material was in it— including pedophila, snuff, slashing, violence against women, death of women, violence using dogs—and gallons and gallons and gallons of blood. Who knows what else. I only lasted halfway. Half the audience walked out. It was a last-minute substitution by the coordinator of the Austin (?) Film Festival. Unbelievable in the wake of stuff that happened last week in Seattle. This was just over top, given all that [and an] iInnocent" audience—in that we didn't know what we were seeing.

I know that SIFF has a lot going on right now. But JFC. Don't they read the papers? I won't be going again to the Secret Festival. I'm not sure how I feel about any of it right now...I really did last longer than most people in my row.

Questions to SIFF have been answered in an appropriately Fight Club-y manner. From artistic director Carl Spence:

We don't talk about the secret, discuss or confirm what we've shown. It's like Brigadoon—it really never happened. Secret Festival members are not supposed to talk about it either. Otherwise we risk not being able to get films that we get. So I can't give an official statement.

Good for him. In the absence of anything beyond hearsay and conjecture, let's have a poll.

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Comments (25) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

The whiners should be banned from Secret Fest for life.

Or fed to dire wolves.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 4, 2012 at 1:59 PM

Doesn't it seem like SIFF goes on two weeks longer than you would ever expect or want it to?

When are they just going to put it as a category on Netflix and let people watch in the comfort and dryness of their homes.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on June 4, 2012 at 2:05 PM

@2 Some of us aren't afraid to actually go out and interact with other people in public. Just sayin'...

Posted by Hernandez

on June 4, 2012 at 2:08 PM

My money says it was "A Srpska Film."

Posted by K on June 4, 2012 at 2:12 PM

Movies are flickering images on a screen, and violent crimes happen in Seattle all the time. A lot of people who weren't directly affected by the shooting -- those who didn't know any of the victims, but have patronized Cafe Racer -- seem to be trying to latch onto this tragedy and make themselves seem more involved in it than they were. It's kind of gross.

Posted by Amanda on June 4, 2012 at 2:15 PM

D. All of the above

Posted by James McDaniel

on June 4, 2012 at 2:16 PM

Well, that was a helluva lot of hints in an e-mail.

Stop snitching!

Also, it was more interesting than some of the other snooze fests we've gotten, the next of which I still am expecting to walk out on next week if the pattern holds true.

Posted by TheMisanthrope on June 4, 2012 at 2:24 PM

When I worked for Landmark in the 90's, we (the theater employees) pretty openly discussed the films shown at these things amongst each other. I assumed they were only "secret" prior to being shown.

Everyone was pretty pumped after seeing City of the Lost Children at the secret showing that year, and for those employees at the screening, it may have been the only bright spot during the extended stay of an often very , very precious animal known as the SIFF pass holder.

Posted by Dougsf on June 4, 2012 at 2:24 PM

Tough call. I hate it when directors/writers spring sexual violence on me, especially when they use it as just another way to add depth to a female character without putting in any extra effort. It seems like a stale, trite attempt to be edgy and rarely serves a purpose that couldn't be achieved in a more interesting way (with very notable exceptions). That being said, something which I hate equally is trying to appeal to the broadest audience possible by sacrificing anything remotely controversial, interesting and novel. There was nothing to stop the patrons from walking out aside from that human desire of wanting their money's worth, but that's the sacrifice you make with every movie at film festivals anyway, so the unhappy people should probably just STFU and appreciate the fact that SIFF can play any movie they feel like without having to worry about appealing to everybody. Because "everybody" has some pretty shitty taste in movies (see: National Treasure, "Not Another _____ Movie", etc).

Posted by well_now on June 4, 2012 at 2:38 PM

Don't care about whatever crappy movie was shown, I just find the concept itself irritating.

Posted by Unregistered User on June 4, 2012 at 2:51 PM

It might be worth nothing that people generally really liked the first two Secrets this year.

Posted by stinkbug on June 4, 2012 at 2:52 PM

Buck up whiners, you waived your right to complain when you went to the secret festival. Secret, so stop snitching.

Posted by revolutionsperminute on June 4, 2012 at 2:53 PM

In truth, the Secret Festival has sucked for years. The "don't talk about it" clause just means that people can't openly complain about how much utter crap gets regularly dumped into the Secret Festival.

Posted by Scalpel on June 4, 2012 at 2:57 PM

Thank you, well now.

Posted by David Schmader on June 4, 2012 at 3:23 PM

I know what film this is and I hear it is absolutely hilarious.

Posted by McGee on June 4, 2012 at 4:02 PM

im pretty sure the movie was this: http://drafthousefilms.com/film/the-abcs…

Posted by he never had his brother robert's thirst for battle on June 4, 2012 at 4:12 PM

They wouldn't spring Uncle Boonmee on an unsuspecting audience because that might lose them ticket sales next year. (I'm *glad* not to have to hear Secret Fest patrons talking about what a piece of shit they thought Uncle Boonmee was, by the way). I think this was a ploy to create controversy because Secret Fest sales are down. Absolutely hilarious? I guess to frat boys. I wish it had been broadcast through Videodrome so that all of us who stayed to the end would get the brain tumors we deserve.

Posted by ratzkywatzky on June 4, 2012 at 4:59 PM

i had the same experience at the secret fest years ago when they screened resevoir dogs.. half the theater walked out so many in fact i heard that the projectionist that the film had broken.i remained blown away and giddy , but maintained the secret screed until it was released later that year.. the rest is history.
so yeah.. whatevs..

Posted by reverend dr dj riz on June 4, 2012 at 6:08 PM

As much as I hate to agree with John @2 (ever, about any subject, for any reason), "goes on two weeks longer than you would ever expect or want it to" is a pretty great description of SIFF.

And I say that as someone who has volunteered for the festival, has seen many great films at the festival, and who plans to see at least a couple more in this final week.

The problem is that, even if every SIFF executive and programmer simultaneously woke up to the realization that a leaner, tighter festival with greater curatorial discretion would do wonders for the quality of the attendee experience and for SIFF's reputation within the film world, they would never be able to convince corporate sponsors and high-priced pass-purchasers to pay similar rates for "less" festival. Quantity beats quality with those people every time. And so SIFF will probably never get to go on the diet it so desperately needs.

Posted by d.p. on June 4, 2012 at 6:20 PM

Since Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League was in town this weekend (and was ostensibly responsible for the selection), I'm betting @16 is correct.

Posted by d.p. on June 4, 2012 at 6:24 PM

Don't miss the 10 day Studio Gibli festival right after SIFF - it includes both dubbed and non-cut original Japanese language versions of all their movies, like Spirited Away, and so on.

A festival pass will cost you $100, but if you buy your SIFF membership now, it will cost you $50, which means it's cheaper to be a member and go to the festival! Plus the membership will save you $5 a film for the whole year from when you bought it, including those 3D films ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 4, 2012 at 6:37 PM

In fact, it was a slasher film at the Secret Festival that soured me on it forever -- I used to be an avid goer to the thing every year, but one year they showed a film so grim and un-fun that I left early and never went back. If you like that kind of poison fantasy, good for you.

Posted by --MC on June 4, 2012 at 8:14 PM

If I had ever been tempted to go to the secret festival show, I'm over it now.

Posted by Greg on June 4, 2012 at 9:05 PM

i like how secret festival pushes my boundaries at least once. also, ha ha ha, austin film festival. i want to say things besides "i was there," but all i can do is confirm that half of the audience left, and it was really fun seeing what things finally did people in.

Posted by icouldliveinhope on June 5, 2012 at 3:15 AM

The Secret Festival is terrific; dramatic improvement over the last four or five years.

Fuck the whiners. The whole point of Secret Festival is that you don't know what you'll see and you may not like it. If you're not comfortable with that, don't go.

And no, SIFF isn't too long.

Posted by FilmFan on June 10, 2012 at 2:28 PM