The first Seattle International Film Festival was in 1976, at the marvelous Moore Theater. It was a radical idea — film festivals were for Cannes and New York and Chicago; could it work in a smallish city like Seattle?
It worked splendidly. I was there, though one screening was all I could afford, that first year. It was Down the Ancient Stairs, which I remember liking but otherwise don’t remember at all.
What I do remember is the authentic thrill of sitting in a great old theater, with hundreds of other people who love odd, artsy movies, all of us sharing a film and an experience that could never happen at a multiplex.
Over the years, Seattle’s film festival grew bigger, longer, and more adventurous. I was always there for at least a few shows, and some years up to a dozen, including some I’d rank among the greatest films I’ve ever seen. SIFF broadened my horizons to wide-screen, and wider than that.
Oh, sure, there were a few turds along the way, but that’s part of the deal. They’re showing films that take chances, and the audience is taking a chance, too. The gamble paid off, at least 95 out of the hundred or so SIFF screenings I’ve attended.
Then I moved away, and attended film festivals in San Francisco and Madison over the next decades. When I returned to Seattle in 2022, returning to SIFF was definitely on my to do list, but between intermittently working and trying to find a job, I couldn’t afford the time or money until this year, 2025.
The festival opens in a few weeks, I’ve been pumped about being there, and now, SIFF’s calendar for this year’s event has been released. The calendar is a delightful part of the experience — you read carefully through descriptions of all the esoteric films, whittling your list to however few or many films you can afford. My plan was to buy a six-screening pass ($75), and I spent hours in the middle of last night studying the program.
With my six flicks selected, the next step was picking the showtimes, and that’s when three pies hit me in the face.
Each film screens only once or twice, and two of my six are being shown only at the AMC Pacific Place theater. Not to be too snooty about it, but because I love out-of-the-ordinary movies, I almost never see mainstream new releases, so I don’t even know where that theater is. Also don’t know why a festival of art movies with ideas and innovations and frickin’ subtitles would show anything at a corporate eleven-plex. Guess I’ll have to put up with it, though.
Two of my other movies will screen only at the SIFF Downtown, which used to be the Cinerama. It’s a very nice old theater, but seating is reserved. You’re stuck in a specific chair, and shit-outta-luck if some lady or gentleman drenched in perfume sits next to you, or if your seat has a pokey spring. As a matter of choice, habit, and principle, I avoid theaters that require seat-selection in advance, but… guess I’ll have to put up with it.
All my remaining festival films will screen at the Uptown. I loved that place 30 years ago, but returned last Monday, and it was such an unpleasant experience. Will every SIFF screening at the Uptown be like that — in an un-heated auditorium, with fifteen minutes of commercials before the feature? Guess I’ll have to put up with it, but…
No, I won’t. I’m not paying $75 to see movies at the multiplex, or in a seat selected sight-unseen, or shivering through neverending ads in a cold auditorium. Thanks for the memories, SIFF, and sincerely thanks for all the years and all the films, but I won’t be there in 2025.
4/28/2025
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