SIFF press screenings begin on Monday!
This bit of fun news arrived early this evening from SIFF: press screenings begin on Monday. I'm sometimes torn about attending press screenings, because they're often for films with personal appearances (typically by directors, sometimes by several people involved with the film), and it's fun to attend regular screenings to see the directors and others. On the other hand, one can see quite a few more films by attending press screenings.
Several of this week's screenings look interesting for one reason or another. On Monday, Project Nim largely because the director's previous film, Man on Wire was so good. Likewise The Future, which I lean toward seeing on Monday, then seeing again during the festival because Miranda July is scheduled to appear. On Tuesday, Circumstance looks good mostly because SIFF has a pretty good record when choosing Iranian films. One Wednesday, Win/Win looks intriguing on the basis of the premise. On Thursday, the comedies look promising.
I copied and pasted this from the SIFF mailing, with extensive clean-up:
SIFF 2011 Press Screenings
Week of May 2, 2011 at Pacific Place
As a Passholder you have the privilege of being one of the first to see films that will be shown at this year's Festival. Press screenings begin promptly at 10 am, noon, and 2 pm (unless otherwise noted) at Pacific Place. Please note that there are no press screenings on Fridays.
Please remember that you are a special guest at these screenings and Press does have priority. Please do be courteous to them as they are there to work. Also, please do not forget that there is no late seating at press screenings and the doors will close five minutes prior to the screenings start time. Because the press are working we do not have exceptions to this rule.
Press screenings are first come, first served, and no outside food is allowed in the theater.
Pass pick-up will be available beginning May 2 at the pass station on the fourth floor of Pacific Place (next to the theater).
MONDAY, MAY 2
Project Nim
Press Screening: 10:00 AM
U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions
United Kingdom, 2011 (93 minutes)
Director: James Marsh
Cast: Bill Tynan, Bob Ingersoll, Herbert Terrace, Jenny Lee, Joyce Butler
Awards: Sundance Film Festival 2011 (World Cinema Documentary Directing Award)
The emotionally wrenching story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee raised and nurtured as a human child in a 1970s experiment that started off as scientific curiosity but ended as profound human drama. James Marsh's follow up to his Oscar-winning Man on Wire.
Festival Screenings:
7:00 PM Fri, June 3 SIFF Cinema 1:30 PM Sun, June 5 Egyptian Theatre
The Future
Press Screening: NOON
U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions
USA/Germany/UK, 2011 (91 minutes)
Director: Miranda July
Cast: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky, Isabella Acres, Joe Putterlik
With droll humor and touches of magical realism, Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) tells the story of a young couple who decide to take thirty days to explore their destinies. This whimsical experiment leads to some surprising revelations about the uncertainty of what the future holds.
Director Miranda July scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
7:30 PM Sat, May 21 Pacific Place Cinemas 4:30 PM Mon, May 23 SIFF Cinema
Kosmos
Press Screening: 2:00 PM
Turkey/Bulgaria, 2009 (122 minutes)
Director: Reha Erdem
Cast: Sermet Yesil, Türkü Turan, Hakan Altuntas
Awards: Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival 2009 (Best Film, Director, Cinematography)
In this hauntingly beautiful imagining of a mysterious universe, a strange man drifts into a remote snowbound town and disrupts the existence of its inhabitants after rescuing a drowning boy.
Director Reha Erdem scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
6:15 PM Sat, May 21 Harvard Exit 1:30 PM Sun, May 22 Harvard Exit 3:30 PM Sun, June 12 Kirkland Performance Center
TUESDAY, MAY 3
Circumstance
Press Screening: 10:00 AM
U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Iran, 2011 (107 minutes)
Director: Maryam Keshavarz
Cast: Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho
Awards: Sundance 2011 (U.S. Dramatic Competition Audience Award)
This debut feature is an exhilarating political drama and love story about a burgeoning romance between two young Iranian women and the fraught allegiances of a single Tehrani family.
Director Maryam Keshavarz, actor Reza Safai, actresses Nikohl Boosheri and Sarah Kazemy scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
6:30 PM Sat, June 4 Harvard Exit 4:15 PM Mon, June 6 Egyptian Theatre
Sound of Noise
Press Screening: NOON
U.S. Distributor: Magnolia Films
Sweden/France, 2010 (102 minutes)
Directors: Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson
Cast: Bengt Nilsson, Sanna Persson Halapi, Magnus Börjeson, Anders Vestergård, Fredrik Myhr
Awards: Fantastic Fest 10 (Best Fantastic Picture), Palm Springs Film Festival 11 (New Voices/ New Visions - Special Mention)
The sound and image anarchists behind the 2001 cult short Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers successfully take their concept and talent to a larger arena in this delightful comic cocktail of modern city symphony, police procedural, and love story. Features the most complex, wackily staged musical numbers since Delicatessen.
Festival Screenings:
7:00 PM Sun, June 5 Egyptian Theatre 7:00 PM Thu, June 9 Neptune Theatre 1:15 PM Sat, June 11 Neptune Theatre
Amador
Press Screening: 2:00 PM
Spain, 2011 (112 minutes)
Director: Fernando León De Aranoa
Cast: Magaly Solier, Celso Bugallo, Pietro Sibille, Sonia Almarcha, Fanny de Castro
In this surprisingly funny and human tale about survival, a young immigrant girl faces a moral dilemma when the elderly man she cares for unexpectedly dies a month before her last loan payment. Engaging and thought provoking in equal measure, this film won much-deserved acclaim at this year's Berlin Film Festival.
Director Fernando León De Aranoa scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
4:00 PM Tue, May 31 Everett Performing Arts Center 6:30 PM Thu, June 2 Pacific Place Cinemas 1:30 PM Sat, June 4 Pacific Place Cinemas
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4
Crying Out
Press Screening: 10:00 AM
Canada (Québec), 2010 (115 minutes)
Director: Robin Aubert
Cast: Jean Lapointe, Michel Barrette, Patrick Hivon
A father, son, and grandson experience a wake-up call in this quasi-surrealistic road movie. Set in Québec, the combination of dark secrets and deadpan humor recalls Finnish cinema, while the lakes and pine-covered hills root the narrative to its distinctive place.
Festival Screenings:
6:30 PM Sun, May 22 Pacific Place Cinemas 4:00 PM Mon, May 23 Pacific Place Cinemas
Win/Win
Press Screening: NOON
Netherlands, 2010 (84 minutes)
Director: Jaap van Heusden
Cast: Oscar Van Rompay, Halina Rejin, Leon Voorberg, Hans Kesting
A young math wunderkind becomes the top trader at an Amsterdam brokerage, but pays a heavy emotional price for his seemingly effortless ability to make profitable decisions. Set amid the unfolding global financial crisis, this absorbing character study subtly skewers the hubris that helped bring about economic calamity.
Festival Screenings:
6:30 PM Mon, May 30 Egyptian Theatre 4:30 PM Wed, June 1 Neptune Theatre 7:00 PM Fri, June 10 Kirkland Performance Center
Venice
Press Screening: 2:00 PM
Poland, 2010 (110 minutes)
Director: Jan Jakub Kolski
Cast: Marcin Walewski, Magdalena Cielecka, Graznya Blecka-Kolska, Teresa Budzisz-Krzyzanowska
Awards: Polish Film Awards 2011 (Best Cinematography, Set Design, Sound, Costumes), Montreal World Film Festival 2010 (Best Artistic Contribution Prize)
Eleven-year-old Marek dreams of a trip to Venice with his family. However, the realities of WWI soon intrude as he's packed off to a tiny Polish village to live with his aunts in their dilapidated villa. When the basement floods, Marek creates his own version of Venice.
Festival Screening:
4:00 PM Fri, May 20 Pacific Place Cinemas 9:30 PM Tue, May 31 Pacific Place Cinemas 3:30 PM Sun, June 5 Admiral
THURSDAY, MAY 5
Something Ventured
Press Screening: 10:00 AM
U.S. Distributor: Zeitgeist Films
USA, 2011 (85 minutes)
Directors: Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine
Cast: Featuring: Arthur Rock, Tom Perkins, Dan Valentine
This intriguing documentary chronicles the early days of venture capital, which reinvented how companies get launched and gave rise to some of Silicon Valley's most successful enterprises. Through interviews with industry pioneers, Something Ventured is a reminder that the American Dream and the entrepreneurial spirit are both still alive.
Directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
1:00 PM Sun, May 29 Admiral 6:30 PM Mon, May 30 Harvard Exit 5:30 PM Sun, June 5 Kirkland Performance Center
Submarine
Press Screening: NOON
U.S. Distributor: The Weinstein Company
United Kingdom, 2010 (97 minutes)
Director: Richard Ayoade
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige
Based on the successful debut novel by Joe Dunthorne, Submarine is the hilarious coming-of-age story of 15-year-old Oliver Tate. Oliver has two summer objectives: to lose his virginity to pyromaniac bully Jordana before he turns 16, and to put an end to his mother's renewed flame for her ex-lover.
Director Richard Ayoade scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
7:00 PM Fri, May 20 Egyptian Theatre 11:00 AM Sun, May 22 Neptune Theatre
The Most Important Thing in Life Is Not Being Dead
Press Screening: 2:00 PM
Switzerland/Spain, 2010 (82 minutes)
Directors: Olivier Pictel, Pablo Martin Torrado, Mark Recuenco
Cast: Emilio Gutierrez Caba, Marian Aguilera, Merce Montala
Set during the Franco era in Spain, this playful tragicomedy opens with an insomniac piano tuner whose wife won't believe he saw a strange man in their living room. As his pianos are no longer tuning themselves, he discovers a second reality lurking behind his stable life.
Director Pablo Martin Torrado scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
9:30 PM Thu, June 9 Egyptian Theatre 1:30 PM Sat, June 11 Pacific Place Cinemas
The 37th Seattle International Film Festival is made possible in part by support from Xfinity, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Brotherton Cadillac Buick GMC, Alaska Airlines, Don Q Rums, The Wallace Foundation, Wong Doody, American Airlines, Modern Digital, POP, City Arts Magazine, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Warren Miller Company.
Several of this week's screenings look interesting for one reason or another. On Monday, Project Nim largely because the director's previous film, Man on Wire was so good. Likewise The Future, which I lean toward seeing on Monday, then seeing again during the festival because Miranda July is scheduled to appear. On Tuesday, Circumstance looks good mostly because SIFF has a pretty good record when choosing Iranian films. One Wednesday, Win/Win looks intriguing on the basis of the premise. On Thursday, the comedies look promising.
I copied and pasted this from the SIFF mailing, with extensive clean-up:
SIFF 2011 Press Screenings
Week of May 2, 2011 at Pacific Place
As a Passholder you have the privilege of being one of the first to see films that will be shown at this year's Festival. Press screenings begin promptly at 10 am, noon, and 2 pm (unless otherwise noted) at Pacific Place. Please note that there are no press screenings on Fridays.
Please remember that you are a special guest at these screenings and Press does have priority. Please do be courteous to them as they are there to work. Also, please do not forget that there is no late seating at press screenings and the doors will close five minutes prior to the screenings start time. Because the press are working we do not have exceptions to this rule.
Press screenings are first come, first served, and no outside food is allowed in the theater.
Pass pick-up will be available beginning May 2 at the pass station on the fourth floor of Pacific Place (next to the theater).
MONDAY, MAY 2
Project Nim
Press Screening: 10:00 AM
U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions
United Kingdom, 2011 (93 minutes)
Director: James Marsh
Cast: Bill Tynan, Bob Ingersoll, Herbert Terrace, Jenny Lee, Joyce Butler
Awards: Sundance Film Festival 2011 (World Cinema Documentary Directing Award)
The emotionally wrenching story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee raised and nurtured as a human child in a 1970s experiment that started off as scientific curiosity but ended as profound human drama. James Marsh's follow up to his Oscar-winning Man on Wire.
Festival Screenings:
7:00 PM Fri, June 3 SIFF Cinema 1:30 PM Sun, June 5 Egyptian Theatre
The Future
Press Screening: NOON
U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions
USA/Germany/UK, 2011 (91 minutes)
Director: Miranda July
Cast: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky, Isabella Acres, Joe Putterlik
With droll humor and touches of magical realism, Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) tells the story of a young couple who decide to take thirty days to explore their destinies. This whimsical experiment leads to some surprising revelations about the uncertainty of what the future holds.
Director Miranda July scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
7:30 PM Sat, May 21 Pacific Place Cinemas 4:30 PM Mon, May 23 SIFF Cinema
Kosmos
Press Screening: 2:00 PM
Turkey/Bulgaria, 2009 (122 minutes)
Director: Reha Erdem
Cast: Sermet Yesil, Türkü Turan, Hakan Altuntas
Awards: Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival 2009 (Best Film, Director, Cinematography)
In this hauntingly beautiful imagining of a mysterious universe, a strange man drifts into a remote snowbound town and disrupts the existence of its inhabitants after rescuing a drowning boy.
Director Reha Erdem scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
6:15 PM Sat, May 21 Harvard Exit 1:30 PM Sun, May 22 Harvard Exit 3:30 PM Sun, June 12 Kirkland Performance Center
TUESDAY, MAY 3
Circumstance
Press Screening: 10:00 AM
U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Iran, 2011 (107 minutes)
Director: Maryam Keshavarz
Cast: Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho
Awards: Sundance 2011 (U.S. Dramatic Competition Audience Award)
This debut feature is an exhilarating political drama and love story about a burgeoning romance between two young Iranian women and the fraught allegiances of a single Tehrani family.
Director Maryam Keshavarz, actor Reza Safai, actresses Nikohl Boosheri and Sarah Kazemy scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
6:30 PM Sat, June 4 Harvard Exit 4:15 PM Mon, June 6 Egyptian Theatre
Sound of Noise
Press Screening: NOON
U.S. Distributor: Magnolia Films
Sweden/France, 2010 (102 minutes)
Directors: Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson
Cast: Bengt Nilsson, Sanna Persson Halapi, Magnus Börjeson, Anders Vestergård, Fredrik Myhr
Awards: Fantastic Fest 10 (Best Fantastic Picture), Palm Springs Film Festival 11 (New Voices/ New Visions - Special Mention)
The sound and image anarchists behind the 2001 cult short Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers successfully take their concept and talent to a larger arena in this delightful comic cocktail of modern city symphony, police procedural, and love story. Features the most complex, wackily staged musical numbers since Delicatessen.
Festival Screenings:
7:00 PM Sun, June 5 Egyptian Theatre 7:00 PM Thu, June 9 Neptune Theatre 1:15 PM Sat, June 11 Neptune Theatre
Amador
Press Screening: 2:00 PM
Spain, 2011 (112 minutes)
Director: Fernando León De Aranoa
Cast: Magaly Solier, Celso Bugallo, Pietro Sibille, Sonia Almarcha, Fanny de Castro
In this surprisingly funny and human tale about survival, a young immigrant girl faces a moral dilemma when the elderly man she cares for unexpectedly dies a month before her last loan payment. Engaging and thought provoking in equal measure, this film won much-deserved acclaim at this year's Berlin Film Festival.
Director Fernando León De Aranoa scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
4:00 PM Tue, May 31 Everett Performing Arts Center 6:30 PM Thu, June 2 Pacific Place Cinemas 1:30 PM Sat, June 4 Pacific Place Cinemas
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4
Crying Out
Press Screening: 10:00 AM
Canada (Québec), 2010 (115 minutes)
Director: Robin Aubert
Cast: Jean Lapointe, Michel Barrette, Patrick Hivon
A father, son, and grandson experience a wake-up call in this quasi-surrealistic road movie. Set in Québec, the combination of dark secrets and deadpan humor recalls Finnish cinema, while the lakes and pine-covered hills root the narrative to its distinctive place.
Festival Screenings:
6:30 PM Sun, May 22 Pacific Place Cinemas 4:00 PM Mon, May 23 Pacific Place Cinemas
Win/Win
Press Screening: NOON
Netherlands, 2010 (84 minutes)
Director: Jaap van Heusden
Cast: Oscar Van Rompay, Halina Rejin, Leon Voorberg, Hans Kesting
A young math wunderkind becomes the top trader at an Amsterdam brokerage, but pays a heavy emotional price for his seemingly effortless ability to make profitable decisions. Set amid the unfolding global financial crisis, this absorbing character study subtly skewers the hubris that helped bring about economic calamity.
Festival Screenings:
6:30 PM Mon, May 30 Egyptian Theatre 4:30 PM Wed, June 1 Neptune Theatre 7:00 PM Fri, June 10 Kirkland Performance Center
Venice
Press Screening: 2:00 PM
Poland, 2010 (110 minutes)
Director: Jan Jakub Kolski
Cast: Marcin Walewski, Magdalena Cielecka, Graznya Blecka-Kolska, Teresa Budzisz-Krzyzanowska
Awards: Polish Film Awards 2011 (Best Cinematography, Set Design, Sound, Costumes), Montreal World Film Festival 2010 (Best Artistic Contribution Prize)
Eleven-year-old Marek dreams of a trip to Venice with his family. However, the realities of WWI soon intrude as he's packed off to a tiny Polish village to live with his aunts in their dilapidated villa. When the basement floods, Marek creates his own version of Venice.
Festival Screening:
4:00 PM Fri, May 20 Pacific Place Cinemas 9:30 PM Tue, May 31 Pacific Place Cinemas 3:30 PM Sun, June 5 Admiral
THURSDAY, MAY 5
Something Ventured
Press Screening: 10:00 AM
U.S. Distributor: Zeitgeist Films
USA, 2011 (85 minutes)
Directors: Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine
Cast: Featuring: Arthur Rock, Tom Perkins, Dan Valentine
This intriguing documentary chronicles the early days of venture capital, which reinvented how companies get launched and gave rise to some of Silicon Valley's most successful enterprises. Through interviews with industry pioneers, Something Ventured is a reminder that the American Dream and the entrepreneurial spirit are both still alive.
Directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
1:00 PM Sun, May 29 Admiral 6:30 PM Mon, May 30 Harvard Exit 5:30 PM Sun, June 5 Kirkland Performance Center
Submarine
Press Screening: NOON
U.S. Distributor: The Weinstein Company
United Kingdom, 2010 (97 minutes)
Director: Richard Ayoade
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige
Based on the successful debut novel by Joe Dunthorne, Submarine is the hilarious coming-of-age story of 15-year-old Oliver Tate. Oliver has two summer objectives: to lose his virginity to pyromaniac bully Jordana before he turns 16, and to put an end to his mother's renewed flame for her ex-lover.
Director Richard Ayoade scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
7:00 PM Fri, May 20 Egyptian Theatre 11:00 AM Sun, May 22 Neptune Theatre
The Most Important Thing in Life Is Not Being Dead
Press Screening: 2:00 PM
Switzerland/Spain, 2010 (82 minutes)
Directors: Olivier Pictel, Pablo Martin Torrado, Mark Recuenco
Cast: Emilio Gutierrez Caba, Marian Aguilera, Merce Montala
Set during the Franco era in Spain, this playful tragicomedy opens with an insomniac piano tuner whose wife won't believe he saw a strange man in their living room. As his pianos are no longer tuning themselves, he discovers a second reality lurking behind his stable life.
Director Pablo Martin Torrado scheduled to attend.
Festival Screenings:
9:30 PM Thu, June 9 Egyptian Theatre 1:30 PM Sat, June 11 Pacific Place Cinemas
The 37th Seattle International Film Festival is made possible in part by support from Xfinity, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Brotherton Cadillac Buick GMC, Alaska Airlines, Don Q Rums, The Wallace Foundation, Wong Doody, American Airlines, Modern Digital, POP, City Arts Magazine, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Warren Miller Company.