One of the highlights of American regional film festivals, the Seattle International Film Festival turns 40 tomorrow. Running Thursday, May 15 through Sunday, June 8, and presenting a lineup that includes nearly 200 features, the festival lays claim to being the largest and most attended film events in the US. Among its offerings are 60 documentary features, including several in its Gala section: FINDING FELA, which made its debut at Sundance, and DIOR AND I and KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON, both recent well-received Tribeca premieres. The festival balances a smart curation of other recent festival favorites with an impressive number of new titles. The following focuses primarily on the latter:
Seattle’s dozen-strong Documentary Competition includes the world premieres of Adam Sjöberg’s SHAKE THE DUST, a crosscultural, global exploration of breakdancing; Vivian Norris’ OBAMA MAMA (pictured), an exploration of the eventful life of President Obama’s mother; and Ward Serrill’s SONG OF THE NEW EARTH, which details a scientist/shaman’s studies of sound. Other competition titles include Askold Kurov’s LENINLAND, a look at the Museum of Lenin, which has seen better days; and Håvard Bustnes’ TWO RAGING GRANNIES, which follows two senior citizens in their quest to understand our out of control economy.
Several of the above also are part of the fest’s focus on regional filmmaking, Northwest Connections. Additional docs featured in this section are Mark Titus’ work-in-progress THE BREACH, about the impact of manmade projects that threaten wild salmon; and Laurel Spellman Smith and Francine Strickwerda’s OIL & WATER (pictured), a profile of two young men – an American and a tribal Ecuadorian – united in their environmental activism.
SIFF offers audiences a wide-range of thematic programming, focused on different cultures, audiences, or genres. Among the docs that appear in Asian Crossroads and African Pictures are Chi Po-Lin’s BEYOND BEAUTY: TAIWAN FROM ABOVE, an aerial exploration of the island nation; and Hind Meddeb’s ELECTRO CHAABI, on an eclectic fusion of musical genres that combine in a unique Cairo form. Other music docs are highlighted in Face the Music, including: Eric Green’s treatise on notoriously press-shy bands and their distinctive sound, BEAUTIFUL NOISE; Kay D Ray’s tribute to female jazz musicians, LADY BE GOOD: INSTRUMENTAL WOMEN IN JAZZ (pictured); and Ryan Worsley’s elegy to an influential Seattle punk venue, RAZING THE BAR.
Seattle’s doc slate is rounded out by several new and recent films, including Peres Owino’s BOUND: AFRICANS VS AFRICAN AMERICANS, an exploration of the tensions between the two titular groups; Daniel Junge and Bryan Storkel’s FIGHT CHURCH (pictured), profiling pastors who use mixed martial arts in their ministries; Giles Terera and Dan Poole’s MUSE OF FIRE, a globetrotting search to understand Shakespeare; and Luc Jacquet’s ONCE UPON A FOREST, an exploration of the Amazon rainforest.
what (not) to doc 