Although the weather is getting increasingly dreadful in the region, there will always be the transportive power of cinema at local film festivals to get lost in. Even as the heart of festival season is behind us, there is still much to take in the coming weeks. Be it in-person or virtual programming, here are the festivals new and old coming to the Seattle area.
Engauge Experimental Film Festival
Starting things off is the sixth annual Engauge Experimental Film Festival, which may have you asking: What is experimental film? Well, there is no one strict definition; in essence, these films are all about exploring new approaches to making films. At this festival, this includes animation to documentary, and memoir showing on everything from 16mm to 35mm. The majority of these are shorts packages, including a series of films by filmmaker Greta Snider, who will also be in attendance for a Q&A, with a concluding feature by the late Harry Smith, who hailed from Anacortes. Smith’s film will be accompanied by a live score by local cellist and composer Lori Goldston.
Nov. 1-4; Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle; individual tickets are $14 for general admission, $10 for student/child/senior, $7 for NWFF members; $60 for full in-person festival pass, $50 for student/child/senior, $40 for NWFF members; nwfilmforum.org
Seattle European Film Festival
Presented by the Society for Arts, the European Film Festival is the newest on the scene. This inaugural festival is entitled “Frontline: Poland Movie Series” and will show six features over the course of a week. There are a whole host of 2023 features including Pawel Chmielewski’s thriller “Hunting,” Robert Gliński’s historical drama “Strawman,” Kinga Dębska’s screen adaptation of Jakub Małecki’s novel “Feast of Fire,” Jan Kidawa-Błoński’s mystery “The Secret of Little Rose” as well as a 1946 film in Michał Waszyński’s “The Great Way.” However, the biggest film is acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland’s harrowing drama “Green Border,” which previously showed at this year’s Venice Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Nov. 4-11; SIFF Cinema Egyptian, 805 E Pine St., Seattle; individual tickets are $20 for general admission, $18 for SIFF members; $60 for a full festival pass; effseattle.com
Seattle Romanian Film Festival
Back at both SIFF and NWFF for another year of programming, this year marks the 10th anniversary for the Romanian Film Festival. With the theme “One Eye Laughing, One Eye Crying,” it is showing a wide variety of films with many of the people behind them in attendance. This includes the opening night film “Playback” with director Iulia Rugină taking part in an in-person Q&A and the mystery film “Men of Deeds” with lead actor Iulian Postelnicu in attendance. In addition, the festival will be showing a restored version of Nae Caranfil’s “Sundays on Leave,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993 and represents a full circle moment as it screened at the first Romanian Film Festival.
Nov. 4-12; Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, and SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle; individual tickets are $14 at SIFF and NWFF, $10 for student/child/senior at NWFF, $7 at NWFF for members; online tickets are $10 per film;$45 for pass to SIFF and $40 for members; $50 for virtual pass at NWFF (there is no general in-person pass available for purchase this year), $40 for NWFF member pass; arcsproject.org
Cinema Italian Style
This annual festival of Italian cinema is now going into its 15th year and is showing one of the most talked-about films of 2023 in Alice Rohrwacher’s period romantic drama “La Chimera,” which also showed at Cannes where it was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or. In addition to that, there is Marco Bellocchio’s historical drama “Kidnapped” for the opening night film, followed by a party at the KEXP Gathering Space. Plus, it is likely the only festival that offers up Tutta Bella gift cards to redeem for a free pizza for the first 150 people who purchase passes.
Nov. 9-16; SIFF Cinema Egyptian, 805 E Pine St., Seattle; individual tickets are $14 for general admission, $9 for SIFF members; $125 for full festival pass, $100 for SIFF members; tickets to the opening night film, which includes access to the party, are $40 for general admission, $35 for SIFF members; passes include admission to the opening night; siff.net
Seattle Turkish Film Festival
Entering its 11th year, the Seattle Turkish Film Festival is showing a lineup of shorts and features with the standout being Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses,” which previously showed at a variety of film festivals including Cannes, where lead Merve Dizdar won the award for best actress. It was also recently named as Turkey’s submission for the Best International Feature category at this year’s already quite competitive Oscars.
Nov. 17-19; SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle; more details to be announced; stff.org
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