Scene from Paris Vu Par, courtesy SIFF

• As regular readers are fully aware, I’m terribly fond of the French New Wave and will plug showings of films in this genre any chance I get. If you’ve always wondered what the big deal is, Paris Vu Par, starting Friday at SIFF Cinema is an excellent introduction to this very influential movement in the form an anthology of stories about Paris during the 1960’s with contributions by such major directors as Godard, Chabrol, and Douchet presenting romance, comedy, suspense, and dark drama.
• NWFF presents another view of the 1960s with Monks, a documentary about the Monks, a pre-punk band formed as a conceptual art piece in the form of a pop group labelled the “anti-Beatles”. Five American GIs stationed in Germany formed a band attired in black robes and Franciscan monk haircuts who played music “heavy on feedback, nihilism and electric banjo”. Starts Friday.
• Also starting Friday at NWFF: The Romance of Astrea and Celadon, Eric Rohmer’s latest lyrical romance, a beautifully filmed adaptation of a 17th century French novel of romance and sensuality.
• Friday kicks off The Grand Illusion’s offering of a double shot of classic Jack Arnold sci-fi/horror flicks from the 1950’s. The Creature from the Black Lagoon made a splash on its original release with its nifty 3D optical effects, but the movie doesn’t need gimmicks to entertain you with its story of the titular monster and his murderous attempts to get his scaly hands on a hot female scientist. An amateur astronomer and his fiancee see a mysterious creature emerge from a spaceship that’s just crashed in the desert in It Came from Outer Space, but no one believes him, at least at first. Based on a story by sci fi legend Ray Bradbury, It Came from Outer Space has been called “campy” and “cliched” but its treatment of the alien concept is extremely unusual for its time and earned a film a spot in the list of sci fi film classics.
• Midnight at the Egyptian this weekend: Outlaw roadtrip Thelma and Louise. Somewhat controversial at the time of its original release, the much-hyped violence in the film was tame even for its time and made notable only by the lead characters being women. All these years later that’s not quite as startling but the movie remains entertaining and the characters sympathetic.
• With all the rain we get around these parts, it can be hard to remember sometimes that there’s a global water supply crisis. Flow, opening Friday at the Varsity is a documentary that exposes the issues tied to this crisis and suggests that we’re heading for a time when only those who can afford to buy water will survive.
• Hank and Mike are downsized Easter bunnies who discover that they’re not very good at anything else so they’d better fight to get their jobs back. Starts Saturday at Central Cinema.

Frances Farmer in a Paramount publicity still

Frances Farmer was a beautiful and talented actor born in Seattle back in 1913. After studying drama at the UW, Farmer tried for a theater career in New York but ended up in the movies in Los Angeles. With her elegant good looks and charismatic acting style, Farmer was soon a star who did her best to buck the oppressive studio system of the day, but she’s remembered most these days for her tumultuous personal life which included years of involuntary committment at Western State Hospital.

The Admiral Theater in West Seattle, where Farmer once worked, is presenting Frances Farmer’s Revenge, a two-day festival on Friday and Saturday, that pays tribute to the “Bad Girl of West Seattle” with a cocktail reception, a talk on sensationalized biographies of the actor, and screenings of Farmer films Come and Get It and Rhythm on the Range, along with a screening of biopic Frances, with Jessica Lange in the title role.

Watching movies is fun. Being outside is fun. Watching movies and being outside at the same time? Super fun–and if you live in Seattle, very easy to do. There are a lot of outdoor movies this summer.

Last year I tried to create a complete directory of all the outdoor summer movie events around Seattle and discovered that it was a lot like trying to cut the heads off a Hydra. Every time I thought I had them all, I found that there were still more. Previous failure doesn’t mean I’m not going to give it yet another try–follow the jump to see what at least some of your outdoor movie watching opportunities are this season. If you plan it right, you could see Juno four times, The Goonies three times and still manage to fit in the midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Seattle Center, which is likely to be a very interesting screening indeed.

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We know you’re just as excited about SIFF as we are, but you don’t have to wait to see a good film.

• Central Cinema is showing the heartwarming Akeela and the Bee.  Take a bunch of friends, enjoy the movie and then see if you can resist the urge to challenge each other to an impromptu spelling bee afterwards.  Also at Central Cinema on Sunday, May 18, at 2:00 pm is a special screening of Trial by Fire, a film about the struggle for freedom in East Timor presented by the Seattle-East Timor Relief Association
• The Grand Illusion presents Daughters of Wisdom, a rare look at a world few Westerners even know exists, let alone ever see that examines the lives and work of the nearly 300 nuns living in the hand-built Kala Rongo Monastery high up in the Himalayas.  Director Bari Pearlman will be in attendance Friday and Saturday. 
• Also at the Grand Illusion:  The Savage Streets, a locally made comedy about a couple of defective detectives. 
• Modern audiences might be surprised that Midnight Cowboy, the only X-rated film to win an Oscar, even earned an X-rating in the first place; its frank portrayal of a troubled street hustler and the ill and impoverished man who befriends him is hardly explicit at all by today’s ratings standards.  The emotional impact of this bittersweet tale of two losers finding strength and love in their daily struggles and their growing friendship remains just as moving today as it was in its initial release.  At SIFF Cinema Friday, May 16.
• Also at SIFF Cinema:  Robert DeNiro’s legendary portrayal of boxer Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s powerful film Raging Bull, Saturday, May 17, and the first James Bond film, Dr. No on Sunday, May 18.
• “He who controls the spice controls the universe!”  Dune, the film version of the Frank Herbert novel, directed by David Lynch and released to international disdain in 1984 is this weekend’s Midnight at the Egyptian movie.   Lynch himself has spent the intervening years staying as far away from the film as possible but its managed to develop a cult following and reviews far more positive than the nearly universal drubbing it got on its first run.  Mess or masterpiece, you decide.
• NWFF screens Mister Lonely, the story of a Michael Jackson impersonator who is led by a Marilyn Monroe impersonator to a castle that plays host to an impersonator community. 
• Also at NWFF:  Alice Neel, a portait of the painter whose exquisite portraiture work brought her acclaim after years of living a marginalized existence and whose difficult choices resonate through her family lines even now; and, for one afternoon show only on May 17, Le Grand Voyage, the story of a young French man who drives his aging father, with whom he has nothing in common, to Mecca, only to lose him in the crowd just as they are starting to come together at last. 

After much delay at the border I arrived in Seattle just as the last of the rush hour traffic was dying off. Driving via memorized Google guidance, I leave the I5 in search of my hotel The Roosevelt. As I’m checking in I get upgraded from a single room to a queen, which upon inspection seems to simply mean that my bed is larger because the room itself is tiny.

I debate phoning down to the front desk to inquire as to which Roosevelt the hotel is named after, I need to know these things if I’m going to dress appropriately for the evening since Franklin and Theodore are very different styles. A Google search lets me know that it is Theodore, so I don’t bother unpacking my monocle.

My friend, also named Jeff, meets me about an hour later. We’re friends from high school, and he’s one of the few of my friends who’ve made a move to the United States and managed to make it stick. He works in Redmond, but lives in Seattle so I trust him with our evening plans.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have, we end up at Von’s a fake New York style bar that’s attached to the hotel. Yes, my local Seattle Sherpa had guided me to the hotel bar.

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Despite the absence of last year’s free flowing mimosas that made last year’s press launch for the Seattle International Film Festival such a pleasure for Josh and I, this year’s press launch offered an exciting preview of what is surely to be one the best year’s yet for North America’s largest film festival. 

To give you an idea of just how huge the festival (which runs from May 22 - June 15 this year) is, consider some numbers:  there are 418 films, with 69 countries of orgin represented.  There are 191 features, 57 documentary features, 7 archival films, 4 Secret Festival films, and 170 short films.  Within all those films there are 43 world premieres, 38 North America premieres and 19 US premieres.  That’s a lot of new films.  The festival includes a number of competitions and awards, including the New Directors Showcase, the New American Cinema, the Documentary Competition, the Short Film Competition, the MyFestival competion, and, of course, the Golden Space Needle Awards handed out at the end of the festival to honor SIFF’s most well-received films. 

SIFF presents four gala nights this year: the opening night gala on May 22 features Battle In Seattle, the directorial debut of Irish actor Stuart Townsend that uses a highly regarded ensemble cast including Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin, Joshua Jackson, Ray Liotta, and many more to dramatize the events of the 1999 WTO riots here in Seattle; the closing night gala on June 14 features Bottle Shock, another based on real life feature, this one about the shockwaves sent around the world in 1978 when the Paris Tastings revealed that Californians could produce wine every bit as good, if not better, than the French; the centerpiece gala on June 6 is the Sean McGinley-directed feature, The Great Buck Howard in which Colin Hanks, son of Tom, plays a law school drop out who takes a job as a personal assistant to a “mentalist” played by John Malkovich, much to the dismay of his father, played by his father, Tom Hanks; and the Gay-la Extravaganza on May 29th which will screen Kiss the Bride in which a man attempts to “rescue” his high school boyfriend from the woman he is about to marry only to discover that the situation is a little more complex than he’d thought.

Other series within the festival include:

Films4Families, an 11:00 a.m. matinee every Saturday and Sunday during the festival featuring programming suitable for children and appealing for adults as well - one highlight of this series is a screening of the French animated film Princess of the Sun during which a cast of professional voice actors will perform the English subtitles live for the benefit of those too young to read them.

Northwest Connections spotlights films made in and connected to the Pacific Northwest, including the world premieres of Good Food, a cinematic tour of Washington state farms and ranches committed to raising their crops and their livestock organically and The Dark Horse, a feature about a Seattle ballet teacher who returns to her childhood home on Orcas Island when her father becomes mentally ill.

The Archival Presentations series screens some rarely seen archival films dating from 1914 to 1968.  Among the films in this stand out series are the epic Alexander Nevsky, a 1938 film from the Soviet Union that will be accompanied by a live performance by the Seattle Symphony of the original score and F.W. Murneau’s 1927 film Sunrise, considered by many film historians and critics to be one of the greatest films ever made.

Alternate Cinema is what SIFF calls its series of avante-garde features and shorts, including the US premiere of Milky Way, a psychedelic and minimalist look at the modern wold and Dust, a documentary about the constructive and destructive qualities of dust.

Documentaries are one of my favorite types of films and SIFF never disppoints with their selections - this year two of the many excellent documentaries that will be screened include Man on a Wire, about Phillipe Petit’s 1974 walk across a wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center and Werner Herzog’s Arctic exploration, Encounters at the End of the World. 

Face the Music is a series of eight documentaries about music, including Patti Smith: Dream of Life, a film about the legendary performer filmed over 11 years, and the real-life “Spinal Tap” saga of Anvil, a Canadian metal band who once played stadiums and now scratch out a living in didn’t-you-used-to-be?-land, still hoping for their next big break in Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

Other series within the festival include Emerging Masters, a celebration of four contemporary filmmakers who are poised to become film’s next generation of masters; Contemporary World Cinema, presenting 116 films from more than 50 countries; SIFF ShortsFest Weekend, a full weekend of themed short film packages; Planet Cinema, independent films meant to inspire public action in regards to world’s environmental threats; and Midnight Adrenaline, a series of “the terrifying and the weird”.

Talking Pictures pairs special guests with their favorite films; John Waters speaks presents his film Cecil B. Demented, Seattle Shakespeare Company’s Stephanie Shine presents Franco Zefferelli’s Romeo & Juliet, and Howard Patterson of The Flying Karamazov Brothers presents Jackie Chan’s The Young Master.

The Fly Filmmaking Challenge charged local filmmakers to create, shoot and edit a film in a mere 19 days and 1 hour and SIFF FutureWave inspires the next generation of filmmakers through a series of screenings, workshops and activities, including their own Superfly challenge.

One great addition to the festival is the Northwest Production Summit Panels, designed to educate would-be film producers on how to get their start.

No less great is SIFF Interactive:  MyFestival is an online based audience competition to program a screening on the final day of the festival and SIFF talk, debuting May 8, is behind the scenes podcast featuring SIFF coverage and filmmaker interviews.  Babelbum, a free, interactive internet TV service launches SIFF channel with short films and more from this and previous years’ festivals on May 21 and Film.com offers a short film of the day every day during the festival. 

Tickets for SIFF will be available on May 8 for SIFF supporters and May 11 for everyone else.  

• The Grand Illusion plays tribute to the legendary Bette Davis by screening three of her most engaging films:  The Virgin Queen, Jezebel and The Nanny.
• They’re gearing up for the big annual festival over at SIFF right now, but you don’t have to wait until then to see some good movies at SIFF cinema.  Head down this weekend for their Reflections on the Buddhist World series which continues through the 17th with a variety of films about Buddhism and Buddhist culture, with a special focus on Tibet.
• Central Cinema is showing two completely different films this weekend: stop by Friday night for romantic comedy Kissing Jessica Stein, go in Saturday and Sunday to see the man who wishes to be our next US President pay a visit to his family’s roots in Senator Obama Goes to Africa. 
• One of the most charming and likeable contemporary working actors is France’s Audrey Tatou, one of her best performances is as the silly-sweet titular character in Amelie, screening at midnight this weekend at the Egyptian.
• Speaking of Audrey Tatou, her new film, Priceless, opens at the Guild 45th this weekend in which she plays a gold digger pursued by a love-struck man determined to do whatever it takes to win her affections.
• In Chop Shop, a 12 year old boy and his sister live in a New York City that the tourism board doesn’t like you to see, starting Friday at NWFF.  Another look at the uglier side of life is on view Saturday at a free screening of A Dream in Doubt, the story of a Sikh man in Mesa, Arizona was murdered shortly after 9/11 for simply wearing a turban. 

• SIFF takes a break from their excellent Global Lens series to bring you the equally excellent NFFTY.  Pronounced like “nifty”, this festival is;  the National Film Festival for Talented Youth gives you three days (March 28  - 30) of youth-made films, panel discussions, musical performances and more.  The films presented by talented young people dipping their toe into the cinematic waters include short narratives, documentaries, music videos and animations.  There are 73 films originating from all over the country and representing all kinds of viewpoints.  Of what I think is particular note is the Locals Only screening at 3 pm on Sunday featuring five films of various lengths from young Washingtonian filmmakers with an average age of about 17.

• Over at the Grand Illusion they are offering up an admission by donation screening of Rubin & Ed, a 1991 film directed by Trent Harris that stars Crispin Glover and Howard Hesseman who take a bizarre road trip through a very strange Utah inspired by the need to bury Glover’s dead cat.  The Grand Illusion offers up a lot of great and/or interesting films that you just can’t see anywhere else; if you go to this film, please donate generously.  If Asian cinema is more your forte, check out the evening screenings of Lost in Beijing, an intense drama about love, violence, blackmail, revenge and redemption.

• Aaina is the Urdu word for “mirror” and it’s also the title of the South Asian women’s festival being graciously hosted by Central Cinema.  Performance art, visual art, and speakers aimed at the empowerment of South Asian women are part of this film-centered festival that features movies like Hearts Suspended, a short autobiographical documentary about the struggles of South Asian immigrant women to adjust to being held hostage to their H4  dependant spouse visas, and Enemies of Happiness, about women’s rights in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

• Midnight at the Egyptian:  dark thrilled Sin City.

• Demi Moore is one of those actors I like almost in spite of myself.  She’s made a lot of stupid career choices but when she’s on her game in a movie that makes an effort, she’s a great actor.  She costars with Michael Caine in Flawless, about a diamond heist in 1960’s Swinging London.  At the Harvard Exit.

• Asia Argento plays a drug runner caught in a power struggle with her current and ex-lovers in a non-stop erotic action thriller that takes place in both Paris and Hong Kong.  Boarding Gate opens Friday at NWFF.

• The Grand Illusion screens Eternal Evil of Asia, a film about a trip to Thailand gone horribly (and bizarrely) awry and Honey and Clover, a live action film of a popular manga and anime series about a group of students learning to cope with the demands of college life and young love.
• Speaking of anime, midnight at the Egyptian this week is Paprika, a 2007 SIFF favorite about a psychotherapist who visits her patients dreamworlds.
• A thriller about global positioning systems? Believe it, it’s GPS and it’s onscreen at Central Cinema this weekend.
• NWFF continues their Crispin Glover program at the BPH [mb] and also gives you War Made Easy, a film by Normon Solomon that examines the US’s history of war in modern times. Sean Penn narrates. The film runs through the 17th, but go tonight or tomorrow for a chance to hear Solomon speak in person.
• Billy the Kid continues at SIFF.

When I was in college in St. Augustine, there was a house that I’d pass regularly with a sign out front that said, “Free, You Move.” We always thought it was a joke, because the town was full of historic old houses that no one wanted to deal with. One Seattle couple, though, seems to have found such a house in Tukwila and are in the process of moving it to Columbia City right now [king5].

The house was built in 1908, and the couple bought it from Tukwila for $1 rather than see it torn down. Moving the house will cost them $150,000 along with whatever permissions they had to get, and will involve a trip across Lake Washington on a barge starting at midnight tonight. They’ll have to move around a bunch of high-tension wires and travel through four different cities. It should arrive at its final destination tomorrow.

I hope that they glued everything down before they left.

Image courtesy of Ana Schaeffer via Stock.XChng

Just when you thought all your red, white and blue patriotism was over for the year, our American, melting-pot culture throws another holiday your way–Bastille Day. I’ve driven past the Bastille Day celebration announcement on the Seattle Center reader board every day this week and have seen ads for events around the city, but what exactly does Bastille Day mean for the French? I’m quick to partake in the World’s drinking holidays–St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo have far surpassed my love for Christmas and Thanksgiving–but do we really ever know the history or meaning behind these celebrations, other than it’s a great excuse to party? So, I did some research for Metblog readers, and here’s what I’ve discovered:

• Bastille Day (Fete Nationale) is the French national holiday, celebrated each year on July 14th.
• It commemorates the 1790 Fete de la Federation, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on July 14th, 1789.
• The storming of the Bastille marked the beginning of the French Revolution.
• The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16th’s Ancient Regime. By capturing this symbol, the people signaled that the king’s power was no longer absolute, and power should be based on the nation. Bastille Day marks the end of monarchy and the beginning of the French Revolution.
• The Revolution lead to the tricolor flag of blue, red and white. Blue and red are the colors of Paris, and white is the color of royalty. The three colors represent the Republic’s three ideals.
• Bastille day gave birth to France’s motto of ‘Libert&eacute! Egalit&eacute! Fraternit&eacute!’
• Bastille is an alternate spelling of bastide, which means fortification.

Okay, now that you’ve had your history lesson go party!:

Seattle Center’s Bastille Day Celebration: Includes a Tour de France exhibit, Citroen car show and a penalty kick soccer tournament for kids. Eight different bands and musicians will perform French music on two stages, and Le Bistrot de la Bastille will serve crepes, sandwiches and wine. Sunday, July 15th, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free.

Bal des Pompiers (Firemen’s ball): The Consular Agency of France and the French American Chamber of Commerce invite you to a four-course dinner and dancing fete. Dinner will be prepared by Seattle’s French Chef, Thierry Rautureau, and live French music and dancing will follow. Fisher Pavilion, Saturday, July 14th, 6 p.m. to midnight. $49 per person, reservations required.

Caf&eacute Campagne: Fourth annual People’s Party in the Alley will include all-day drinking and celebrating, rain or shine, with live French music, $5 glasses of wine and $5 French treats (Brie baguette, jambon et fromage and pomme frites) in Post Alley. Saturday, July 14th, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
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