Monday, July 4, 2011

SIFF

It’s difficult to keep up with blogging in summer months so I’ve missed mentioning the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) this year.


Kent and I love going to movies and are at a pace to see more movies this year than ever before. We just saw Midnight in Paris our 41st movie of 2011.


SIFF was in town May 19th – June 12 this year and although there were tons more movies that I would have liked to have attended we made it to 8 movies this year.

Beginners - A



Four More Years - B



Boy Shorts – B-

Gun Hill Road - B



Do You See Colors When You Close Your Eyes -B+



Wasted On The Young – B+



Absent - B



Toast - A



I’ve listed then in the order in which we saw them. If I were to reorder them from my favorite to least favorite I’d definitely put Toast closely followed by Beginners (poor sound quality – see comment below) and all but the Boy Shorts tied for third place by plus or minus here and there. We really hit some great films. It’s always such a gamble. We typically try to hit as many gay films as possible and this year’s festival offered an abundance. Boy Shorts is hard to classify there were 5 shorts and they were all distinctly different and enjoyable for different reasons. There was one short that was included that was basically porn – for the most part I’d just soon leave my porn in the bedroom where it belongs – not to be confused with not enjoying it! 

We saw a couple of movies up in the University District at the Neptune and I’d have to say that unless there is major improvement to the sound system we would be hard pressed to return there for a movie. I think they tried to improve the environment and sound because the first movie we saw there even the setting was bad but they moved in better seats but the sound was never up to standards. It’s really too bad because it reflects poorly on the movie in addition to being frustrating for the audience. Beginners is a perfect example – although I gave it an A I know I would have enjoyed it even more had the sound quality not been so poor.

Kent and I have been talking about becoming SIFF members for a number of years and have never done it - until now. We joined as benefactor members since we enjoy the festival so much and they do a great job of bringing a good mix of GLBT films to Seattle. The membership thing so far however has not been very smooth – I suppose it’s because they are moving and there are a lot of volunteers but we have been given inaccurate information and still have not received membership information. We are working on it – I’m not overly concerned, I’m sure it will all work out.

So all in all it was a great festival this year – looking forward to getting the membership thing all worked out and already looking forward to next year.

Later - Jim







1 comment:

  1. very nice to have you back on my favorites. Sorry that I am a somewhat incompetent computer operator. But I do like the communication ability it give me. So I will continue to bumble along and be grateful for your patience with me.
    I have missed your blogg! Mom

    ReplyDelete