It's Time to SIFF!

Are you ready? It’s that time of year again, time to go film festival crazy with the return of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). While SIFF celebrates it’s 36th birthday we here at Moviefreak are celebrating our fourth in regards to our presentation of this annual blog. Like in years past I’ll be here (almost) every day talking about the highs, lows and numerous in-betweens as I do my best to make my way through 25 days of cinematic goodness.

Speaking of said goodness, I’ve already seen plenty to crow about, much of it I’m going to be going into in much greater detail later in the festival. Let me just say upfront I’ve already seen a movie I believe might end up being my favorite of the entire year, Sundance sensation Winter’s Bone. It’s a powerhouse of a thriller featuring a spectacular performance from young actress Jennifer Lawrence. I’ll be interviewing both her and director Debra Granik in the coming days so look for more on both them and their film soon.

There’s more, lots more, but I’m going to cut things short for the time being as I need to get finish writing my theatrical reviews for this weekend’s releases (including a surprisingly good Shrek Forever After) before I head out to the opening night party celebrating the start of SIFF as well as directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s quite entertaining junior effort The Extra Man. I’ll be leaving you with an interview I conducted with SIFF artistic director Carl Spence whose insights into this year’s lineup of goodies are far superior to mine. Enjoy!