#siff2018

[hotbloodchoi]

#영화파업전야 #파업전야 #siff2018 #labor #thenightbeforestrike #서울독립영화제 #서울독립영화제2018 #movie #koreamovie #film #koreafilm #장산곶매 #labor #문화창작집단날 #극단날 #art #broadcast #cinema #culture #drama #entertainment #seoulindependentfilmfestival #koreaindependent #independent #independentmovie (압구정 CGV Art House 독립영화관에서) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq4M40NgCC_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1s1jiod0474gv

[robertredfield2]

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Local artists and musicians in the Backlot Tent at this year’s @sonomafilmfest . #siff2018 #filmfestival #sonoma #siff #robertredfield #redfieldpictures (at Sonoma, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpgYGZhBKHk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=15wrmhw17wnf9

[robertredfield2]

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The community of Sonoma California welcome with open arms their love for films at the Sonoma International Film Festival @sonomafilmfest. The festival is widely acknowledged as one of the top 10 destination festivals in the world with food, wine and a relaxed artistic and natural beauty … all providing the perfect mix to savor the highest quality new independent films. This is the 1-minute cut from the 3-min piece we were lucky enough to produce for the festival in its 21st year. @aeroascensio provided the beautiful aerials. Fun Fact: In addition to being a superb camera assistant, @donbrubaker created the soundtrack! . #longliveindependentfilms #robertredfield #redfieldpictures #siff2018 #filmfestival #thepushfilm #foodporn #sonoma #dominiquecrenn (at Redfield Pictures)

[miabian]

Congrats to <The Taste of Betel Nut>! See my homies next time! #chinesefilm #awards #bestmovie #film #siff2018 #thetasteofbetelnut #seattle #filmfestival #homies

[robertredfield2]

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One of the short format videos we recently made for our wonderful family at Sonoma International Film Festival @sonomafilmfest ... the Devour evening featured 5 renowned chefs explaining and delivering their courses to festival attendees. Paired with wine, naturally! . #siff2018 #filmfestival #devourfilmfest #dominiquecrenn #foodporn #sonoma #sanfranciscofood #robertredfield #redfieldpictures (at Sonoma International Film Festival)

[sambhajisasane]

Our Film "Love & Shukla" is going HOUSEFULL at Shanghai International Film Festival. Friends in China do try to watch the show :)

[miabian]

Spent a lovely day with lovely friends~ #filmmaker #siff2018 #seattle

[tiggymalvern]

SIFF Round-Up 2018

The Seattle International Film Festival came by again, and I've been a slacker this year - I'd just got back from Maui when it started, and I'm going out of town again before it ends, so I didn't see many films. The ones I did see included a French animated film featuring the undead, an Iranian black comedy about a serial killer and a documentary on the Middle Eastern peace process. Anyway, this is a summary of the films I saw, which is probably of little interest to anyone but me.

Zombillennium is a French film in which the local undead-themed amusement park literally is owned and operated by the ex-denizens of hell. When a safety inspector tries to shut it down, he is turned and becomes one of the workers there. Soon he's attempting to organise the labour force and campaigning for better working conditions, to the disgust of the vampire leaders. Beautifully stylish animation with zombies, witches and werewolves and a message about the strength of unions set to a really fun soundtrack. It never veers from the formula, but it does the formula well. 8/10

Zombillennium trailer here.

Pig. Black-listed Iranian film director Hasan has been out of work for two years, reduced to shooting occasional bug spray commercials, and his favoured star/girlfriend strikes up a relationship with a new director. When a serial killer starts murdering film directors, Hasan becomes even more depressed - is he really so irrelevant now that not even a serial killer wants him? A black comedy with forays into the truly surreal, offering commentary on narcissim and the power of social media. This film definitely offers some surprises and unexpected twists; very enjoyable but it does flag in a couple of places along the way. 7/10

Pig trailer here.

The Oslo Diaries. A documentary on the failed attempt to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord in the early to mid-nineties. The material comes from notes made by the people involved at the time, the books some of them later wrote about it and interviews with people involved who were still alive when the film was made. We get their perspectives on it at the time, and their perspectives twenty years after it broke down. At the time, I was in university and not watching a lot of TV, so while I was aware of the generalities, the details of it were fascinating to learn. The final interview with Shimon Peres, the last interview he gave before he died in late 2016, was stunningly affecting. 8/10.

I don't have a trailer for The Oslo Diaries, just a link to an info page.

Half Widow. A young Kashmiri woman has her husband dragged away one evening by paramilitaries. Her efforts to find out who took him and what happened are blocked at every turn, along with those of other women whose family members are missing. As time passes, these half widows have to make choices on how to live their lives - do they move on or continue to hope? The cinematography in this film is utterly gorgeous, with amazing scenery and direction, but it was definitely on the slow side. 7/10.

Half Widow trailer here.

A Man of Integrity. Another Iranian film (SIFF deliberately featured them this year), of a very different type. Reza lives with his family quietly farming goldfish in the north of Iran, having been made unwelcome in Tehran because of his political activism. But even in small towns, corruption is a way of life, and when Reza refuses to pay the usual bribes to make his life easier, the situation escalates with every move from either side. A tense thriller, very tightly directed, with a twist of an ending that's almost too much. We felt like it might have been better with a little more to hint at it, and a little more exploration of it means before the film ends. 8/10

A Man of Integrity trailer here.

There were a couple of other films I really wanted to see, but which either showed at times I couldn't make, or in one case, the last tickets sold literally as I was online trying to buy. Maybe they'll show at the Best of SIFF...