Seattle Film Festival At A Glance
The 21st Seattle International Film Festival
Dates: Thursday, May 18, through Sunday, June 11.
Theater locations: Egyptian Theatre, 801 E. Pine; Harvard Exit Theatres, 807 E. Roy; Seven Gables, 911 NE 50th; Varsity, 4329 University Way NE.
Festival information phone: (206) 325-6828.
Ticket office location: Broadway Market, 425 Broadway East (upstairs).
Ticket office phone: (206) 325-6150.
Ticket information: Individual prices are $7 for evening screenings (except where noted), $5 for matinee and midnight. Nontransferable full-series passes are $300; weekly passes are $100; cinematic six-packs are $36 (inquire about the limitations). Only Mastercard and Visa phone orders are accepted.
Ticket purchases: There are only so many seats to each showing, so it’s best to purchase tickets early. The opening night showing of “Braveheart,” for example, is probably already sold out.
Schedules: SIFF schedules are supposed to be available at all Starbucks Coffee stores beginning Monday.
Secret Festival: Tickets to this festival of secret films, which includes world premieres, worksin-progress and other hard-to-see works, must be purchased in person and typically sell out within the first few hours. They went on sale Thursday.
Children’s Festival: Four films with child-oriented themes. Admission for those 16 and under is $4.
Filmmakers’ Forum: To be held June 9-11, the three-day forum offers professional seminars on such film-oriented subjects as screenwriting, directing, film financing, cinematography and critical perspectives. Guests include “Nell” screenwriter Mark Handley, directors Gus Van Sant, Carl Franklin and Allison Anders. Full passes are $150, individual seminars are $20. All seminars are held at Seattle Central Community College.
Various other programs: New Director’s Showcase is a competition between 14 first-time directors; Midnight Series features offbeat films for the true cinephile; Cinema Centennial is an effort to celebrate the first 100 years of cinema with a collection of honored works from Buster Keaton to James Dean.
Miscellaneous: Parking is always a problem. Parking garages are limited, except in Capitol Hill near the Broadway Market ticket office and Harvard Exit Theatres. But onstreet parking is your best bet elsewhere, especially in the University District where the Varsity and Seven Gables are located. Bring a couple of rolls of quarters (price at a two-hour meter is 25 cents for 15 minutes).