SpIFF brings the world – and ‘Vision Quest’ – to Spokane
It’s no secret that movie theaters become wastelands in January and February, the time of year when Hollywood studios dump some of their least desirable products onto multiplex screens. But the Spokane International Film Festival, which kicks off Friday with an opening night gala, is here to provide moviegoers with a cinematic journey.
Now in its 18th year, SpIFF brings a cavalcade of movies from all over, many of which have already appeared in the lineups of the world’s biggest film festivals. This year’s roster includes films from Canada, Japan, China, Iran, Romania, Denmark, South Korea and Brazil, and it will also feature a showcase of local and regional shorts.
2016’s festival opens Friday with “Vision Quest,” the 1985 high school wrestling film that was shot in Spokane (star Matthew Modine is scheduled to attend), and it closes with the Spokane Symphony providing the musical score for Charlie Chaplin’s silent masterpiece “City Lights” (see next week’s 7 for more information on that screening).
There’s a lot playing over the new couple weeks, but here are a few of the highlights among this year’s eclectic batch.
“Aferim!” – This old-fashioned adventure yarn, set in 19th century Romania, follows a police constable who is hired to track down a slave that has escaped from a nobleman’s estate. Shot in striking black and white, “Aferim!” (its title roughly translates to “Bravo!”) harkens back both to the golden age of Hollywood Westerns and to the gritty Eastern European films of the 1960s. Monday, 6:30 p.m., Magic Lantern.
“The Boy and the World” – An Oscar-nominated animated feature from Brazil, “The Boy and the World” tells a simple story about a kid who leaves his idyllic family farm to follow his father into the bustling city. With minimal dialogue, the film comes at you in a rush of vibrant colors and sounds, boasting a visual style all its own – it sometimes resembles the hand drawn scribbles of a child, and other times it seems to have tumbled headlong into a Van Gogh painting. Feb. 6, 4:30 p.m., Magic Lantern.
“Embrace of the Serpent” – Nominated for a foreign language film Oscar, Colombian director Ciro Guerra’s film begins in the early 1900s, as a gravely ill German explorer arrives in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. He’s searching for an elusive flower that might cure him, aided by an initially skeptical shaman and a local guide. Like “Aferim!,” this is a black-and-white historical epic dealing with themes of race, class and the power of nature. Feb. 6, 2 p.m., Magic Lantern.
“The Glamour and the Squalor” – Marco Collins isn’t a name most music fans will likely recognize, but this documentary aims to change that. The Seattle radio DJ, who once broadcast from 107.7 FM, was the first to champion the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Beck and Harvey Danger, and Marq Evans’ film argues that Collins was partially instrumental in turning Seattle’s music scene into a hotbed of creativity in the ’90s. Saturday, 9 p.m., Garland Theater.
“The Prophet” – The works of Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran inform this piecemeal animated tale, which divides itself into segments provided by such animators as Bill Plympton, Nina Paley and “Lion King” director Roger Allers. Featuring the voice talents of producer Salma Hayek, Liam Neeson, John Krasinski, Quvenzhané Wallis, Frank Langella and Alfred Molina. Saturday, noon, and Sunday, 4 p.m., Magic Lantern
“Taxi” – Although Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been banned from making films in his native country (he’s been charged with trumpeting anti-government sentiments), he’s found some clever loopholes and has clandestinely shot three features since his 2010 arrest. 2011’s “This Is Not a Film” documented Panahi’s own house arrest, and 2013’s “Closed Curtain” was a self-referential drama shot in Panahi’s own vacation home. Panahi’s newest, “Taxi,” finds the director posing as a taxi driver picking up passengers (actors posing as real people) from different social strata of Iran. Sunday, 6:45 p.m., Magic Lantern