The Stranger's 2025 SIFF Guide

AC T U A L FASCISM!

SIFF GUIDE

SIFF ISSUE 2025 • THESTRANGER.COM

★★★

WE WATCHED OV E R 1 0 0 F I L M S ( PLEASE CLAP) ★★★

P.9

SCREENS WE’VE LOVED & LOST P.31

PICKS! PANS! POTABLES! P.14 MORE HIP-HOP HISTORY! P.34 A BINGO CARD, IF YOU EVEN CARE! P.47

MAY 2025

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TABLE OF CONTENTS I Saw U

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Celebrating a Birthday at the Phish Concert, Whistling a Lot at Screwdriver, and Bringing Your Big Dog to Mariners Games

Editorial

Business

EDITOR IN CHIEF

COMPTROLLER AP/AR COORDINATOR

MANAGING EDITOR

Surprise Paradiso

INTERIM NEWS EDITOR

Art & Production

Megan Seling

Marcus Green

ART DIRECTOR AT LARGE

ARTS EDITOR

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Corianton Hale

Emily Nokes

We Have a Dictator

ASST. ART DIRECTOR

Anthony Keo

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Charles Mudede

Don’t Doubt It and Don’t Get Used to It

Katie Lake

Hannah Murphy Winter

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Char Harris

STAFF WRITERS

Julianne Bell Vivian McCall Audrey Vann

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PRODUCTION

David Caplan, Feedback Graphics

Marketing & Digital Media

PHOTO DIRECTOR

Trump Wants You to Make Fascist Art

Billie Winter

Seattle Art Orgs Can Help, for Now

EverOut

MARKETING DIRECTOR

MANAGING EDITOR

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Caroline Dodge

Christian Parroco

Janey Wong

VIDEO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Shane Wahlund

ARTS CALENDAR EDITOR

Lindsay Costello

Save Our VHS Tapes

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Magnetic Tapes Hold Decades of Our History, and They’re Disintegrating

EMAIL MARKETING SPECIALIST

DATA MANAGER

Tonya Ray

Advertising

Technology & Development

Shannon Lubetich

REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR

VP OF PRODUCT

Anthony Hecht

James Deeley

The Return of The Stranger’s SIFF Notes

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We Watched More Than 100 SIFF Films to Bring You the Best, Worst, and Weirdest of This Year’s Festival

Spirited Away

Some of Seattle’s Best Happy Hours are Just Minutes from SIFF Theaters

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR

Grant Hendrix

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

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Bust a Move

37

Things to Do

Bold Type Tickets CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS MANAGER

Kevin Shurtluff

Administrative

CLIENT SOLUTIONS MANAGER

Diana Schwartz

COO/CFO

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CLIENT & CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS REPRESENTATIVE

Rob Crocker CHIEF OF STAFF

Campy Draper

CHAIRMAN AND PUBLISHER

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IT MANAGER

Andi Carmichael

Toby Crittenden

The Screens We’ve Loved and Lost

Michael Crowl Nick Nelson

Evanne Hall

Ben Demar Katie Phoenix

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LEAD DEVELOPERS

ADVERTISING OPERATIONS MANAGER

Brady Walkinshaw

CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS REPRESENTATIVE

Katya Schexnaydre Anita Chao

Remembering the Beloved (and Haunted) Movie Theaters of Seattle’s Past

A Brief History of Dance Styles in Hip-Hop

Music! Art! Literature! Performance! All the Things!

B Movies BY NATE CARDIN

ACROSS 1. Vancouver’s country 7. Bro’s sib 10. * 1995 movie featuring a barnyard baby boar 14. Observes Yom Kippur 15. Texter’s “No clue” 16. Cis/straight supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community 17. Artifacts of the past, like might be found at the Burke Museum 18. One of five rolled in Yahtzee 19. Yahtzee, for example

47

20. * 2005 movie featuring Bale in a bodysuit

Fun Page!

23. “Stainless” metal 24. “What do you get when you cross an elephant with a ___?” (shrugs while answering) “Elephino!”

25. When doubled, a cheerleader’s item

COVER ARTWORK

28. Expulsion from a whale’s blowhole, like might be seen in Puget Sound

...with a bingo card, if you even care!

30. Duwamish or Suquamish 32. “Spread love, not ___” 36. The E in ESL

Jean-Michel Tixier

37. Throws with force

38. * 2018 movie featuring a blindfolded Bullock 40. * 1995 movie featuring Black buddy-cops 41. Washington’s neighbor to the South 42. Slangy response to “Why?” 43. Online crafts marketplace

Find the crossword solution at www.thestranger.com/puzzlesolution

BINGO

The Seattle International Film Festival is always full of weird, wonderful, and weirdly wonderful sights.

Keep your eyes peeled for the details described below and see if you can get BINGO!

SIFF

44. Hereditary units 45. May 15-25, 2025, for this year’s Seattle International Film Festival 47. Not even, literally 48. Utterly exhausted 50. Like salad greens 55. * 1963 movie based on a Brecher Broadway blockbuster 57. Assign stars to on Letterboxd, say 60. Also

THE STRANGER 1122 E Pike Suite 1224, Seattle, WA 98122 61. Give the cold shoulder to

62. Colorful part of the eye

GRATUITOUS HITCHCOCK/ DOLLY ZOOM SHOT

CANNIBALS

COP HIT IN THE HEAD WITH A USED DILDO

SPACE EXPLORATION (THE COOL KIND, NOT THE ASSHOLE KIND)

63. Former advice columnist Landers, whose writing desk now belongs to Dan Savage

64. ___ trap (sexy selfie)

FIZZGIG

65. * 2008 movie featuring a bold but bamboozled bowser 66. “___ Miz” 67. Inserted heart parts

DOWN 1. Seattle Marathoners’ pre-race intake, often 2. Bothered, as one’s conscience 3. Actor Nick of 1989’s “Three Fugitives”

A FILM THAT PASSES THE

MEDIUM TO BIG

MISANDRIST

A MOVIE CO-WRITTEN BY

4. “Princess Mononoke” genre

UNREALISTIC

5. Transferrable stickers often seen on Nalgenes 6. Professional org., like the Downtown Seattle ___

VOICE 206-323-7101

Mon–Fri, 9 am–5:30 pm; editor@thestranger.com

4 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

DAN SAVAGE’S

2025 PA RT ONE !

DIVERSE•INCLUSIVE•HOT AF ?

NO P AN T S EM. NO P ROB L

S T R EAM T HE NE W 2025 P AR T ON E LINEUP FROM (ALMO S T ) AN Y W HER E .

GET YOUR ON-DEMAND STREAMING PASS AT humpfilmfest.com/streaming-library

MAY 2025

Welcome to the

2025 SIFF ISSUE!

T

his paper marks the return of The Stranger’s SIFF Notes: an absolutely (maybe manically?) exhaustive rundown of what’s happening at the 2025 Seattle International Film Festival. We watched more than 100 films in the last month (which, if we’d watched them all back-to-back, adds up to about a week’s worth of film. YOU’RE WELCOME). And we dug a lot of them!

Even found a handful that you absolutely shouldn’t miss.

In that week’s-worth of film, we learned that high camp is still alive and well, that hitting someone in the face with a dildo is still funny, that anti-capitalism still rocks, and that the people who are kind to animals deserve the world.

The massive, artistic endeavor of a film festival feels especially impressive in 2025—when everything that makes it possible is under attack. Stranger Staff Writers Vivian McCall and Nathalie Graham both dug into the ways that the Trump administration is making it increasingly difficult to make and preserve good art. Vivian visited the Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPoPS), where they’re racing against time to preserve VHS and anything else catalogued on magnetic tape, and Nathalie dug into the new fascist rules at the National Endowment of the Humanities (everyone loves art about the Founding Fathers, right?).

And while we were watching hours and hours of people’s actual art, the world was still turning—unfortunately. The week we finished making this issue, Trump crossed over the 100-day mark of his second term as president. In that time, he crossed a lot of other lines too: He deported legal US residents; he ignored orders from the

Supreme Court; he had a judge arrested for (allegedly) obstructing ICE while trying to arrest someone in her courtroom; he tried to single-handedly restrict voting access; he defunded government agencies so severely that private companies (oligarchs) may be the only way we can access essential services; he released government reports with the express purpose of seeding disinformation (looking at you, HHS).

That’s an incomplete list, and it’ll surely be even more incomplete by the time you’re reading this. But it’s enough to say the next, essential sentence: We have a dictator.

Stranger Senior Writer Charles Mudede lays it out for us (p. 9): “Tyrants come in different flavors,” he writes. “In the case of the US, Trump is only a concentration of what was already well established in this society: the relentless repression of voting rights, institutional racism, systemic misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, science denial, and bogus economic reasoning.”

Trump is made of the stuff that made this country, and it’s on us to reject him.

The very last day we were working on this issue was May Day. Just outside our office, a march stretched block after block through Capitol Hill—a coalition of progressives who, rather than being exhausted by the Hands Off ! protests, showed up again. And I believe we’ll keep showing up.

We’ll be back for the Queer Issue in June, and I’m sure we’ll have a new, non-exhaustive list of nightmares, but we’ll also have spent a whole month showing up: showing up for good fucking art, showing up for SIFF screenings, showing up for protests. So until June, see you there.

Hannah Murphy Winter Editor-in-Chief

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6 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

MAY 2025

I Saw U…

Celebrating a Birthday at the Phish Concert, Whistling a Lot at Screwdriver, and Bringing Your Big Dog to Mariners Games ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAMES YATES

D

id you recently share a ~*moment*~ with someone while riding the bus, dancing at the club, or standing in line at the supermarket? Do you want to try to reconnect? Submit your own I Saw U at thestranger.com/isawu, and maybe we’ll include it in the next roundup! Look for a new batch of I Saw U messages every Thursday on thestranger.com. thank god for the stranger A year ago you wanted to make things official, but you didn’t do it in a normal way. You told The Stranger instead of me. When they published what you said, you sent the post to me and waited for me to figure out that it was too specific to be written by anyone else. I’m so glad I’m your person and you’ll always be mine.

Cute mcr moment outside the alibi room You came up to me & complimented my bullets shirt, and then we talked about mcr for a moment before you went back inside.

maid. You were so pleasant + nice, great vibes! I am looking for more lady friends want to share some tots?

Mariners Man with Mountainous Mutt I’ve seen you at several Mariners Bark at the Park games. You: tall lumberjack with a matching Newfy. Me: also tall, no dog but want to pet you both.

Pussy riot show We both had leather jackets and talked a little. You (kat) me (zuzu). You were older than me (femme late 20s) We talked about the show and our jackets as well as the beer we drank wish I saw you again.

Cutie in navy top You were sitting out front at homage coffee on ballard ave around 2 pm on april 2 and we locked eyes as I walked in and out. Coffee date there soon?

You Liked My Perfume You were bartending 4/5 at Marios/Alpine and asked my friends and I what smelled so good - it was me. The perfume is Madonna

by Golden Gems. Enjoy!

Friday Phish show, Row X, 50th Bday party I was in your row at Phish, lame dude was being “aggressively enthusiastic” and you asked me to stand between him and ya’ll.

Would love to see you!

Fleeting Love In Magnolia on Saturday: You, a curly brunette in a Green ‘98 Outback Impreza. Me, a curly brunette in a Green ‘99 Outback Legacy. Coffee sometime?

After work on a Ballard bus Fri bus #44. U = sexy glasses man w/tats peeking out from your button down. U got off at 11th at 6:07p w/a glance at my tats. I wished it was my stop.

Forgot to ask for your IG at Coachella We (8 ppl in matching red jerseys) met you while waiting for JENNIE. Discovered we were all from Seattle. Can you send us the pic we took together?

Ballard Bubblegum Bean Boi I was your server at a Belltown Bar. Ran into you at Screwdriver after. We had daiquiri shots & you whistled a lot. We should have exchanged info!

Roanoke Inn You said my hair made me look like a mer-

In line for burgers At Alpental on a fine spring skiing Friday.

We got the same burger, sans onions. Your smile and eye contact were better than the pretzel bun! Thanks for the helmet tip and leaving an impression. tatted masc reader at a pizza restaurant you were reading at local wallingford pizzeria when I just clocked onto my shift. I didn’t get to ask what you were reading. bookstore & coffee date?

Is it a match? Follow The Stranger on Instagram and leave a comment on our weekly I Saw U posts to connect!

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8 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

MAY 2025

9

Don’t Doubt It and Don’t Get Used to It

BY CHARLES MUDEDE

I

f you believe we are somehow still living in the same US that conducted elections in November 2024, you are living in a dream. That America is gone. The one we are in now is not run by someone acting like a dictator—or, as Rachel Maddow claimed, “too incompetent” to be a dictator—but is, without a doubt, the real deal. This fact alone explains why the recent “very strong letter” Senator Chuck Schumer sent to Trump was such a howler. Schumer, too, must be dreaming or, worse, has decided to pretend as if he is sleepwalking. Tyrants don’t read letters. And what you will not find in the 100 days Trump has been in the White House is a single indication that he is running the country with any consideration or fear of the public. Voters are no longer a part of his political picture. One man owns this country.

This is a dictator.

Evidence? Well, he himself said to The Atlantic: “I run the country and the world.”

And if you do not believe his words, which are brazenly anti-democratic, I will give two clear examples: one that’s material (force) and the other mental (fear). The first example: After refusing an order from the Supreme Court to return Kilmar Ábrego García from a mega prison that’s in El Salvador and, like the Cybertruck, is straight out of an ’80s dystopian film, Trump then arrested Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly helping an immigrate evade ICE detention, claiming: no one is above the law. Logically, this implies: no one is above Trump—he is the law. All other citizens, no matter what their rank, cannot disobey him.

The second example: When the self-described “world’s coolest dictator,” El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, visited the White House on April 14, he was told by Trump that American citizens would soon be sent

to his mega prison. Now, it doesn’t matter if Trump was joking or not. What matters is he put this into the minds of Americans: You have seen the prison, you have seen what the guards do to prisoners there, you have not seen a single person leave that nightmare. This, my fellow American, could be you. A key (if not the main tool) in a dictator’s box is fear, which functions much in the same way as Foucault’s famous panopticon prison: a space enclosed in such a way that an inmate doesn’t know if they are being watched by a guard or not and so they must, out of fear alone, watch themselves at all times. Trump’s threat has this function. It says: Better watch yourself or else.

Trump is, by all accounts, as American as apple pie.

I’m by no means the only one who recognizes the kind of power that’s now occupying the White House. Indeed, some writers have gone so far as to write about how and why the present dictatorship will end.

“Tyrants are for toppling,” writes Simon Tisdall of The Guardian, “Their downfall is a saving grace.”

However, some dictators grow so old they no longer have the power to cling to power. This is exactly what happened to the late Robert Mugabe. After ruling Zimbabwe for a thousand (magical realist) years (40 in real years), he was finally toppled at age 93, and died rather peacefully at the age of 95. Because Trump’s dictatorship started so late in his life (78), the US, if worse comes to worst, has time on its side. Nature will bring his reign

to an end. Zimbabwe’s first dictator (it’s now experiencing its second, Emmerson “The Crocodile” Mnangagwa), began at the age of 56.

Tyrants come in different flavors. Mugabe, for example—who, like Trump, heavily relied on rural support (city people hated him)—was actually a member of the African intelligentsia. He was well read, had the wit of a professor, and spoke English with a command that puts the monolingual Trump in the shade. Other dictators (Idi Amin and Kim Jong-il) are as thick as two planks. Some (the Shah of Iran) are royal in manner and appearance. And so it’s not the character or intelligence of the dictator that counts, but the culture from which they emerge.

In the case of the US, Trump is only a concentration of what was already well established in his society: the relentless repression of voting rights, institutional racism, systemic misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, an anti-science attitude, and bogus economic reasoning (trickle-down theory, efficient market hypothesis, methodological individualism in the form of the rational actor paradigm). What is, in fact, lacking in Trump’s dictatorship is anything that’s original or drawn from outside of the structure of American history. He is, by all accounts, as American as apple pie.

And I think this is what Americans have to face in the coming years. Even if Trump doesn’t run for a third term and make himself the ruler for what remains of his life, nothing will really change if the composition of our society isn’t transformed. You will not find a better time to think in this way than right now.

How can we, once and for all, bring an end to Trumpism? The first step in unseating a dictator is recognizing they are one. The next step is refusing to be ruled by one. ■

Seattle’s First 100 Days

In November, when we all first learned that Trump won, Seattle talked a big talk: There’s nowhere safer to be under Trump 2.0, we said.

We’re a sanctuary city in a blue state. We’ll be the safe harbor in the storm.

Trump’s been in office for 100 days now, so let’s do our first check-in. How has Seattle stood up to an emerging dictator?

The Good: Attorney General Nick Brown is living up to his promise to sue the shit out of the Trump administration. As of mid-April, he’d filed 11 suits against him—for trans healthcare, NIH funding, and voting rights, to name an essential few—and has helped halt some of his most egregious orders, at least temporarily.

City departments like the Office of Arts and Culture are doing their part to stymie Trump with bureaucracy, like preemptively changing the types of information they gather so the Feds can’t use them to track down immigrants and trans people. And then, of course, there are the Seattleites. We’re showing up to protests by the thousands and using our relative regional freedom to build new coalitions of progressives in the city.

The Ugly: Our local governments are holding up (though Governor Ferguson is hardly the anti-Trump hero he campaigned as), but some of our core institutions have let us down. Under threat of pulled funding, Seattle Children’s Hospital has preemptively stopped providing gender-affirming surgery to patients under 19, proving that the Trump administration really can intimidate them into deserting their standard of care. Fred Hutch Cancer Center dissolved their DEI department, ditching programs that helped diversify the researchers they funded, and therefore whom their research served. And being in Washington hasn’t protected immigrants like Alfredo Juarez Zeferino from being picked up by ICE and indefinitely detained in a detention facility just 30 miles south of Seattle.

The Score: We can do better, but we’re still standing. Let’s kick ass for the next 100.

HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

10 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

MAY 2025

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Trump Wants You to Make Fascist Art Seattle Art Orgs Can Help, for Now

BY NATHALIE GRAHAM

K

athy Hsieh, a theater artist and grant-making strategist in the Seattle Office Arts and Culture (OAC), used to joke about doing a performance art piece: a day in Seattle with no art. She would hang black drapes over all the art spaces, all the public art, and everything colorful.

She would blot out any kind of design, any landscaping. She would cancel performances, turn off the music, the radio, and close the libraries.

“It would be so bleak,” Hsieh says. “Seattle would be almost nothing if we didn’t have artists and arts and culture.” With new executive orders coming from the Trump administration, the far-fetched idea feels closer and closer to reality. Trump’s recent slashes to the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH), his threats to the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), and his reductions to the Institute of Museums and Library Services could level America’s cultural spaces as we know them. And the restrictions the administration has put in place for NEA funds are so absurd—prioritizing “patriotic” art—that they’ve had a chilling effect on grant applications. Shockingly, people don’t want to make bad, boot-licking art.

The Storm Trump taking control of the Kennedy Center so he could put on Cats was just the canary in the coal mine. On April 2, Trump announced he was cancelling 85 percent of the NEH’s 1,200 current grants. Why? Well, to start, of the endowment’s $207 million budget, $17 million will now go toward the construction of Trump’s weird “Garden of Heroes,” where he’ll commission 250 statues of mostly dead white men, like a knockoff Mount Rushmore.

The NEA—which has yet to see the same degree of cuts as the NEH—will lose $17 million of its $207 million budget to fund that garden as well.

As Manny Cawaling, the executive director of Inspire Washington, puts it: Taking any amount of funding from a fund that “spreads like thin peanut butter” in the states is dangerous for artists and arts organizations.

Washington state usually sees a total of $2.4 million annually from the NEH and the NEA that its state agencies can direct. The 1.2 million in NEH funding is gone. While we still have access to NEA funding, the 2026 grant application came with new stipula-

tions this year. Applicants had to attest that none of the funds they sought had anything to do with diversity, equity, or inclusion, otherwise known as Trump’s “Illegal DEI.” The application also specified that the NEA would prioritize projects that commemorated America250, the Trump-sanctioned 250th birthday celebration of the country.

How would organizations with no relationship to that mission apply? Would contemporary dance programming in rural Washington meant to increase access to the form have to be about… Thomas Jefferson?

Haven’t we all had enough Hamilton?

(Though the whole cast—except King George—would get dinged for “being DEI.”) All of this screams fascism: the forced patriotism, the “no DEI” rule. The Nazis established and controlled funding for composers, writers, and filmmakers. They

Shockingly, people don’t want to make bad, boot-licking art. celebrated art they found acceptable and ridiculed the “degenerate” art that defied those standards. What was good art to a Nazi? According to The New Republic, “Nazi–fascist leaders believed that good art was defined most of all by its racial integrity, its reflection of a single national tradition.”

And it wasn’t just Hitler. In Italy under Mussolini, art was tightly controlled and meant to glorify the nation: Fine art featured strong, athletic bodies; architecture showcased grandeur and strength.

Much like Trump’s heroes garden, Mussolini constructed a sports center filled with statues

of idealized athletes. And in Portugal, dictator António de Oliveira Salazar launched a campaign of public works, erecting sculptures of Portuguese heroes across Portugal and its colonies.

Trump is using a tried-and-true playbook written by fascist leaders of yore. Derivative!

So What If You Don’t Want to Make Fascist Art? You’re not alone. According to Cawaling, after seeing the new requirements, many organizations opted not to apply for NEA grants this year. “A whole bunch of people told me, ‘We’re not changing our values.

We’re not applying,’” Cawaling says.

According to Hsieh at the OAC, “all the funders locally are staying true to the core values of why they’re giving funding in the first place.” She says OAC did make a few changes to protect applicants from any “federal AI scan of applications”: Since anyone can make public records requests for information OAC keeps on file, OAC is trying to safeguard groups that may be discriminated against in the Trump administration.

“We are trying to make sure that if anyone requests that information that it is less visible,” Hsieh said. They removed specific questions from the applications about whether applicants are transgender and whether they’re immigrants. OAC modified the language. Now, they only ask if applicants identify as LGBTQIA or if they’re from a “culturally specific community.” It’s a proactive step, Hsieh says, to protect against whatever else the federal government could do.

While federal grants are less attractive this year, local grants are more attractive than ever. In 2023, King County passed Doors Open, a levy that helps fund arts,

cultural, and science programs through a 0.1 percent sales tax. 4Culture used to dole out between $10 and $15 million each year, executive director Brian Carter says. With Doors Open, 4Culture plans to give out around $165 million in grants over the next three years.

With all of that money, 4Culture increased the amount of grants it’s giving away this year. They expected to see a bump in applications either way, but Carter says they’ve exceeded his expectations. “People saw [the Trump administration] coming down the pike and JON MCCORMACK now that it’s here, folks are coming out of the woodwork,” Carter says.

The OAC expects an increase in applicants to its grants, too, since federal money is less certain. But, unlike 4Culture, OAC’s funding beyond 2025 is less of a sure thing.

OAC’s funding comes from two main sources: an admissions tax and the municipal arts fund. The admissions tax—a tax on tickets—is heavily tied to the tourism industry. As tourism drops because of Trump’s actions, so do those revenues.

City of Seattle budget projections already show a $900,000 decrease in admissions tax revenue for 2025. One of 4Culture’s main revenue sources is the hotel and motel tax—another funding source tied to tourism.

Doors Open—which was meant to increase our region’s arts and culture budgets—should at least cushion any immediate financial blows. And in the meantime, optimism persists in these spaces. The arts funds locally are still accepting grants, they’re still giving. Their advice to artists?

Subscribe to 4Culture’s, OAC’s, and Inspire Washington’s newsletters. They share opportunities both within their organization and outside it. Contact grant managers directly. They want to help, they want to connect. Stay up to date.

Gülgün Kayim, the director of OAC, pointed to their newest grant titled “We Still Dream a Future.” They are asking for projects to showcase in activations and installations downtown that exhibit “flourishing despite these dark days.” OAC will award grants between $10,000 and $50,000.

“This idea of resiliency comes from a position that if we’re so stressed that we can’t imagine a future together, then we can’t build that future,” Kayim said. “This is our stake in the ground.” ■

12 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

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13

Save Our VHS Tapes

Magnetic Tapes Hold Decades of Our History, and They’re Disintegrating

BY VIVIAN MCCALL

L

ibby Hopfauf and Annalise Nichol- develop sticky-shed syndrome, a breakdown lutionary. Family rituals—weddings, births, It got her thinking about how the US has son are in a race against time, and of chemical bonds that causes the coating to and bar mitzvahs—were watched instead of farmed out essential government services to a network of nonprofits. “This is everyslip off when the tape is played, gumming up flipped through in a photo album. against tape.

With tape, independent filmmakers made thing from, social services for children to liIt’s a spring afternoon, and we’re the machine with black goo. Dry tapes flake sitting in the office of the Moving off like sunburned skin. There are temporary movies on the cheap. Community theaters braries,” she said. “It’s like, instead of having Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MI- solutions. Archivists “bake” sticky tapes in a filmed performances. Oral histories were the sort of long reach of the government and PoPS), a narrow rectangular room at City commercial food dehydrator, and massage captured. Tribal languages were preserved. having robust systems, this country doesn’t Hall. Old audiovisual technology is stacked the brittle surface of dry tapes with a cleaning Activists filmed their own actions. History preserve its own archives!”

Siobhan C. Hagan’s mostly volunteer to the high ceiling. In the corner by the door, pad in denatured alcohol. But degraded tapes was caught on camera from more angles there’s a reel-to-reel dictaphone for listening stay degraded. Even magnetic tapes still in and perspectives than ever before, much of Mid-Atlantic Moving Image Archive to old Seattle City Hall meetings. There’s a their shrink wrap aren’t safe. The plastics it from everyday people and marginalized (MARMIA) in Baltimore never had the gray behemoth with reels the size of serving are breaking down, leaching gases and acids. groups. No question, we’ll lose a lot of this time for the lengthy federal grant process, Nicholson pops a U-matic tape—an older, to time, and it will thin the historical record. so they’re better off than most right now. plates made for sports instant replays. On The federal government’s crusade is not The entire field of moving image archiving the floor sits a cardboard box of cassettes, higher-fidelity precursor to VHS—into its oral histories from the Wing Luke Museum player. On the bubble screen, two doctors helping. Tim Lake is director of BAVC Me- depends on grants, Hagan says, and no one recorded in the mid ’90s. Nicholson pulls a stand at the foot of a hospital bed before van- dia, but went half-time after it lost a $100,000 knows who will foot the bill. The only philanyellow-shelled Memorex cassette from the ishing into a scribble of static. Hopfauf opens federal grant. BVAC was working through a thropist organization that’s taken a keen massive collection of songs and traditions interest is the Mellon Foundation, and they the deck and shines a flashlight in. box and asks if I remembered them. can’t support everyone. (Though MIPoPS works mostly with at the end of April, Mellon anorganizations that don’t have the nounced $15 million for state money or know-how to preserve humanities councils across the their own magnetic media. It’s country, so Mellon can do a lot.) urgent work. Tapes are rapidly The financials are dour, but degrading. The machines that archivists lit up when I asked play tapes are breaking down, about the stuff they’ve saved. Tim and for the most obscure forLake at BVAC wouldn’t name a mats, replacement parts and favorite, but an early film from repairmen are in short supply.

South Korean filmmaker Nam The National Film and Sound June Paik, the father of video art, Archive of Australia has soundcame to mind. So did a project on ed the alarm. Magnetic tape not a now-extinct sign language from digitized by the end of this year Trinidad and Tobago. may be lost forever.

The bulk of MARMIA’s collecAnd now the money problem tion is from Baltimore’s WJZ-TV. has become even more dire. MIAn hour-long investigative rePoPS and the handful of other orport on blockbusting they found ganizations preserving this visual and digitized was incorporated history while it is physically posinto a segment on housing dissible depend on federal funding crimination that aired on John that no longer exists.

Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. But Half of MIPoPS’ budget came even the hours of local TV comfrom the collapsing National BILLIE WINTER mercials they’ve catalogued can Endowment for the Humanities, Annalise Nicholson (left) and Libby Hopfauf examine the insides of a 3/4-inch U-matic player. tell you about a time and place. gutted while Hopfauf was filling And what is the government doing with “Those are getting clogged and can’t read from Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota out an application for next year. MIPoPS these savings? Nothing—the NEH has mostconsidered local funders, but quickly discov- the information,” Hopfauf says, pointing to until it also lost funding.

“So now I’m packaging up that whole ly dissolved—or bullshit. What’s left of the ered many of them also got their money from the play heads. Evidence littered the innards the federal government. What looked like a like tiny black scales. “The tape is shedding, project to send back to them, which is not department announced last month they’d vast network of plumbing all drew from the like sloughing off. The first time I opened one digitized at all, so you can see how this all spend some of the money on a Trump vanity project, the so-called Garden of American reverberates.” same water source, now dry. MIPoPS is not of these, I thought it was cat hair.”

On April 2, the Community Archiving Heroes. Trump first proposed the garden As tapes age, they grow harder to preserve. totally broke—about a quarter of its budget comes from the county—but they can only Part of a collection from the University of Workshop received a memo from a non- in the midst of his catastrophic bungling Washington, this tape had no picture when descript non-government email address, of COVID, imagining life-sized statues of hope they’ll be here this time next year.

“We’re trying to figure that out right now,” Nicholson started cleaning. To convert it, revoking its $150,000 grant from the NEH. presidents, athletes, movie stars, Walmart Hopfauf says. “I guess we could find a magic she had to clean the tape four times and then In a rebuttal, co-founder Moriah Ulinskas founder Sam Walton and, funnily enough, rich person.”“That’s the only place money digitally stitch together the best takes into reminded the government that, according Hannah Arendt, a German Jew who fled the lives anymore, apparently,” Nicholson says. one video. Each cleaning takes about 20 min- to their own contract, the only official com- Nazis and wrote the literal book on totalitarIndifferent to our money problems, mag- utes. Since starting this work in 2015, MI- munications came through a federal portal. ians, The Origins of Totalitarianism.

It’s a fitting symbol for the Trump project, netic tapes will molder. Tape was designed to PoPS has preserved 12,000 hours of footage. But she knew it wouldn’t matter. The feds Manufacturers’ short-sightedness didn’t had probably fired whoever’s job it was to whisking Americans back to an imagined, be cheap, not to outlast the pyramids. It could prosperous past, as if with a magic wand. In endure repeated plays and re-recording to a stop people from filming. In the ’70s and ’80s, read her email.

The day before, Ulinskas had flown back place of actual history, actual, living culture, point, but these flimsy, magnetically coated tape became the affordable medium of the people. Putting the power of playback into from Paris, where she’d walked past France’s we get a meaningless statue. Statues can strips of plastic are not long for this world.

A tape sitting in a hot and humid attic may the hands of the average person was revo- National Archive, the largest in the world. wait, these tapes can’t. ■

14 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

The Return

of

SIFF NOTES Flamingo Sex! Cannibals! A Woman Turning into a Chair!

We Watched More Than 100 SIFF Films to Bring You the Best, Worst, and Weirdest of This Year’s Festival

H

ELLO and welcome to The Stranger’s 2025 SIFF Guide! We have returned to our tradition of “attempting to watch every single SIFF film,” and are proud/exhausted to say that we made it through every single screener that was made available to us, so that you, dear reader, could be a little more informed about what rules, what sucks, what is beautiful, and what is incomprehensibly boring.

It’s our labor of love, though, to be able to do this.

Seattle International Film Festival has brought independent cinema to Seattle for over half a century, and with funding and movie theaters becoming more scarce (please, I beg of you, someone with money,

turn the old Broadway Rite Aid back into a theater— the sign is still there and everything!), independent film is more important than ever to celebrate.

Below, you’ll find a handy key. UNSCREENED means we weren’t able to obtain a screener by the time of printing, even though we asked a lot, and really nicely. Of the 100-plus we did see, you’ll find we RECOMMEND 32 of them, while there are another 18 we insist you DON’T MISS (threat). But you do you—one person’s “gender-bending lo-fi Frankenstein comedy” is another person’s “supernatural thriller starring a dog,” as they say. So dig in! = RECOMMEND

DON’T MISS! = DON’T MISS

= UNSCREENED

MAY 2025

15

wishing to find her, but they struggle to come to terms with core things like her Danishness and her queerness. The language barrier between them stands in for all the barriers built from regret, time, and distance. The family’s story, though, is far from over. They’ll keep working on their relationships long after the cameras stop rolling. (AMC Pacific Place May 24–25; streaming May 26–June 1) FOX ALLISON

BILLY

Canada (Québec), 2024 (107 min), Dir. Lawrence Côté-Collins

BITTER GOLD

#

1-800-ON-HER-OWN

USA, 2024 (78 min), Dir. Dana Flor

Ani DiFranco has lived a fascinating life.

She’s self-released more than 20 albums, he’s an ardent activist, using her platform to speak out against homophobia, racism, and other inequalities. She’s worked with orgs that make music education accessible to kids, spoken out against predatory major labels, and collaborated with everyone from Prince to Cyndi Lauper. So it’s unfortunate to hear that Dana Flor’s DiFranco documentary 1-800-ON-HER-OWN is “a pedestrian musician documentary” (New York Times) and “a snooze” (The Hollywood Reporter).

(SIFF Cinema Uptown May 19–20; streaming May 26–June 1) MEGAN SELING

40 ACRES

Canada, 2024 (113 min), Dir. R.T. Thorne

It’s a classic premise: a pandemic sparks war, famine follows, and resources rule all. By post-apocalyptic standards, the Freeman family farm is thriving until a band of cannibals arrives.

The first act is fun, but the cannibals fall flat as soon as we get a good look at them. Instead of standing on their own characterization, they play more like inconsistently styled homages to other horror-movie cannibals. With no background or motivation, it would be easy to miss the allegory to white colonial violence if the movie weren’t called 40 Acres, if the son didn’t sleep under a Fred Hampton poster, if the film didn’t prominently feature a book report on The Proletarian’s Pocketbook, etc. The cannibals feel more like an interruption of the family’s discussions of—rather than part of a story about—race and colonialism. I would have loved to see that movie. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 16, May 21) BRIGID KENNEDY

A APRIL

Georgia, 2024 (134 min), Dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili

After a baby dies during delivery, the father calls the police. The hospital launches an inquest. Nina, the hospital’s leading OBGYN, who delivered the baby, is an expert called in for every complicated birth.

But Nina has a secret, which the aggrieved father knows: “I know you give abortions in the villages,” he says. “You’re a murderer.” I assumed a film about abortions in rural Georgia, a country where the procedure is restricted, would be sad. April is scary.

It’s a mostly quiet story punctuated by shocking moments, and the menace of masculine control hangs heavy over this film. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, SIFF Film Center May 17) VIVIAN McCALL

AUCTION

France, 2024 (91 min), Dir. Pascal Bonitzer

Pascal Bonitzer’s Auction, is based on a true story, in which an auctioneer discovers an authentic Egon Schiele painting (exciting!), but learns that it went missing in 1939 after being confiscated by the Nazis (oh no). (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, Shoreline Community College May 18) MEGAN SELING

B BABY DOE

USA, 2025 (100 min), Dir. Jessica Earnshaw

It’s easy to assume you’d never not DON’T know you were pregnant, all the way up MISS! until you gave birth. “How would that even happen?” is a question I myself have asked.

But, like most assumptions, it’s worth deeper consideration. Gail Ritchey is a mother, grandmother, wife, and devoted church member from a conservative Christian community in rural Ohio who was leading a very ordinary life until police knocked on her door to question her about fetal remains found in 1993, leading to her arrest for murder. Her children and husband (who is the father of her living children, as well as the deceased) are understandably shocked, but stand by her side as they navigate the psychology of pregnancy dissociation and denial, and how aspects like religion, shame, resources, and politics might lead to unimaginable circumstances. Baby Doe is an empathetic look at a very complex topic, something the legal system is rarely equipped to understand or accommodate. It’s heavy stuff, but I do think it’s mind-opening and worth viewing. (AMC Pacific Place May 20, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 21) EMILY NOKES

THE BALCONETTES

France, 2024 (104 min), Dir. Noémie Merlant

In Portrait of a Lady on Fire, star Noémie Merlant’s directorial debut, tensions and libidos run high as Marseille is caught in a sweltering heat wave. The titular “Balconettes” are Nicole (Sanda Codreanu), a sexually frustrated novelist; Elise (Merlant), a glamorous actress retreating from the overzealous attentions of her possessive husband; and Ruby (Souhelia Yacoub), a carefree camgirl. When the roommates flirt with the mysterious man on the balcony across from their building, a series of devastating events is set in motion. What starts out as a feminist take on Rear Window (starring Merlant as the consummate Hitchcock blonde) soon shifts into a surrealist revenge fantasy full of bright colors and unapologetic physicality: titties hanging out, farts, orgasms, etc.

The effect is something like an episode of Broad City as directed by Pedro Almodóvar. One thing’s for sure: You’ll never look at a rocking chair the same way

again. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 18, SIFF Cinema Downtown May 19) JULIANNE BELL

BAR

USA, 2025 (89 min), Dir. Don Hardy

It’s said the BAR (Beverage Alcohol Resource) 5-day program is like the PhD of mixology—difficult to pass, expensive to attend, and, according to the attendees, a life-changing experience packed with education and camaraderie. BAR follows a handful of the program’s attendees on their journey through spirit schooling and mastercraft. Yes, there is a certain overproof rizz that comes with some BAR personalities, but the film’s at its best when waxing about “being in the people business.” During a particularly heartfelt diversity workshop, a speaker put it best: “Everything we do…must be truly grounded in making sure that people are, at the very least, respected, considered, thought about, and then hopefully made to feel happy and comfortable.” Cheers to that. (AMC Pacific Place May 17–18; streaming May 26–June 1) EMILY NOKES

BEEF

Spain, 2025 (85 min), Dir. Ingride Santos

Lati is a young Malian woman living with her family in Barcelona. Her father is dead, and her mother wants her to be a good Muslim, but she “only dreams of becoming a famous rapper.” Fuck yes! Sold. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 16, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22) MEGAN SELING

BEGINNINGS

Denmark, 2025 (96 min), Dir. Jeanette Nordahl

The complexity of love, the intimacy of caretaking, and the fragility of “normal” come together in a quiet, painful dance in this unflinching Danish drama. Ane and Thomas, on the brink of divorce, seem to hate each other the way only people who love each other can, until Ane’s sudden stroke detonates their unhappy-but-familiar equilibrium. It’s a bleak ordeal through the relentless, pitiless humiliation of failing health and forced dependency. It’s also a captivating, compassionate story of survival and suffering that resists cheap emotional shots, carried by some devastatingly amazing acting. Don’t watch this on a first date… but do watch it. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22–23) FOX ALLISON

BETWEEN GOODBYES

USA, 2024 (96 min), Dir. Jota Mun

Mieke is a Danish woman, adopted from South Korea as a baby. Having lost both her adoptive parents, she’s getting to know her birth family, who still reside in Korea. The documentary focuses on that complex, fragile relationship, and we, the viewers, are invited into some uncomfortably intimate, vulnerable moments as they wade through decades of love and heartbreak. Mieke’s parents spent every day of her life loving her and

It’s an intriguing premise: After her fellow filmmaker, Billy Poulin, goes to prison for murder, Lawrence Côté-Collins stitches together clips from hundreds of hours of Poulin’s personal video footage to form a portrait of sorts of his undiagnosed and untreated schizophrenia. As she updates Poulin on her progress through letters and phone calls, Poulin begins to understand the scope of his illness. But Billy falls frustratingly short as Côté-Collins inserts herself into the narrative—and glosses over Poulin’s victims and the impact of his crimes—in a way that’s more opportunistic than sincere. (SIFF Film Center May 16–17; streaming May 26–June 1) MEGAN SELING

BITTER GOLD

Chile, 2024 (83 min), Dir. Juan Olea

Each day, Pacífico (Francisco Melo) drives DON’T his workers from a desolate desert road MISS! in Northern Chile to an abandoned mine nearby. He’s searching not only for gold, but a way out for his teenage daughter, Carola (Katalina Sánchez). But after he fires his drunk of an employee, Humberto, everything goes terribly wrong. This tightly plotted, tense neo-Western is about how, as one miner puts it, “when there’s gold, the devil shows.”

For clever Carlona, that evil is not only simple greed, but the patriarchal structures that define her dust-covered, hardscrabble world. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, May 22) VIVIAN McCALL

BLKNWS: TERMS & CONDITIONS USA, 2025 (113 min), Dir. Kahlil Joseph

If you like your Blackness bold, creative, eccentric, complex, profound, mind-blowing, thought-provoking (hell, if you just like Blackness), Kahlil Joseph’s “cinematic installation” BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is your flick. A mixtape of images, histories, and imagined futures, it refuses easy description like it refuses the white gaze. From Du Bois to Raekwon, Million Man March to Ghanaian streets, encyclopedias to encrypted futures—this is Blackness remixed and re-centered.

Joseph invites us into a world where history flashes like strobe lights (epileptics beware), and meaning pulses through image, sound, and silence. This isn’t a movie. It’s an experience. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 18–19) MARCUS HARRISON GREEN

BLUE ROAD: THE EDNA O’BRIEN STORY Ireland, 2024 (100 min), Dir. Sinéad O’Shea

Sinéad O’Shea’s new documentary chronicles the life of Irish novelist Edna O’Brien and her ascent from a whimsical child in rural Ireland to a trailblazing writer unafraid to challenge the Roman Catholic attitudes and shame toward sex. Consisting of archival footage and contemporary interviews with O’Brien (just before her passing last year), the film doesn’t just document an interesting subject, but does so with great care and humanity, capturing her fearless spirit and rebellious attitude. Immediately after watching the film, I frantically searched for used copies of The Country Girls trilogy on eBay, so I’d call the movie a success. Some of my favorite Edna-isms in the film include: “Women don’t just need the vote, they need to be armed,” and “I knew I was doing something right by how angry my husband was.” (AMC Pacific Place May 16, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20) AUDREY VANN

BLUE SUN PALACE

USA, 2024 (116 min), Dir. Constance Tsang

Tsang immediately proves herself a DON’T master of tight-space framing in her MISS! feature-length debut, ostensibly about a Queens massage parlor but really about so much

16 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

BY THE STREAM

more. Every bedroom, kitchen, lobby, stairwell, divey restaurant, rooftop, and mini-mall in Blue Sun Palace is immaculately staged. Fluorescent lights become angelic. Brief stutters of the hand after a bad phone call land like daggers. And intimacy, disgust, and grief fly off the screen in sequences that convey mountains of wordless emotion.

Tsang’s trust in her cast pays off handsomely, as she lets conversations play out with zero cuts and one camera tucked into a tight room’s quarters. The results—the laughs, the bashfulness, and the stone-eyed stares—feel uniquely and powerfully American, as a Mandarin-fluent cast grapples with identity, homesickness, community, loss, isolation, violence, and shame in ways I haven’t seen in a SIFF film in some time. Bravo. CW: Sexual assault.

(Shoreline Community College May 19, AMC Pacific Place May 24) SAM MACHKOVECH

BOONG

India, 2024 (93 min), Dir. Lakshmipriya Devi

Coming-of-age film Boong has all of the hallmarks of a first-time director overreaching. Plot lines either resolve abruptly or dangle. Characters don’t get enough room in either dialogue or action to become fully realized. And tone shifts dramatically, jumping from cheekiness to melodrama to heartbreak, often enough to distract viewers from fully connecting to its plot. But Boong also exists as a rare document of border clashes, ethnic conflicts, and family bonding inside the Indian state of Maripur—especially since they completed principal filming mere weeks before a civil war broke out that continues to this day. Thus, the film stands out for its unique and compelling perspective of Northeast India in a real-world zone that’s no longer easy to film. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22, AMC Pacific Place May 25; streaming May 26–June 1) SAM MACHKOVECH

THE BOTANIST

China, 2025 (96 min), Dir. Jing Yi

The premise of The Botanist seems simple: A 13-year-old boy is raised in a small community by his grandmother and falls in sweet, chaste puppy love with a neighbor girl. But, if the reviews are to be believed at least, the thing that makes this film special is the setting: the northern Chinese province of Xinjiang, just across the border from Kazakhstan.

The Hollywood Reporter describes it as “an isolated community…where life goes on as if modern technology never existed,” and Screen Daily said it “runs dry on cohesive narrative.” But they all agree it’s very pretty. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 23, Shoreline Community College May 24) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

BY DESIGN

USA, 2025 (90 min), Dir. Amanda Kramer

Camille (Juliette Lewis) becomes enamored of a “stunner” of a chair she can’t afford, to the extent that she wishes she could become it. (“Oh, to be someone’s favorite thing.”) Her wish is granted—her spirit enters the chair, her body left inanimate. The people in her life continue on, monologuing around her limp form (Lewis is great at eyes-open draping), too self-absorbed to notice that she’s not entirely there. Meanwhile, an emotionally distant pianist named Olivier has fallen for the

Camille chair; he can’t wait to get away from his vapid art community to spend time with her/it. By Design is surreal, aesthetically interesting (lots of MCM, but the strange lighting and proportions feel more uncanny than twee), and has the deadpan dialogue of a play. Themes include: literal objectification (obvi), tokenism, and maybe something about fetishization and consumerism?

Absurdism as emotional truth? When a film is so avant-garde that you can tack almost any deeper interpretation onto it, you have to wonder if there actually is one. Or if you just need to sit with it longer. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20–21; streaming May 26–June 1) EMILY NOKES

BY THE STREAM

South Korea, 2024 (111 min), Dir. Hong Sang-soo

For last year’s SIFF roundup, I watched DON’T Hong In Our Day, in which MISS! next toSang-soo’s nothing happened: A cat ran off, a poet drank an ill-advised beer, and three women murmured over a box of toiletries. This came as no surprise, because disguised within the mundanity of all Hong’s interpersonal films are lo-fi reflections on the cosmic mysteries of identity, vulnerability, and life itself. In By the Stream, the question is this: “What kind of person do you want to be?… How about saying it through improvised poetry?” One of the film’s quiet strengths lies in its nuanced depiction of artists—a weaver who creates in centimeters-per-hour, an actor who runs a bookshop by the sea. It’s a refreshing reprieve from that annoying film trope of artist-as-wacky-abstract-painter. Expect something akin to Aki Kaurismaki and Eric Rohmer’s storytelling here.

People talk, people think, and then the film ends. It leaves you thinking, too. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20–21) LINDSAY COSTELLO

C CAT TOWN, USA

USA, 2025 (73 min), Dir. Jonathan Napolitano

David Lynch’s love affair with The Wizard of Oz. It makes sense, then, that Phillipe would appreciate The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which (hot take incoming) is one of the best American films ever made. Chain Reactions is a straightforward celebration of the film: It launches directly into five interviews, which are interspersed with scream-heavy TCM clips and scenes from related flicks. Stephen King, Karyn Kusama, Takashi Miike, film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and Patton Oswalt(?!) meditate on TCM’s avant-garde, experimental spirit. (Oswalt has some surprisingly poetic things to say about the film, including comparing its title to “chewing on flesh.”) If you’re interested in Tobe Hooper’s legacy and TCM’s connections to, say, Days of Heaven, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Bergman, or Tarkovsky, you’ll dig this. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, AMC Pacific Place May 17) LINDSAY COSTELLO

THE CHEF & THE DARUMA

Canada, 2024 (90 min), Dir. Mads K. Baekkevold

Director Mads K. Baekkevold covers a lot of ground in The Chef & the Daruma. On its surface, it’s about Hidekazu Tojo, one of the most famous sushi chefs in North America (he says he invented the California roll!). But while Tojo tells his story of how he went from cooking out of necessity for his large family in Japan to charging $330 a head for the top-tier Omakase experience at his Vancouver, Canada restaurant, we also learn more about the history of sushi, the region’s long-standing racism against Japanese-Canadians, how a Daruma works, how sake is made, and which contemporary Vancouver chefs, inspired by Tojo, are breaking new barriers in Vancouver’s food scene. I felt like I was watching different vignettes or episodes of a series, more than a well-rounded documentary.

Still, it’s a thoughtful and gentle journey, filled with people who appreciate food. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24–25) MEGAN SELING

CLOUD

Japan, 2024 (124 min), Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa

If ever an action-thriller could be described as “quiet,” Kurosawa’s Cloud fits the bill. (No, not Akira Kurosawa. This is Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the one who made Cure, Pulse, and other moody, often-overlooked J-horror gems.) Cloud’s murky nightmare unfolds in the world of digital dropshipping, which lands ruthless seller Ryôsuke in real-life danger when a band of buyers take issue with his get-richquick scheme. The slow, calculated action-thriller communicates in soft steps and hushed tones, broken only by the occasional gunshot beneath overcast—cloudy, even—skies. Cloud treads tricky terrain, though. I won’t spoil the story entirely, but it unravels in a way that strains plausibility. It’s clear the real villain isn’t Ryôsuke, but the suffocating grip of late-stage capitalism. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 19, May 25) LINDSAY COSTELLO

COEXISTENCE, MY ASS!

Terry and Bruce Jenkins are an aging couple who have lived a big, adventurous life together, and in their golden years have converted their property into an elderly cat sanctuary called Cat’s Cradle—a place where older cats who are “out of options” can live out their lives and “be well loved again.” My HEART. Terry likes taking care of the more pragmatic tasks while Bruce creates obstacle courses and fiddles with technology like live-streaming. Birthday parties are thrown, catnip taste tests are conducted, and we get to know some of the retirees. The Jenkinses have a deep reverence for these cats, and the reality of their work is very bittersweet. It’s also very inspiring.

We need more folks like these. Animals are the best of us, and people who are kind to animals deserve the world. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22, May 24; streaming May 26–June 1) EMILY NOKES

Coexistence, My Ass! is a documentary about the activist and comedian Noam Schuster-Eliassi, a woman raised from birth to believe Israeli Jews and Palestinians could live in peace. This movie tells the truth that occupation and apartheid led to the genocide in Gaza, and it shows Schuster-Eliassi’s sincere political evolution as she comes to realize that the oppressed cannot coexist with their oppressor, that coexistence is only possible between equals. Certainly, she cares.

But for all the talk about checkpoints, about fascism and violence, this is an Israeli story. Glimpsed mostly in shots of iPhones and television screens, the horrors in Gaza and the West Bank feel far away.

(SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24–25) VIVIAN McCALL

CHAIN REACTIONS

USA, 2024 (98 min), Dir. David Fortune

Swiss-American documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe has a longstanding preoccupation with American cinema history—he’s made films that look deeply at The Exorcist, Alien, and

Color Book, gorgeously rendered in black and white, tells the struggle of a newly widowed father trying to take his disabled son, Mason, to his baseball game.

There is a lot going on here about love, loss, fatherhood, and community, but all I could focus on is how

USA, 2024 (101 min), Dir. Alexandre O. Philippe

USA, 2025 (95 min), Dir. Amber Fares

COLOR BOOK

the true villain of this tale is the infrequent, unreliable Atlanta transportation system. As you watch Color Book, take note of how many times the dialogue is simply “Mason!” uttered in every shade of emotion known to man. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24–25; streaming May 26–June 1) NATHALIE GRAHAM

COME CLOSER

Israel, 2024 (107 min), Dir. Tom Nesher

Grief is messy, and so is Eden, a young woman reeling from the sudden death of her younger brother. A sexy, hard-partying wild child and avatar of bisexual bad-influence stereotypes, she carves a swath of chaos through the lives of everyone around her. Her discovery of and connection with her brother’s secret girlfriend is an interesting exploration of how shared loss can build bonds in the most surprising places, but the narrative is hindered by a sense that Eden’s exaggeratedly unreliable character was written by PTA parents terrified of their children “partying.” (She’s also got shockingly long, sharp fingernails for someone in a lesbian relationship.) There are poignant moments, to be sure, but I struggled to find anything to care deeply about.

(SIFF Film Center May 20, May 22; streaming May 26–June 1) FOX ALLISON

COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT USA, 2025 (104 min), Dir. Ryan White

Winner of Sundance’s Festival Favorite Award, Come See Me in the Good Light is a documentary that follows Colorado’s Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley after Gibson is diagnosed with ovarian cancer and given two years to live. Variety called it “A luminous portrait of two poets navigating an incurable diagnosis,” and Salon said, “this film delivers hope and goosebumps in equal measure.” Bonus: It’s produced by Brandi Carlile and Tig Notaro. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 17–18) MEGAN SELING

THE CROWD

Iran, 2025 (70 min), Dir. Sahand Kabiri

Taking place in modern day Tehran, The Crowd tells the story of the planning of a going-away party for a beloved friend by his largely queer community. Over the course of the day, we are shown how this friend group is dealing with the recent death of one of their own, as well as how they navigate the suffocating oppressions of a patriarchal society that views homosexuality as punishable by death. As grim as this all might sound, The Crowd is ultimately a film about platonic love and perseverance, and the celebration of love and community. Shot over the course of 12 days in a playful visual style with collage elements mixed in (personal phone videos, photos, socialmedia screenshots), The Crowd is a sweet tribute to those leaving and those who have left. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23, May 25) MICHAEL McKINNEY

D DANCING QUEEN IN HOLLYWOOD Norway, 2025 (87 min), Dir. Aurora Gossé

This movie was definitely not made for me. Yes, I love hip-hop and hip-hop dancing. But the way I enjoy these forms is not at all represented in any part of this film, which has a bunch of Norwegian kids going to LA to do their hip-hop dance thing. The filming is ugly, and the acting is barely above what we find in Kenan & Kel. In the words of Skepta: “That’s not [for] me.”

(Shoreline Community College May 16, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 19) CHARLES MUDEDE

THE DARK CRYSTAL WITH DJ NICFIT

USA, 1982 (93 min), Dir.. Jim Henson and Frank Oz

This screening of Jim Henson and DON’T Frank puppet-filled MISS! fantasyOz’sflickbeloved is hosted by Cross-Faded Cinema, with DJ NicFit providing a live remixed soundtrack. Sometimes, Cross-Faded screenings include other surprises, too, like balloons or bubbles! There’s no telling what DJ NicFit has in store. (I hope it’s Fizzgig. I really want to hug Fizzgig.) (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 20) MEGAN SELING

MAY 2025

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BLUE SUN PALACE DEAD LOVER

Canada, 2025 (82 min), Dir. Grace Glowicki

SIFF describes Dead Lover as a “bizarre, performance art-coded, gender-bending lo-fi Frankenstein comedy about a lonely gravedigger who will do anything to build the perfect man.” If that intriguing word salad doesn’t pique your interest, consider this: SXSW’s film jury awarded Dead Lover with the NEON Auteur Award, describing it as “a tremendously original film.” (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 23, AMC Pacific Place May 24) MEGAN SELING

DEAF

Spain, 2025 (99 min), Dir. Eva Libertad

This Spanish drama follows a couple, Ángela, who is deaf, and Héctor, who is hearing, as they prepare to have their first child. It won the Panorama Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as six awards at the 2025 Málaga Film Festival. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17–18; streaming May 26– June 1) MEGAN SELING

DIAMONDS

Italy, 2024 (120 min), Dir. Ferzan Özpetek

Whoa boy. Diamonds opens with director Ferzan Özpetek hosting a dinner for his 18 favorite actresses (“you are my diamonds!”), asking them to be in his film, which begins a few moments later. This metacinematic device is odd, but fine. That is, until we unnecessarily revisit the director’s table again midway through? The film inside the documentary tells the story of a women-led costume shop set in Rome in the ’70s. The set design and fashion are gorgeous, and everyone’s face is fun to look at, but the script is so incredibly predictable it veers into camp. Which I can get behind! By the time the Özpetek is inserted again, though, it’s clear he needs to center himself so you don’t forget who should be celebrated for celebrating these women. It’s such a brazen move I couldn’t do anything but laugh.

Recommended if you’re like, day-buzzed on daiquiris and want a little spectacle (to laugh at, not with). (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 24–25) EMILY NOKES

DICIANNOVE

Italy, 2024 (109 min), Dir. Giovanni Tortorici

Director Giovanni Tortorici drew inspiration from his own life while writing his feature-length directorial debut, Diciannove (Nineteen). Not all reviews are raves, but it sounds promising if you like candid coming-of-age dramas. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17, SIFF Cinema Downtown May 21) MEGAN SELING

DJ AHMET

North Macedonia, 2025 (98 min), Dir. Georgi M. Unkovski

It’s not easy being 15 in Northern Macedonia, especially for Ahmet, whose little brother, Naim, clams up in the wake of their mother’s death and whose dad obsesses over his fixing his brother’s muteness in all the wrong ways. Ahmet must abandon the usual hallmarks of teenagerdom (going to school, going to forest raves in the middle of the night) to instead schlep the family’s tobacco crop to market and tend to the family’s sheep. But, while diligently tending to the sheep, Ahmet, still a teenage boy, can’t help himself—he falls in love. With a girl trapped in an arranged marriage. Uh oh. The children of DJ Ahmet

are trapped by the conservative traditions of their society and by the myopia of their own parents. Only through music—the thing Ahmet and Naim’s late mother cherished—and the slivers of technology they have access to, can the kids connect with each other, themselves, and begin to carve out the lives they want to start living. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24, AMC Pacific Place May 25) NATHALIE GRAHAM

DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT South Africa, 2024 (98 min), Dir. Embeth Davidtz

Film adaptations of successful books can be unpredictable, but Embeth Davidtz’s interpretation of Alexandra Fuller’s critically acclaimed 2001 memoir Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, about Fuller’s childhood in a white Zimbabwean family after the Rhodesian Bush War, appears to be a success.

(Shoreline Community College May 17, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20) MEGAN SELING

DROWNED LAND

USA, 2025 (86 min), Dir. Colleen Thurston (Choctaw Nation)

It’s easy to think about environmental destruction mostly in big-picture terms. Drowned Land zooms in to tell the story of the Kiamichi River as not just an ecologically important body of water, but an ancestor, a being, a heart. It highlights the throughlines between cultural displacement, oppression of Indigenous people, and exploitation of natural resources. (It’s hard to think about the environment in the abstract when you’re reminded that in 2025, small, discarded communities are plagued by water too contaminated to safely wash dishes in, let alone drink.) The energy industry is a titanic foe, but the Choctaw Nation and other activists are steadfast in fighting back. As Thurston, the filmmaker, says, “This isn’t a redemption story, but it is a story about reclamation.” (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, Shoreline Community College May 20; streaming May 26–June 1) FOX ALLISON

DROWNING DRY

Your Local Everyday Gift Shop In the heart of the Wallingford neighborhood

Lithuania, 2024 (88 min), Dir. Laurynas Bareiša

As with Moon (see my review, also in DON’T this Drowning Dry begins with a MISS! mixedguide), martial arts competition. But unlike Moon, the movie’s key character, Lukas, wins.

And, after celebrating this win, he and his family (wife, son, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, niece) go to a country house by a lake to relax. Slowly, cracks begin to appear. But these are very human cracks. In fact, the film is really a work of philosophical anthropology that’s expressed with two narrative modes: one in which little happens slowly, and one in which a lot happens slowly. When the latter occurs, we are exposed to the terrifying frailty of the human condition. To intensify the experience of the modes, the film employs only diegetic music and naturalistic lighting and shot positions. The result is, for me, the best movie I have so far seen in SIFF. (SIFF Film Center May 17, Shoreline Community College May 22) CHARLES MUDEDE

E EVERGREENS USA, 2025 (120 min), Dir. Jared Briley

Spokane-based director Jared Briley didn’t take shortcuts when crafting his directorial

PNW gifts & complimentary gift wrap

18 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE debut, Evergreens. When Eve and James set out on a road trip through Washington State, we see “heaps of gorgeous shots of Leavenworth, Seattle, Bainbridge, and the forests and waters in between.” It also features music by Damien Jurado and Lacey Brown. PNW AF. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 19–20; streaming May 26–June 1) MEGAN SELING

EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA

France, 2024 (101 min), Dir. Nabil Ayouch

Touda (Nisrin Erradi) is a young woman who lives in a remote part of Morocco and dreams of making it big as a traditional dancer and singer. She has a son who is treated like shit at school because of his disability. And her jobs often expose her to sleazy men and sexual violence. One day, she decides to move to Casablanca to make her dreams come true. The movie, though visually gorgeous and filled richly with music and dancing, ultimately feels unreal. I’m not sure if this was the intention of the director, Nabil Ayouch, but Touda’s journey unfolds and even floats from scene to scene like a fairytale. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22–23) CHARLES MUDEDE

F FAMILIAR TOUCH

USA, 2024 (91 min), Dir. Sarah Friedland

It is no wonder Familiar Touch won DON’T “Best Film” at Venice Film MISS! FestivalDebut and has several other awards under its belt already. Sarah Friedland takes us through a poignant character study of Ruth Goldman (Broadway legend Kathleen Chalfant), who has lived a full life, only to have it scrambled by severe dementia in the end. For anyone who has worried about the effects of dementia on our loved ones, or stayed up late wondering where our parents will spend the rest of their lives, this film hits you straight in the chest. Kathleen Chalfant’s performance is a Master Class through the slow-moving, gorgeous cinematography that is Familiar Touch. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 18, Shoreline Community College May 25) RACHEL STEVENS

FLAMINGOS: LIFE AFTER THE METEORITE Mexico, 2024 (83 min), Dir. Lorenzo Hagerman

JU LY 22

Live with Philip Glass Ensemble Experience Koyaanisqatsi (1982) on the big screen as the acclaimed Philip Glass Ensemble performs the soundtrack live to picture.

206.215.4747 | seattlesymphony.org

Flamingos are strange. With their absurdly spindly legs, weird beaks, and cartoon coloring, they look like a bubblegum sculpture whose artist ran out of gum and had to stretch what they had to the point of absurdity. This documentary was clearly made by people who love flamingos. It’s full of gorgeous footage of the birds flying, wading, nesting, incubating, and mating. (Flamingo sex is hilarious, by the way, especially when set to bizarrely sexy music.) The storytelling format is a bit wobbly, and some scenes drag on too long to let the filmmakers use all the music they paid for, but there are plenty of worse things to sit through than an excess of beautiful nature shots. (Pacific Place May 23, Shoreline Community College May 24; streaming May 26–June 1) FOX ALLISON

FLY ME TO THE MOON

Hong Kong, 2023 (112 min), Dir. Sasha Chuk

Fly Me To The Moon tells the story of a family from mainland China who have just migrated to Hong Kong to make a better life for themselves. Beginning in the late ’90s, the film spans two decades, focusing on the coming of age of two young daughters as they come face to face with the growing pains of the migrant experience. While trying to escape social ostracization from schoolmates through assimilation, the daughers find that things are not any easier at home as their father falls into a pattern of drug use and petty theft and is in and out of jail over the course of their adolescence. The film is a slow meditation on growing up and how we forgive, forget, and forge new paths in light of broken dreams. (Shoreline Community College May 19, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 21; streaming May 26–June 1) MICHAEL McKINNEY

FOUR MOTHERS

Ireland, 2024 (89 min), Dir. Darren Thornton

In this Irish remake of the 2008 Italian film Mid-August Lunch, gay author Edward’s (James McArdle) queer coming-of-age novel unexpectedly becomes a viral BookTok hit. Forced to choose between embarking on a book tour in the US or staying home to take care of his ailing mother (Fionnula Flanagan), who has suffered a stroke and can only communicate via iPad text-to-speech, he sabotages himself by avoiding going after what he wants…until his self-serving gay friends unceremoniously dump their mothers at his home so they can abscond to Maspalomas Pride. Edward, Alma, and their three new houseguests form an unlikely found family, resulting in an impromptu road trip to visit a medium. The film doesn’t hit every beat and meanders into predictable territory at times, but it’s got plenty of charm, and Flanagan speaks volumes with her arresting facial expressions without uttering a single word aloud. (Opening Night: Paramount Theater May 15) JULIANNE BELL

FREE LEONARD PELTIER

USA, 2025 (110 min), Dir. Jesse Short Bull (Oglala Sioux) and David France

In January, directors David France and Jesse Short Bull probably thought they were done with their documentary, Free Leonard Peltier.

The Sundance date was set. Then one week before the film’s premiere, President Biden announced he was commuting Peltier’s contentious life sentence.

But critics say timing isn’t the only thing that sets this film apart from previous projects—Variety praised it for having a “wider focus” than 1992’s Incident at Oglala, “placing the incidents detailed here in the context of America’s long and shameful history of exploiting, betraying, and even murdering Native people.” (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17–18; streaming May 16–June 1) MEGAN SELING

FREEING JUANITA

USA, 2024 (74 min), Dir. Sebastián Lasaosa Rogers

In 2014, as immigration to the US from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador skyrocketed, Mexico committed to detaining migrants as they passed through Mexico, rather than allowing them to cross the US border. That same year, Juanita, an indigenous Guatemalan who speaks Maya, not Spanish, was detained by the Mexican government, and confessed to a crime in a language she didn’t speak. Freeing Juanita tells the story of her aunt and uncle, who journeyed a thousand miles from their home in the Guatemalan mountains to advocate for her release. As a human-scale story, it would be striking at any time, but this year? Their vulnerability and determination strike especially deeply. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20, SIFF Film Center May 21; streaming May 26–June 1) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

FUCKTOYS

USA, 2025 (107 min), Dir. Annapurna Sriram

I can’t stop thinking about this film. It DON’T opens on a floating raft in an alternative MISS! pre-millennium universe. A young sex worker (Annapurna Sriram) is on a raft, telling a psychic (Big Freedia) about how she’s losing her teeth. She’s cursed, the psychic says. And for the low, low price of $1,000 and an innocent lamb, she can break it. So she takes off into this fictional world, called Trashtown, where the cops are Tom of Finland doms and the fancy hotel is called Fancy Hotel. The journey to finding the cash to break the curse is campy, bloody, and full of other bodily fluids. The story will break your heart a little, but it’s worth it. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, AMC Pacific Place May 17) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

G THE GLASS WEB IN 3D

USA, 1953 (81 min), Dir. Jack Arnold

See the 1953 film-noir thriller The Glass DON’T Web in all its 3D glory, newly restored MISS! from the original 35mm camera

MAY 2025

FUCKTOYS

negatives! Cool! (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 18) MEGAN SELING

THE GLORIA OF YOUR IMAGINATION USA, 2024 (98 min), Dir. Jennifer Reeves

The Gloria of your Imagination is either a tough or a really easy sell, depending on who you are. The “dual-projection performance” shares footage from recorded therapy sessions with a 30-year-old single mother in 1964. Gloria, perfectly coiffed, chainsmoking, and toting a wicker pocketbook, shares her anxieties about men, sex, and motherhood with three spectacled dudes, who emit varying levels of douchiness: Gestalt founder Fritz Perls (who calls Gloria “phony” in session), humanistic psychology founder Carl Rogers, and rational emotive behavior therapy founder Albert Ellis. The audience learns that Gloria consented to having the sessions filmed, but not to their being publicly exhibited—which they were, widely. Gloria sues for damages. This reveal causes me to question, then, my complicity in watching the sessions now. After all, The Gloria of your Imagination encourages conclusions that most of us have come to before—the ’60s were an exceptionally sexist time, and modern psychotherapy has its flaws. (SIFF Film Center May 19–20; streaming May 26–June 1) LINDSAY COSTELLO

GOOD BOY

USA, 2025 (73 min), Dir. Ben Leonberg

It sounds like a gimmick—a supernatural thriller starring a dog—but Good Boy has received some impressive accolades since debuting at SXSW earlier this year. Horror movie homebase Dread Central called it “surprisingly poignant,” the Hollywood Reporter praised the film’s emotional power, and Indiewire gave it an A-, calling Indy the dog’s performance “affecting.” (Spoiler: DoestheDogDie.com promises that Indy survives.) (AMC Pacific Place May 24, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 25) MEGAN SELING

H HANAMI

Switzerland, 2024 (96 min), Dir. Denise Fernandes

“I think that inside of us, the broken pieces are put together with gold,” says Nana, the central character, in a voiceover in the opening scene.

She’s referring to Kintsugi, the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with gold powder, highlighting the cracks as a part of its history. But Nana’s speaking from a whole different volcanic island in a whole different ocean: Fogo, Cape Verde. Part coming-of-age story, part surreal fever dream, Hanami follows Nana’s young life, grappling with being left in Cape Verde by her mother, the community that cares for her, and having to decide what “home” actually means to her. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, May 21; streaming May 26–June 1) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Palestine, 2024 (123 min), Dir. Scandar Copti

Oscar-nominated Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s new film gives us an enlightening look into the oppressive everyday lives of a middle-class

Arab family living in Israel. Told through a series of vignettes focusing on different members of the family, the film explores how the countries’ divisions affect almost all aspects of their daily lives, from navigating relationships and dating, to dealing with cultural conventions and expectations. How does one find personal agency when all of the external forces around you feel so constricting? (SIFF Film Center May 21, AMC Pacific Place May 22) MICHAEL McKINNEY

HAPPYEND

Japan, 2024 (113 min), Dir. Neo Sora

In Japan’s near future, the authoritarians DON’T are in control. They use an impending, MISS! once-in-a-century earthquake to justify police crackdowns on immigrants and political dissidents. For Yuta and Kou, two best friends set to soon graduate high school, it’s just daily life. It isn’t until the principal responds to their daring prank and installs a new AI-powered security system called Panopty (get it?) that the country’s crumbling politics become real. Kou sees them one way, Yuta another, threatening their friendship. Happyend is about how people react when the unthinkable happens. Do they decide? Do circumstances of race and class decide for them? Is the answer somewhere in the middle? A film for our political age, Happyend is a must see. (AMC Pacific Place May 22–23) VIVIAN McCALL

HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY

USA, 2025 (90 min), Dir. Sam Feder

Last year, ACLU attorney Chase Strangio became the first trans attorney to argue before the US Supreme Court in the first big trans-rights case of this second shitty Trump era. The question at the center of US v. Skrmetti: Was the state of Tennessee violating the constitutional rights of transgender kids when it banned puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy to treat gender dysphoria, while allowing doctors to offer the exact same treatments to intersex and cis kids for different medical reasons?

Heightened Scrutiny makes the high-as-fuck stakes clear through shots of community meetings and serious interviews with serious people sitting in bare rooms, pizzicato strings plucking away seriously in the background. But it’s also a sweet profile of Strangio, who says arguing a case before the court is not his dream, but a nightmare for a nice normal guy with an albatross of responsibility around his neck. It’s not the most intimate profile—it couldn’t be, Strangio is a high-profile, media-trained lawyer—but Feder’s made a political document worth seeing. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 18–19; streaming May 26–June 1) VIVIAN McCALL

HOME SWEET HOME

Denmark, 2025 (112 min), Dir. Frelle Petersen

Do you want to see the kind of work immigrants in the USA do? Well, watch this movie, which concerns a Danish woman, Sofie (Jette Søndergaard), who, though white, is a home care worker.

This film is raw. It doesn’t hide a damn thing. You see it all: caregivers (some of whom are Black) cleaning penises, handingly bodies that are about to fall apart, putting dentures into mouths, and so on. The film is slow (even monotonous) but boy does it tell

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20 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE like it is. It’s hard being an old person in a capitalist (USA, UK, Denmark) society. You are lonely, waiting for death, and completely dependent on caregivers who are often poorly paid immigrants. (AMC Pacific Place May 20–21) CHARLES MUDEDE

HOW TO BUILD A LIBRARY

Kenya, 2025 (100 min), Dir. Maia Lekow and Christopher King

Variety describes How to Build a Library, a documentary by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, as “straightforward, methodical.” It features two Kenyan woman restructuring, over several years (their project began in 2018), a colonial-era library in the heart of their country’s capital, Nairobi. This work of transformation turns out to have numerous difficulties, one of which, not surprisingly, is the stubbornness of the post-colonial government. Anyone who has lived in an English-speaking African country knows the British did a number on the locals. Undoing what Fela Kuti famously called “colonial mentality” is like moving a mountain. (May 16, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 21) CHARLES MUDEDE

I I AM NEVENKA

Spain, 2024 (112 min), Dir. Icíar Bollaín

I Am Nevenka is a biographical drama about Nevenka Fernandez, the plaintiff in Spain’s first case in which a politician was convicted of sexual harassment. Variety called the case “a landmark judicial sentence 15 years before the #MeToo movement.” As a big fan of made-for-TV Lifetime movies, I’m especially intrigued by what movies review magazine Little White Lies had to say about it: “It’s a trashy, tabloid-y film, but it’s a fine one, and a story that still needs to be told again, and again, and again.” (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 21, Shoreline Community College May 23) MEGAN SELING

IDYLLIC

Netherlands, 2025 (99 min), Dir. Aaron Rookus

This dense Dutch film is made with great care and intelligence. At its center is an opera singer, Annika (Eelco Smits), who is facing the nothingness of a death that will soon consume her glamorous life.

The heaviness of her situation, which is always in her eyes and her gestures, streams to all the other parts of the film’s sprawling story, which easily could have been a TV series. (AMC Pacific Place May 17–18) CHARLES MUDEDE

INTO THE WONDERWOODS

France, 2024 (80 min), Dir. Alexis Ducord and Vincent Paronnaud

You know when you have a dream where there is one big mission, but seemingly hundreds of side-plots with too many characters to count? And then you wake up and you’re like, “That was AWESOME.” Into the Wonderwoods is that fever-dream. This animated film has been translated from French to English, but you know the French are freaky AF, and it shows in this adventure of a 10-year-old boy, Angelo, who gets separated from his family and travels through a forest filled with ogres, robots, magic landscapes, and more. His imagination helps him brave the elements and even join a resistance. Into the Wonderwoods is for children ages 8 and above, and the young at heart.

(Though I let my 5-year-old watch it with me and she hasn’t stopped talking about it since.) (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 17, Shoreline Community College May 18) RACHEL STEVENS

INVENTION

USA, 2024 (72 min), Dir. Courtney Stephens

I love a movie that refuses to have a genre. Invention blends fiction and autobiographical documentary to something warm and a little bit magical. In this “meta fiction,” co-writers Courtney Stephens and Callie Hernandez create a fictional version of the immediate aftermath of Hernandez’s father’s death, but intersplices real found VHS footage of her own father. It’s messy, but so is grief. (AMC

Pacific Place May 16, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

J JEAN COCTEAU

USA, 2024 (94 min), Dir. Lisa Immordino Vreeland

Jean Cocteau is a perfect example of a documentary with a captivating subject, but unfortunately, bland filmmaking. While I appreciated that the film let the iconic Renaissance man speak for himself— weaving together interviews, journals, and clips from his films—narrative gaps were filled by walls of text that I found clunky and uninspiring. However, this was also the first biography of Cocteau I’ve seen that gives adequate attention to his identity as a gay man and love affairs with collaborators like Jean Marais, Raymond Radiguet, and Édouard Dermit. The film also touched on his controversial friendship with Nazi sculptor Arno Breker, but lacked a stance, quoting Cocteau’s belief that friendship is more important than politics. As the credits rolled, I wasn’t particularly surprised to see that the film was funded in part by fashion giant Chanel, whose founder, Coco (a known Nazi sympathizer), designed costumes for many of Cocteau’s stage productions.

(AMC Pacific Place May 19, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20; streaming May 26–June 1) AUDREY VANN

JOHN CRANKO

Germany, 2024 (135 min), Dir. Joachim Lang

Without a doubt, John Cranko is no Amadeus.

Nevertheless, it’s not half bad. The reason for this biopic’s success is found in the actor who plays John Cranko: Sam Riley. Most of us know Riley from another biopic, Control (he plays somber Ian Curtis). In this title role, he is the legendary and complicated South African choreographer who ran Stuttgart Ballet in the 1960s, John Cranko. Though highly entertaining, John Cranko offers nothing new. It has, like most biopics of its kind, scenes of the genius in a mess, the genius struggling with the establishment and lazy dancers, and, of course, the genius smoking like a chimney as he gives inspiring speeches that show why he is a genius. Rock me, Cranko. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 22–23; streaming May 26–June 1) CHARLES MUDEDE

JOQTAU

Kazakhstan, 2024 (71 min), Dir. Aruan Anartay

After several years abroad, young scientist Darkhan returns home to Kazakhstan with his girlfriend Elena, and they join his enigmatic grandfather on a trip to the plains of their ancestral homeland. In the opening credits, we learn the title refers to a traditional Kazakh mourning song, and that sense of quiet grief lingers throughout this sparse, poetic journey. Joqtau explores family legacy and cultural erosion, and the film style shifts fluidly between the intimacy of a family dinner and the observational feel of a documentary. As they move through the countryside, Elena remains a quiet observer as Darkhan slowly reconnects with his roots. Joqtau is low on plot but high on vibe, and it leaves its somber atmosphere behind after it ends. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20, SIFF Film Center May 22; streaming May 26–June 1) BREE McKENNA

K KA WHAWHAI TONU: STRUGGLE WITHOUT END

New Zealand, 2024 (115 min), Dir. Michael Jonathan

Rare is the coming-of-age wartime film that successfully combines wildly disparate tones, like sweetness and brutality, or humor and tension. Ka Whawhai Tonu’s unflinching look at the 19th-century New Zealand Wars is an astonishing example of consistent tone and spirit in a film about colonialist travesties. The film opens on a Māori tribe capturing a half-Māori, half-European teen boy ahead of a siege by European forces and mistreating him. A teen girl in the encampment, herself facing similar

MAY 2025

adult maltreatment, finds ways to help the boy, thus sealing their friendship—while also stoking tensions among leaders. There are no winners in this conflict as viewed through younger eyes (“adults made me something I’m not, for an adult’s war”), but through this film’s genuine anguish comes a remarkable document of the human spirit at its best—and its worst. Temuera Morrison has a hell of a performance as equal parts diplomat, commander, and elder, while Paku Fernandez’s teenage vulnerability and tenacity put the beautifully shot film over the top. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 16, Shoreline Community College May 18; streaming May 26– June 1) SAM MACHKOVECH

nearly forget about pioneers like Guy-Blaché.

Countless other women won’t even get that chance—75 to 90 percent of American films shot before 1929 are lost to time. Exactly why women were written out of history is a complex question, but it’s clear those opportunities never came back. Know Her Name does what only a good documentary can, unspooling the historical record so slowly and thoughtfully that it’s hard to pinpoint when a rage started smoldering in my gut. By the time the credits rolled, I didn’t just feel angry, I felt cheated out of great films that never were. (Shoreline Community College May 23, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 25; streaming May 26–June 1) VIVIAN McCALL

DON’T MISS!

KENNEDY

THE KINGDOM

France, 2024 (108 min), Dir. Julien Colonna

Sadly, this is not the 2007 action thriller starring Jamie Foxx! Instead, it sounds much more intense. SIFF’s provided description reads: “When an underground war breaks out between nationalist groups and crime families, a Corsican mobster and his daughter must go on the run, bringing them closer together and drawing her into his world.” Don’t let that scare you away!

Julien Colonna’s 2024 Kingdom currently has a 100 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 14 reviews from outlets including IndieWire and Variety, while Foxx’s Kingdom is sitting not-sopretty at 51 percent. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 21, May 23) MEGAN SELING

KNOW HER NAME

Canada, 2024 (80 min), Dir. Zainab Muse

Women were powerful in early Hollywood, and what happened will not surprise you.

Money (and men) changed everything. In the freewheeling years before California lured the film industry west with tax breaks, it didn’t matter as much who was on set writing the scripts, running the cameras, or even cutting the checks (Alice Guy-Blaché made 1,000 films and ran her Solex studios in New Jersey—a “fine example of what a woman can do if given a square chance in life,” according to the Motion Picture News in 1911.) Then men took the whole thing over and still haven’t let go, more than 100 years later, enough time for us to

During

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KHARTOUM

Sudan, 2025 (81 min), Dir.. Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Brahim Snoopy, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, and Phil Cox

In Khartoum, five directors collaborate with five refugees from different backgrounds to reenact their life-changing experiences in the Sudanese Civil War. Sometimes their stories are supported by props and CGI renderings of the places they’re describing; other times, they’re acted out in front of blank green screens with a boom mic dipping into frame. Either way, the subjects take turns acting in each other’s stories, positioned and fed lines as they go, often embodying people who had drastically different experiences than their own. It’s a collective effort with something to say about community, justice, and storytelling. Khartoum is special. (AMC Pacific Place May 19, May 21) BRIGID

Discover

THE LIBRARIANS

USA, 2025 (88 min), Dir. Kim A. Snyder

Just six minutes into The Librarians, a DON’T librarian starts to cry. That’s how bad it MISS! is out there for those working in states such as Texas and Florida, where conservatives are calling for the removal of hundreds of books. While book banning is nothing new, it has grown to unprecedented levels in recent years, largely due to the right-wing organization Moms for Liberty. But the librarians aren’t having it. They’re fighting back.

They’re defending their duty to ensure their school and public libraries are inclusive, welcoming spaces, and it’s costing them their jobs, their relationships, and, in some cases, their safety. But lest people think this all comes down to ethics and morality, The Librarians does a great job digging a little deeper to show that all the fighting, screaming, and literal book burning ultimately come down to one thing: money. You’ll leave the theater wanting to simultaneously hug a librarian and burn the world to the ground. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16–17) MEGAN SELING

LITTLE RED SWEET

Hong Kong, 2024 (92 min), Dir. Vincent Chow

A young Chinese woman gives up her dreams of being a flight attendant and returns home to help run the family’s dessert shop after her mother suffers a stroke. Despite her sacrifices, her dad won’t let her in the kitchen to help make their famous, secret recipe red bean soup. Drama! One reviewer called it “undercooked.” One review we translated from Chinese reads: “It seems to be cleaned with bleach. It’s a clean movie, a movie without life.” (AMC Pacific Place May 21, Shoreline Community College May 25) NATHALIE GRAHAM

LUZ

Hong Kong, 2025 (102 min), Dir. Flora Lau

Amid neon-streaked Chongqing’s nightlife scene, karaoke bar employee Wei (Guo Xiaodong) attempts to contact his estranged daughter Fa (Deng Enxi).

Meanwhile, Hong Kong gallerist Ren (Sandrine Pinna) reconnects with her stepmother Sabine (the iconic Isabelle Huppert), who devotes her time to the Parisian art world and was recently diagnosed with a fatal aneurysm. One day, Wei and Ren cross paths in an open-world VR game called Luz, in which players navigate a dreamlike cyberpunk

7 DAYS OF $10 COCKTAILS

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setting on a quest to find a shimmering, ethereal deer. The film has mesmerizing visuals and raises interesting questions about art, interpersonal connection in the digital age, and the blurred lines between artifice and reality, but unfortunately lacks the emotional substance to back it up. Nevertheless, Huppert delivers a standout performance as always, and it’s a joy to watch her vaping and dancing in the face of death. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20, AMC Pacific Place May 22) JULIANNE BELL

M MANAS

Brazil, Portugal, 2024 (107 min), Dir. Marianna Brennand

Based on director Marianna Brennand’s decade of research into the sexual abuse of children and teenagers in the Amazon rainforest, Manas is as devastating as it sounds. The drama follows 13-year-old Tielle through a world where abuse is the norm of girlhood. The film moves slowly, lingering over every facial expression and piece of the story, featuring beautifully designed shots amidst the ugliness of its subject matter. At one particularly gutting moment, Tielle’s mother tells her, “there’s no use trying to change some things.” And yet, Tielle attempts to alter the generational script, as does this film, by creating this unflinching portrait of such a difficult topic. (SIFF Film Center May 16, May 18) ROBIN EDWARDS

MEETING WITH POL POT

France, 2024 (113 min), Dir. Rithy Panh

If longtime Cambodian director Rithy Panh is new to you, and you’re horny for accolades, know this: His 1994 film Rice People was the first Cambodian film to be submitted for an Oscar and several of his films have shown at Cannes, including 2003’s S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, which won Prix François Chalais, and his 2013 documentary The Missing Picture which took home the Un Certain Regard title. So chances are, Meeting with Pol Pot, which is partly based on the book When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution by Elizabeth Becker, will not be bad. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 18, May 20) MEGAN SELING

MONARCH CITY

USA, 2025 (70 min), Dir. Titus Richard

Monarch City is of great importance to the history of this region’s cinema, because it is Paul Eenhoorn’s last film. For those not familiar with this actor, who came from Australia and wound up in Seattle, he spent the last part of his life starring or appearing in a number of local indie films before dying in his sleep in Tacoma in 2022. His moment, however, arrived in 2014 with the film Land Ho!, which made a splash at Sundance, and concerned two elderly men enjoying all that Iceland has to offer.

Monarch City is set in a town outside of Seattle.

Eenhoorn plays Sam, a broken man in a broken town (alcoholism, drug addiction, crime, guns, dead dives, beat-up pickup trucks). Sam recites poetry about arriving at other shores. He smokes and drinks and carries a gun. And he ends the film with a meditation on death. Goodnight, Eenhoorn. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 20–21; streaming May 26–June 1) CHARLES MUDEDE

MONGRELS

Canada, 2024 (111 min), Dir. Jerome Yoo

If you consider yourself a dog lover, best beware that a bunch of them brutally bite the dust in this visually poetic, though ultimately scattered, directorial debut. Mongrels is told in three parts and centered on a Korean father tasked with killing dogs in the woods, his troubled son, and his imaginative daughter still trying to remain connected to her absent mother. The film follows the family as they begin to make a new life in small-town Canada. It thrives when it lets us sit with the more ephemeral sense of loss, though it eventually becomes overly literal. As one part fades into the next, hitting plenty of familiar coming-of-age beats, the portrait it tries to paint never quite comes into focus as beautifully

as the visuals do. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, AMC Pacific Place May 17) CHASE HUTCHINSON

MONK IN PIECES

Canada, 2024 (85 min), Dir. Sook-Yin Lee

HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

NEW JACK FURY

USA, 2025 (89 min), Dir. Lanfia Wal

The answer to everything is just to keep making art long enough that people finally get it and pronounce you a genius. At least that’s what I learned from this loving and insightful portrayal of avant-garde musician, director, and lifelong performance artist Meredith Monk. The documentary presents Monk’s work and life in a greatest-hits mosaic, featuring interviews with David Byrne, Philip Glass, and Björk. I especially loved seeing the evolution of sexist early reviewers calling her work narcissistic, self-centered (isn’t most art self-centered?), and, my favorite, “it made my cats bite each other,” to critics finally recognizing her impact and singular vision. All the while, she continued making delightfully freaky operas that feel plucked from another dimension in the same NYC warehouse she’s lived in since the ’70s with her pet turtle, Neutron. I dream of a Seattle where artists can make our work well into our 80s, too. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16–17) ROBIN EDWARDS

When was the last time you saw a lo-fi, DON’T neon action movie with a virtually MISS! all-Black cast, knock-off Michael

MOON

After losing a big fight, a famous and top-rated Austrian martial arts fighter, Sarah (Florentina Holzinger), retires. But what is she to do with the rest of her life? She is still young and has a lot of time on her hands. Out of the blue, a rich Jordanian offers her a lot of money to train his sisters, who, he claims, have taken an interest in martial arts. It’s big in Jordan. Sara accepts the offer, flies to Amman, gets set up in a fancy hotel, and soon after is introduced to the sisters, who live in a gaudy mansion on the outskirts of the city. The first training session, however, goes badly. So does the next one.

Eventually, it becomes obvious that something is profoundly wrong with the sisters, their brother, his bodyguards, and the mansion. The film becomes a thriller. What is really going on here? Is Sarah’s life in danger? Moon is great until the last 10 minutes. (SIFF Film Center May 22, AMC Pacific Place May 23) CHARLES MUDEDE

N THE NATURE OF INVISIBLE THINGS Brazil, 2025 (90 min), Dir. Rafaela Camelo

There’s something so compelling about the way children make friends: trading secrets, building mythology, finding your own language of play. In The Nature of Invisible Things, that friendship unfolds between two young girls in a hospital—one spending her summer vacation with her mother, a nurse, and the other waiting for her granny to get well. The film passes back and forth between the stark realities of the hospital, and the surreal imaginations of children trying to make sense of the world around them. It has moments of being genuinely unsettling (it is a hospital after all) but most of the film is a frank portrait of two girls, their two moms, and how they all seek out joy. (AMC Pacific Place May 16, SIFF

PAYING FOR IT

Cinema Uptown May 17; streaming May 26–June 1)

USA, 2025 (95 min), Dir. Billy Shebar and David Roberts

Austria, 2024 (92 min), Dir. Kurdwin Ayub

23

Jackson, and a scene pulled straight out of Street Fighter? If your answer is “never” (like mine was), New Jack Fury is your chance. It starts with someone getting hit with a dirty 18-inch dildo, and it ends with a dance off, swords, and betrayal. Watch this one, if only because you won’t see anything else like this self-aware, chaotic dreamscape for a long time. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 17, Shoreline Community College May 18; streaming May 26–June 1) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

THE NEW YEAR THAT NEVER CAME

Romania, 2024 (138 min), Dir. Bogdan Mureşanu

On one hand, The New Year That Never Came is an award-winning and critically acclaimed film about six lives intersecting on the streets of Romania on December 20, 1989. Their stories unfold throughout the day while Nicolae Ceaușescu’s communist regime famously falls. But with a movie poster that highlights the ensemble cast, I can’t help but imagine it as some kind of Love, Actually or New Year’s Eve rom-com starring Zac Efron and Katherine Heigl… but with a presidential execution at the end. I’d watch the fuck out of that.

(AMC Pacific Place May 18–19; streaming May 26– June 1) MEGAN SELING

O ODD FISH

Iceland, 2024 (104 min), Dir. Snævar Sölvason

Odd Fish is Iceland’s first film about a trans woman.

This is the story: Two old friends who run a cozy little restaurant in a lovely little town that attracts tourists from Norway and other such parts are about to finally get filthy rich because a corporation wants to bring visitors all year round. The restaurant can expand; the town can grow. What more do you want? After the good economic news, one of the restaurant’s owners and cook, Björn, comes out as a woman. This coming out was instigated by her father’s death. The other owner, Hjalti, is smashed by this transition. He is already homophobic. How can he work with a trans woman? Though this part of the film is important, it has no surprises. And what really amazes you are the wide shots that capture the cold and treeless beauty of this island from another planet. (AMC Pacific Place May 21–22) CHARLES MUDEDE

P PAUL ANKA: HIS WAY

USA, 2024 (99 min), Dir. John Maggio

I am furious that we were denied a screener for Paul Anka: His Way. Paul Anka is fascinating! (Shoreline Community College May 23, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 25) MEGAN SELING

I was pleasantly surprised by Paying for It, Sook-Yin Lee’s adaptation of her ex-boyfriend Chester Brown’s autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The story is based on the couple’s real-life breakup, in which Lee searches for new emotional connections with other men while Brown altogether ditches the idea of romantic love and visits sex workers whenever he’s feeling horny.

Paying for It could’ve easily devolved into a messy and overwrought hot take on the ethics of monogamy and the morality of sex work. Instead, it’s a realistic and thoughtfully paced portrayal of two people maneuvering new territory, both as individuals and as a bonded pair, in order to find what version of love and companionship makes them happiest. What’s right for them may not be right for everyone (or anyone) else, and that’s okay.

It’s actually very sweet. Bonus: Director Sook-Yin Lee is scheduled to attend the screenings. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17–18) MEGAN SELING

R

RAPTURES

Sweden, 2025 (108 min), Dir. Jon Blåhed

Shot beautifully in a bucolic Scandinavia, Raptures tells the story of Rakel, a traditional and devout Christian living in a small Swedish village in the 1930s. As her increasingly delusional alcoholic husband, Teodor, breaks away from the church to start preaching his own messages that come directly from God (red! flag!), she must navigate her own conflicting feelings and beliefs as the anxieties of a looming world war simmer in the background. Will a large crystal arc show up to save the believers? Is a Teodor sex party in the sectarian cult house really part of God’s plan? It’s Ingmar Bergman meets Midsommar, and it’s the first feature film ever with a main dialogue in the minority language Meänkieli. It’s also brilliantly acted and totally worth watching. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23–24) MICHAEL McKINNEY

READY OR NOT

Ireland, 2025 (83 min), Dir. Claire Frances Byrne

Dublin, 1998: A summer of firsts for Katie (Ruby Conway Dunne) and her friends. First kisses. First drinks. Realizing for the first time that the world, and boys, mean to eat up teenage girls.

Conway Dunne and Molly Byrne, who plays her best friend Danni in the film, teeter believably on the edge of adolescence. When nobody is watching, they’re playful kids. At school and parties, they’re kids trying their best at being adults. Even though I didn’t care for all the voiceover (of the “record scratch, isn’t my life soo crazy” variety) or that the script seemed to have left what should have been subtext in big bold letters, I liked this movie because those kids acted like real kids—swearing, crying, and handling everything very poorly. I just had to know if they’d be okay in the end. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 21–22) VIVIAN McCALL

REMAINING NATIVE

USA, 2025 (87 min), Paige Bethmann

MANAS

Teenage cross-country phenom Ku Stevens aspires to leave his small Nevada town for college, but along the way, he wrestles with shadows of his Indigenous family’s American experience. At its best, this documentary offers an unblinking look at physical and cultural violence perpetrated by white Americans, all while humanely framing Native Americans’ continuing efforts to grieve, process, and persevere.

The film’s strongest moments—particularly Stevens retracing his great-grandfather’s 50-mile running escape from a brutal boarding school—are hampered by poor pacing and editing decisions.

(SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17–18; streaming May 26–June 1) SAM MACHKOVECH

RIEFENSTAHL

Germany, 2024 (116 min), Dir. Andres Veiel

For decades, people have debated Leni Riefenstahl’s films. Was her Hitler-sanctioned

24 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE documentary, The Triumph of the Will, historic filmmaking or Nazi propaganda? While my inclination is to roll my eyes and say, “Bitch was a Nazi, let her rot,” I’m intrigued by Andres Veiel’s documentary, Riefenstahl, which The Hollywood Reporter says highlights the “‘seductive nature of fascism’ both the 1930 variety and the updated versions of today.”

(SIFF Cinema Downtown May 20, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22) MEGAN SELING

S THE SAFE HOUSE

Switzerland, 2025 (90 min), Dir. Lionel Baier

Revolution! 1960s Paris! A Tenenbaum-esque multigenerational residence! So much to love about this film, right? Mais non, The Safe House falls flat.

Taking place during the social uprisings in May 1968, France, the film focuses on the perspectives of a halfway eccentric middle-class family existing mostly domestically while violence ensues out in the streets. The film makes little (if any) real commentary on the politics of the time, and lacks any real emotion via family dynamics. And while I personally believe that a film can survive—if not thrive—on style over substance with the proper imagination, The Safe House is tepid at best in its art direction as well. The “quirky” visual and editing tricks are tired, and the voiceover muddies rather than helps the narrative along. While there are wisps of Tati and Godard in the DNA of this film, you are better off just visiting those directors’ films. Or Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, which is also about the May ’68 uprisings, but good.

(SIFF Cinema Uptown May 21, Shoreline Community College May 22) MICHAEL McKINNEY

SALLY

USA, 2025 (103 min), Dir. Cristina Costantini

It wasn’t until seeing Sally that I realized flying into space may be one of the less impressive accomplishments on astronaut Sally Ride’s resume. Because you know what’s harder than getting four degrees at Stanford, pushing through years of grueling physical training, and getting taken seriously as one of fewer than a dozen women at NASA in the 1980s? Bearing the brunt of the world’s misogyny while hiding the fact that you’re gay, even from your closest friends and family for fear of how it could impact your hard-earned career. In Sally, Ride’s long-time partner Tam O’Shaughnessy introduces us to the side of Ride that Ride was too scared to share while she was alive. We get to meet the complex, vulnerable woman behind the confident public figure. It’s as inspiring as you’d expect a documentary about a trailblazer to be, but with a hefty, bittersweet, even heartbreaking, dose of reality.

(Shoreline Community College May 21, SIFF Cinema Downtown May 22) MEGAN SELING

SALSA LIVES

Colombia, 2025 (101 min), Dir. Juan Carvajal

Did you know salsa, the dance, not the sauce, was born in New York City? Existing rhythms in Cuba, Cuba Son and Afro-Cuban rumba merged with American jazz to create the hip-swiveling dance. Since its Big Apple inception, salsa has spread across the world. But, nowhere is it more popular these days than in Cali, Colombia. Salsa Lives traces that spicy history in what’s supposed to be a vibrant—NOT MILD— experience. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23, Shoreline Community College May 24; streaming May 26–June 1) NATHALIE GRAHAM

SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS

United Kingdom, 2024 (76 min), Dir. Stephen Quay and Timothy Quay

To the outside world, in his home country, Józef’s father is dead. But inside the walls of this dingy, remote sanatorium, he is alive. Sort of.

His death simply hasn’t arrived yet. Time is different here. It lags. It stretches, skitters, and loops. But that’s grief for you, rendered here in beautiful and surreal stop motion. I liked this movie

enough to buy the short story collection it was based on—Polish Jewish writer Bruno Schulz’s meditation on his father’s death (published five years before the Gestapo shot the writer dead). But I’m patient. I enjoy wondering what’s going on. If you can’t stand ambiguity, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass may have you checking the sign of your watch. Stephen and Timothy Quay fans will know the film is a sequel of sorts—their most well-known work is 1986’s Street of Crocodiles, another Schulz adaptation. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 18, May 23) VIVIAN

SEEDS

McCALL

SCARECROW IN A GARDEN OF CUCUMBERS

USA, 1972 (82 min), Dir. Robert J. Kaplan

If you are a fan of any of the following, DON’T then Scarecrow in a Garden of MISS! Cucumbers is a must-watch for you: the early films of John Waters, vanilla ice-cream cones, ostrich-feather boas, and Buster Keaton-style physical comedy. Robert J. Kaplan (whose only other directorial credit is the pornographic Jaws spoof Gums) directs this long-lost camp masterpiece starring Warhol superstar and transgender icon Holly Woodlawn as she flees her boring Kansas upbringing to make it as an actress in New York City.

Along the way, she meets an eccentric cast of characters, including a sailor-mouthed nun, misandrist twin sisters, and a revered lounge singer named Mary Poppins (played by fellow Warhol superstar Tally Brown). I am so pleased to see this film receive a snazzy restoration and a proper theater screening—I predict a Criterion release is on the horizon. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 24) AUDREY VANN

SEEDS

USA, 2025 (122 min), Dir. Brittany Shyne

Director and cinematographer Shyne DON’T spent years watching and listening MISS! to Blackninefarmers in rural Georgia, and the end result is impossibly beautiful. Like any documentary, you see these families through her eyes, but from the families, you rarely feel the self-consciousness that comes from being watched—which just reveals how much time and patience Shyne put into this project. Shot all in black and white, the film is quiet, allowing for the long, languid pauses of rural life. But it only takes a few scenes to fully pull you in. This film won Sundance’s best documentary for a reason. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17–18) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

debating work, God, and the treatment of sheep with stubborn, set-in-their-ways French sheep wranglers until he finally lands his big break herding in the idyllic Alps. While struggling to get a work visa, he meets a hot and charming bureaucrat who, even as she’s denying his paperwork, finds herself won over by his reckless sincerity. Shepherds is messy, earnest, and very, very French. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23, Shoreline Community College May 25; streaming May 26–June 1) BREE McKENNA

SLANTED

USA, 2025 (104 min), Dir. Amy Wang

Imagine if The Substance was about teenagers instead of adult celebrities, and instead of wanting to defy aging, it was about changing race. Slanted, the newest project from Amy Wang, centers on Joan Huang (Shirley Chang) and her pursuit of absolute assimilation: becoming prom queen. To fit in, Huang goes under the knife to change herself from Asian to white. Slanted mixes surrealism, slapstick comedy, and body horror. The people seem to love it—it won the Narrative Jury Award at SXSW— though they do say the middle drags a bit. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24–25) NATHALIE GRAHAM

SONS

Denmark, 2024 (111 min), Dir. Gustav Möller

Sons is the feel-bad film of the fest that, for all its bleak reflections about violence, punishment, and humanity, ends up saying surprisingly little. This is a shame, as writer-director Gustav Möller’s previous film, The Guilty (SIFF 2018), was a well-crafted work of genuine dread. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 23, May 25) CHASE HUTCHINSON

SHE’S THE HE

USA, 2025 (81 min), Dir. Siobhan McCarthy

This queer teen comedy starts, like many teen comedies do, with a harebrained deception scheme. Playing on conservative hysteria surrounding all-gender bathrooms, She’s the He finds best friends Ethan (Misha Osherovich) and Alex (Nico Carney) pretending to be trans to enter the girls’ locker room at school, leading Ethan to the realization that she actually is trans. The quick-witted film with a majority trans cast checks off the high school movie tropes, including makeover scenes, a blooper reel, and raunchy jokes, while creating tender moments where Osherovich’s full-hearted performance makes the coming-out story shine. It’s a lot of fun! And the costumes were so cool, I went back to the credits to track down who the designer was (Leah Morrison) and creepily requested her private Instagram. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 19, AMC Pacific Place May 20) ROBIN EDWARDS

SHEPHERDS

Canada (Québec), 2025 (113 min), Dir. Sophie Deraspe

In this funny, existential drama, a burned-out Québécois marketing executive sends a fuck-off email to his bosses, gives away his possessions, maxes out his credit cards, and flees to the south of France. Dreaming of a simpler life, he wants to become a shepherd. He clumsily introduces himself to local farmers who immediately clock him as a privileged city boy with no clue what he’s doing. He stumbles from one farm to the next,

SORRY, BABY

USA, 2025 (101 min), Dir. Eva Victor

After her world is shattered by her advisor DON’T sexually assaulting her, grad student MISS! Agnes (writer and first-time director Eva Victor) attempts to regain control of her life while living in the same sleepy New England college town and taking a professor job at her school. Victor deftly navigates a minefield of a topic with humor, grace, and quiet but powerful authenticity, resisting clichés about survivors in favor of demonstrating the unexpected healing properties of stray kittens, kind strangers, and a really good sandwich. The heart of the film is Agnes’s unconditional relationship with her ride-or-die lesbian best friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie), who supports her throughout her recovery despite moving away and doesn’t hesitate to consider helping Agnes commit arson. Bottom line: An astonishing debut and an irrefutable case for more movies made by women about their experiences. Please see this film. (Closing Night: SIFF Cinema Downtown, May 24) JULIANNE BELL

SOULEYMANE’S STORY

France, 2024 (92 min), Dir. Boris Lojkine

He has no papers. He comes from Guinea. He is young (mid-20s) and Black. His name is Souleymane, and in two days, he must, during his application for asylum, convince French authorities that he was beaten and imprisoned in Guinea for his political views. The problem? He is not political at all.

He came to Paris to work. And the work he does is at the bottom of the city’s gig economy: He delivers food orders on an electric bike. The biker can’t afford to be late or to get an order wrong because that would result in a bad review, and a bad review would result in the app shutting him out of the network and out of much-needed work. To make matters worse, he has to share half of his meager earnings with Emmanuel, whose face is used to open and operate the app (as Souleymane can’t legally work in France).

The Paris we see during the dash from one order to the next is far from the one that draws millions of tourists. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 22, May 24; streaming May 26–June 1) CHARLES MUDEDE

SPERMAGEDDON

Norway, 2024 (80 min), Dir. Tommy Wirkola and Rasmus A. Sivertsen

I could call Spermageddon a big stupid cum joke.

But that would be selling it short. It’s about ballsack, too. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 16, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 18) VIVIAN McCALL

STARMAN

USA, 2025 (85 min), Dir. Robert Stone

Space exploration used to mean something, damn it. As of this writing, Katy Perry and co. just completed their bizarre 11-minute space trip bankrolled by the losers that are actively ending the planet we live on, so I got a kick out of hearing from Gentry Lee. Lee is a jet propulsion scientist, robotics engineer, and sci-fi author who has worked at NASA since the early ’70s and LOVES what he does. Lee yell-talks directly at the camera about his work on missions like Viking, marveling at how big of a deal it was to actually make it to Mars, and what it felt like to be in the room “solving problems that no one had ever had before” (we’re talking prodigies doing STEM with a fraction of the assistance of today). Starman isn’t saying anything new, but if you can get on Lee’s level, it is kind of mind-blowing to hear it told from a real one. Come for the gold Voyager record, stay for the footage of Carl Sagan slaying a turtleneck. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16, Shoreline Community College May 17) EMILY NOKES

SUBURBAN FURY

USA, 2024 (120 min) , Dir. Robinson Devor

“There comes a point where the only DON’T way make a statement is to pick up a MISS! gun,”tosays Sara Jane Moore, the woman who attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in San Francisco in 1975. Suburban Fury is directed

by Robinson Devor, the same guy who brought us Zoo, with a little help from The Stranger’s own Charles Mudede. Devor gains historic access to Moore, who sheds light in an unpolished, often unreliable interview on how she went from a conservative suburban housewife to an FBI informant on radical political groups to an almost assassin. Suburban Fury tells Moore’s story at the same time it paints a picture of a decade of radical politics, braiding in footage of the Black Panthers, the Gay Liberation movement, the Attica Prison Rebellion, the United Farm Workers movement, and Patty Hearst’s kidnapping. Moore becomes convinced that killing Ford will expose the machinations of a government not for the people and

MAY 2025

inspire a revolution. While it centers on the 1970s, the political moment it captures doesn’t feel far off in 2025. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 21, May 23) NATHALIE GRAHAM

SUDDEN OUTBURSTS OF EMOTIONS Finland, 2024 (97 min), Dir. Paula Korva

Sudden Outbursts of Emotions gets increasingly superficial the longer it carries on. It tells the story of a woman who, when not working at a travel agency, is burdened with soothing the fragile ego of her insecure boyfriend as his acting career seems to have stalled.

She begins to question her life and relationship, just as said boyfriend suggests they open their relationship and attend a sex party where she meets someone new who will soon upend all she thought she knew about herself. At least, that’s what it feels like it ought to be, in theory. But the execution is far too narrow, and it’s oddly afraid to lay bare the body or the soul.

(SIFF Cinema Uptown May 18–19) CHASE HUTCHINSON

SUMMER’S CAMERA

South Korea, 2025 (82 min), Dir. Divine Sung

A young girl discovers a secret after developing film on her deceased father’s camera. She also realizes that she is a lesbian after taking photographs of her school’s popular soccer star.

Either of those plots may sound like they contain drama, but the pacing is peaceful; at all the moments you might expect turmoil, there is instead a surprisingly frictionless story. It’s subtle. Maybe too subtle. But it’s very beautifully shot, tender in its understatement, and culminates in a truly moving final scene. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 21–22; streaming May 26–June 1) EMILY NOKES

T TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN

Czech Republic, 2025 (71 min), Dir.. David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, and Jean-Claude Rozec

LA stop-motion, ethereally animated movie about children trying to fill the void they feel after losing their grandmother, their family’s storyteller. Critics ponder who is the audience for this movie because it is definitely a children’s movie, but the subject matter is, well, kinda morbid. They also say it’s slow. However, a reviewer at Loud and Clear said it’s “a gorgeous stop-motion animated tale that’s both an ode to the resilience of children and a reminder that we’re never not going to need to feel safe and looked after.” (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 18, May 25) NATHALIE GRAHAM

THE THINGS YOU KILL

Canada, 2025 (113 min), Dir. Alireza Khatami

You don’t have to read interviews with writer and director Alireza Khatami to know that he’s a fan of David Lynch: It’s all over his work. It’s in the way he calmly bends reality; the way he turns a nameless Turkish city into a character in the film; and the way he kills his central characters. Most people have described The Things You Kill as a thriller, but I don’t think it has quite enough tension to earn that title. It does have relentless foreshadowing: a pistol tucked in a water tank, mirror images that become reality, the haunting phrase “kill the light” leaking from a nightmare. But the narrative itself is quiet and methodical. The unraveling of one man as he faces his own impotence, an ailing mother, an abusive father, and an impossible moral dilemma. (AMC Pacific Place May 23–24) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS

United Kingdom, 2024 (99 min), Dir. Chris Reading

British besties Megan and Ruth run a vintage shop called Cha Cha Cha. They find a time machine in the alley and off they go, recklessly nicking items from any era they please to stock their shelves (and sometimes just to get takeaway from a closed restaurant). A group of inventors get involved because the machine is damaging the universe, of course. Listen, this film is deeply goofy. Almost every line of dialogue is a joke. I would not call the budget “big.” But the humor is British, which goes a long way—it’s styled as a mockumentary but is doing the tropes well enough that you’re legit

enjoying the references? I was skeptical, I was, but then for whatever reason the more ridiculous shit they added, the more I thought, “yeah okay, swing big, why not.” The retro vibe is fun, and the characters are likeable. Just eat an edible, love. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23–24, streaming May 26– June 1) EMILY NOKES

TINĀ

New Zealand, 2024 (103 min), Dir. Miki Magasiva

Tinā (which means “mother” in Samoan) is part Sister Act 2 (with rich kids, though), part Samoan grief opera, and part slow-burn school drama set in post-earthquake Christchurch. After losing her daughter in the 2011 quake, Mareta—a grief-stricken but quietly formidable teacher—takes a job at a posh Catholic school where the students are privileged, the staff are casually racist, and the choir doesn’t yet exist. She builds one from scratch, connecting with emotionally closed-off kids while working through her own loss. There’s class tension, personal tragedy, and who doesn’t love when all roads in the high school movie lead to a high-stakes music competition? The pacing is slow, but the film is carried by Mareta’s low-key intensity and culminates in a genuinely very moving final performance.

(SIFF Cinema Uptown May 18–19) BREE McKENNA

TO A LAND UNKNOWN

Greece, 2024 (106 min), Dir. Mahdi Fleifel

This one looks dope, in a tense, traumatic way. To a Land Unknown is the story of Chatila, a Palestinian refugee living in Athens, and barely making ends meet. He’s caught in between existences—longing to get out of Athens and escape to journey while hovering on the periphery of Athens’ seedy underbelly. Chatila meets and connects with a variety of other refugees, people whom the audience may start to care for, only to eventually discard them for his own ends. As The Guardian writes, “[Director Mahdi Fleifel] allows us to invest in characters who are to disappear from the story, so we too can experience the emotional wasteland in which Chatila lives.” (AMC Pacific Place May 23, Shoreline Community College May 24) NATHALIE GRAHAM

TO KILL A MONGOLIAN HORSE

Malaysia, 2024 (97 min), Dir. Xiaoxuan Jiang

In the past few years, the contemporary Western has emerged as a genre whose best films are often directed by women, a welcome shift from the traditional Western’s realm of heteronormative and patriarchal values. Chloé Zhao’s The Rider and Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog come to mind, and with To Kill A Mongolian Horse, Xiaoxuan Jiang joins this pantheon in her directorial debut. Her film sets itself apart, though, by being set in her native Inner Mongolia (an autonomous region within China) rather than the American West. It’s a fascinating look at a man who is stuck between wanting to honor his culture’s traditions in a countryside that is rapidly changing, and trying to make a living in the modern city, a place he feels he doesn’t really belong. With modernity itself emerging as the metaphysical foe of the cowboy of the 21st century, the contemporary Western has become a much more complex genre than its traditional counterpart. (AMC Pacific Place May 18, May 20; streaming May 26–June 1) MICHAEL McKINNEY

TRANSFERS

Argentina, 2024 (90 min), Dir. Nicolás Gil Lavedra

Transfers does not recount the full history of Argentina’s Dirty War period of 1976–83. Instead, this documentary focuses on one central and terrifying aspect of that military dictatorship’s reign: a biweekly series of “death flights” that dumped thousands of political prisoners to their brutal ends. By largely removing political pretext from the story—only brief mentions of socialism or communism—Transfers hammers home the utter depravity of the Argentinian regime for its actions, and also easily draws out metaphors for, er, certain modern regimes. Argentina’s administration freely destroyed internal records, lied to the media,

25

26 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

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and targeted mild offenses with brutality... but also enjoyed decades of relative impunity until persistent efforts turned up results. Those efforts are bravely recounted by remaining, living advocates in a crucial documentary that’s admittedly tough to watch, especially when victims’ mothers flood city streets to protest, only to become targets themselves. (SIFF Film Center May 18, May 20; streaming May 26–June 1) SAM MACHKOVECH

TWINLESS

USA, 2025 (100 min) , Dir. James Sweeney

Fellas, is it gay to bond with a man over DON’T your grief after losing your twin MISS! whileshared also pondering your place in a disconnected modern world? James Sweeney, the brilliant writer, director, and co-star of Twinless, says probably yes (complimentary), and so much more with this terrific dramedy that we can’t tell you almost anything about so as not to spoil the dark fun. What can be said is that Twinless sees Sweeney and Dylan O’Brien playing two troubled Portland guys who meet at an emotional support group for those who’ve lost an identical sibling.

However, nothing is what it seems, and the film becomes the funniest, most chaotic, and ultimately most emotionally impactful movie to ever include key scenes surrounding attending Seattle Kraken games. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24–25) CHASE HUTCHINSON

U U ARE THE UNIVERSE

Ukraine, 2024 (101 min), Dir. Pavlo Ostrikov

U Are the Universe is an indie drama about a man left adrift in space after the world as we know it is destroyed, who forms a connection with what may be the last other survivor. It’s creatively constructed and carves out its own distinct place in the well-worn genre, with the set design and visual effects proving remarkable, even before you learn that Ukrainian filmmaker Pavlo Ostrikov made it during the ongoing Russian invasion. It’s a love story of sorts with plenty of

mirth, but also a mournful meditation, ripping the air from your lungs when it counts. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 22, May 25) CHASE HUTCHINSON

UNCLICKABLE

Greece, 2024 (113 min), Dir. Babis Makridis

Ad fraud, in which fraudsters show fake people fake websites that attract real ads for profit, may account for every third dollar spent on digital advertising, and it’s a hair-on-fire problem that director Babis Makridis lays squarely at the feet of Google and Facebook. The movie is convincing: I buy that ad fraud is a huge problem, likely killing local newspapers, funding misinformation, and plain ripping people off. For those reasons alone, governments should force big tech to deal with it. I also buy Makridis’s moral revulsion. But for a movie about what’s supposedly one of the biggest criminal schemes of our age, it’s boring, and the soundtrack (mostly fingers rocking back and forth between two notes on a Casio keyboard) nearly drove me insane.

(SIFF Film Center May 19, SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22; streaming May 26–June 1) VIVIAN McCALL

UNDER THE VOLCANO

Poland, 2024 (102 min), Dir. Damian Kocur

In Under the Volcano, a Ukrainian famiDON’T ly’s chill beach trip to the Canary MISS! Islands turns existential overnight, as Russia launches its full-scale assault on Kyiv.

While sunscreened Brits chug sangria nearby, Anastasiia, Roman, Sofiia, and Fedir spiral into panic, anxiety, and guilt while stranded in a paradise turned hellscape. Director Damian Kocur and co-writer Marta Konarzewska dial up the tension beautifully, letting family resentments bubble under the picture-perfect surface while in the shadow of a literal sleeping volcano. Through Gen Z daughter Sofiia’s eyes, we watch the strange numbness of survival unfold in real time.

Grim, visually gorgeous, and timely as ever, Under the Volcano will hit you in your gut. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 16, Shoreline Community College May 20; streaming May 26–June 1) MICHAEL McKINNEY

SHORTS PROGRAMS SIFF has divvied up more than 120 shorts into 14 feature-length packages, and there are a lot of little cinematic treasures scattered throughout. All programs will be available for streaming May 26–June 1.

BY MEGAN SELING

ADOLESCENT OVERDRIVE Adolescent Overdrive is where to go if you’re craving some coming-of-age stories. Films include Dynasty and Destiny, about a mother-and-daughter rodeo duo, Ragamuffin, in which a 12-year-old is “confronted with realizations about her sexuality, her deafness, and what it means to be a girl,” and My Teenage Blackout, an animated short that shows what a teen envisions while lying in a coma after swallowing a caterpillar in a tequila shot. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23) ALT SHORTS: DEAD RECKONING Wild descriptions abound in this experimental collection—there’s a “botanical fever dream,” an “ocean-motion picture,” and I’m especially excited for A Is for Ant, which director and photographer Jack Davison describes as “a surrealist celebration of children’s alphabet books.”

Costumes are involved. (SIFF Film Center May 16) ANIMATION4ADULTS Animation! For adults! That isn’t to say it’s full of tits and bits, but rather “adult” themes like parenting and retirement (the latter of which is represented in a lovely film by John Kelly that won both the Jury Award and Audience Award in SXSW 2025’s Animated Short Competition). This collection also features Little Shrew (Snowflake) by Kate Bush!

(SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17)

collection a Don’t Miss if only for Majonezë, a stunning black-and-white short by Giulia Grandinetti. Because who hasn’t had the feminine urge to rebel against men and eat French fries while crying so hard you start to laugh? (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23)

THE FAMILY PICTURE SHOW This one’s “curated for kiddos,” with shorts about a temperamental duckling, magic mittens, and a baby owl learning to fly. There’s also “a fabulous drag queen fox played by Sir Ian McKellen! (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24)

FUTUREWAVE: TEENAGE HEARTS These films aren’t just about what it’s like to be a teenager today, but they were all made by filmmakers who are 18 or younger. Did you take the chicken out of the freezer?, which SIFF says is about “the universal Latina experience of forgetting to remove chicken from the freezer at her mother’s request” and “comes to life with hilarious consequences,” sounds especially good. (SIFF Film Center May 18)

THE FEMININE URGE Even without seeing the full program, I declare this shorts

HEAD TRIP SHORTS Head Trip Shorts will appeal to fans of Black Mirror. Especially

UNDERCOVER

27

THE WAILING

Spain, 2024 (118 min), Dir. Arantxa Echevarría

Spain, 2024 (107 min), Dir. Pedro Martín-Calero

Spanish thriller based on a true story! The late 1990s! A young female police officer in San Sebastian infiltrates the Basque terrorist group, ETA! Lead actress Carolina Yuste (known for Sky High—but not the Sky High Disney movie about a high school for superheroes) stuns, according to reviewers. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 17, May 20) NATHALIE GRAHAM

Don’t confuse this with the Korean flick by the same name. This Wailing is a precise, stylized, femme-centered horror film. Martín-Calero—previously best known for directing a music video for the Weeknd—breaks the narrative into three distinct stories:, each led by a different young woman that’s stalked by (or stalking) something inescapable.

(Shoreline Community College May 17, AMC Pacific Place May 25) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

V

W

VIKTOR

Denmark, 2024 (89 min), Dir. Olivier Sarbil

Viktor is a samurai-obsessed, deaf, Ukrainian photojournalist who wishes he were a soldier. Director Olivier Sarbil really, really wants you to know all that, but Viktor is at its best when Sarbil gets out of the way. Throughout (especially in the too-perfect ending) Sarbil and Viktor are telling us two separate stories, and I prefer Viktor’s. His sullenness clashes with the swelling music and close-ups of bombing victims’ hands in plastic bags. It’s refreshing—they may air raid you every night, but they’ll never take your freedom to be a little bitchy when you get a haircut you don’t like. If you want a straight documentary about this war, watch 20 Days in Mariupol. If you’re more of a vibes guy and it won’t piss you off to watch a film about a photographer who never once gives us a clear view of his photographs, Viktor’s worth your time. (SIFF Cinema Downtown May 17, May 19; streaming May 26–June 1) BRIGID KENNEDY

THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE Somalia, 2024 (113 min), Dir. Mo Harawe

A breakout from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, The Village Next to Paradise delivers a “sensitive and empathetic” view of Somalia, “an underappreciated and often vilified nation.” The film centers on a family struggling to not only survive, but thrive in a village where drone strikes fill the sky and living until tomorrow never feels like a sure thing. (SIFF Film Center May 19, May 21) NATHALIE GRAHAM

Stomach Bug, a film about a father coping with an empty nest. It made me 1) want to call my parents, 2) feel physically ill, and 3) be eternally grateful I have chosen to remain childless. And all in under 15 minutes! (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22) MEDICINE CIRCLE: INDIGENOUS STORIES OF RETURN This batch of Indigenous-made shorts includes Civilized, In My Hand, and Munkha, an animated, kid-friendly film about a little girl and her magic mittens.

(SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17) QUEERING THE WAY Totally gay shorts by totally gay filmmakers! The lineup includes Kisses and Bullets, One Day This Kid, Two Black Boys in Paradise, and Dancing in Tomorrowland, which sounds so good. SIFF writes, “A young ’80s activist... stands up against the Magic Kingdom to lift the park’s ban on same-sex dancing.” (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24) SHORTSFEST OPENING NIGHT Organizers packed this program with “superb films from around

WAVES

Czech Republic, 2024 (131 min), Dir. Jiří Mádl

While watching Waves, which is set in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia, I got lost in its marvelous lighting and wardrobe. I could not get enough of both, scene after scene. True, the film’s story is relevant (journalists facing censorship or worse, dictators oppressing freedoms, and the like), but, ultimately, it didn’t say much more than this: “democracy dies in silence” (and, in this film, radio silence). (Shoreline Community College May 21, SIFF Cinema Downtown May 24; streaming May 26–June 1) CHARLES MUDEDE

WOLF LAND

USA, 2025 (71 min), Dir. Sarah Hoffman

We should get this out of the way: Wolf Land is basically a dating profile for its featured player. Sure, the documentary thoughtfully explores the tension between wildlife advocates and ranchers, but then Daniel Curry’s mop of curly hair rides into the prairie, and, well, GOOSH. Tall, handsome, kind to animals, drops dad jokes, advocates intelligently for animal cohabitation, bridges political divides, and lives with his many pets (including three cutie-pie Dobermanns, who appear in a framed photo in his Eastern Washington cabin labeled “The Lads,” ARE YOU KIDDING ME). In good news, there’s more here, particularly how Curry and a rancher eke out a sweet, surprising friendship. (Shoreline Community College May 17, AMC Pacific Place May 18) SAM MACHKOVECH

the world.” One highlight is The Great Cherokee Grandmother starring Wes Studi, aka Bucky in Reservations Dogs, aka the first Native American to receive an Academy Honorary Award in 2019 aka #19 on the New York Times’s 2020 list of “The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century (So Far).” (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16) SOUND VISIONS Behold! The shorts package dedicated to all the good shit being made right here in the PNW. Highlights include Shelly’s Leg, about Seattle’s first gay bar, and View From the Floor by former Stranger Genius Award winner Megan Griffiths and Stranger contributor Mindie Lind! (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22) THE SPIRIT CABINET Fans of horror and supernatural flicks won’t want to miss this collection. One film, The First, has won tons of awards including the Trompe L’oeil Award at the Portland Horror Festival 2024 and Best Costume, Most Original Idea, and Best Written Short at Fright Night Film Festival 2024. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23)

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Time to get weirrrrrrd! The Through the Looking Glass collection is, SIFF says, all about “surreal worlds, warped realities, and absurd encounters where nothing is as it seems.” Your Own Flavor is about a nice—maybe too nice???—ice cream man; in Quota, a new app tracks individuals’ CO2 emissions. And I’m getting David Lynch vibes from Two People Exchanging Saliva, in which kissing is punishable by death. Mwah! (SIFF Film Center May 17) WWYD (WHAT WOULD YOU DO?) This thriller-packed collection features shorts that examine the more complex aspects of the human experience—a bride gets cold feet, strangers exchange dark secrets (this one stars Rory Culkin!), and a man has to decide how he’ll handle shitty family dynamics. I highly recommend going to see RAT!, about a music journalist who is terrorized by rabid fans after accusing a beloved pop star of queerbaiting.

(SIFF Film Center May 18)

28 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

Sorry I made your popcorn soggy.

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1517 Pike Place Market , Seattle, WA 98101 Located in the historic Pike Place Market

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OPEN Sun: 11am–4pm Mon–Tue & Thu– Sat: 11am–7pm* *Last Seating 7pm Closed Wednesdays See website for more info!

athenianseattle.com

MAY 2025

29

Spirited Away

Some of Seattle’s Best Happy Hours are Just Minutes from SIFF Theaters

BY MEG VAN HUYGEN

N

obody can blame Seattle restaurants for dialing back the deals lately; wholesale food and booze costs have surged since the pandemic, and there’s no end in sight.

But the fact remains that we need a good happy hour more than ever—especially after watching a Swiss stop-motion feature about death, or a film about a woman who wants to be a chair (p. 14). I’ve scouted out the best happy hours near all the SIFF theaters, so you can feed your soul (and belly) with cheap snax and drinx to recover from your post-film existential crisis. Every bar or restaurant listed here is no more than a quick 10-minute walk from the theaters in question, and usually way closer.

Paramount and AMC Pacific Place Seattle has one of the best rum libraries in the whole damn world in Rumba—and this place has got a great happy hour to boot. Every day until 6 p.m., food options like deviled eggs (two for $4), Jamaican jerk wings (three for $7), Caribbean brisket sliders ($6 apiece), and ahi tuna tostadas ($8 per) keep things tropical, while drink specials include the Barbados punch ($9) or your choice of the three different daiquiris on the menu for $14.

For $9, the R&R entails a Rainier tallboy and a 1-ounce shot of the Cuban-style house rum blend. Plus, it’s so pretty in there.

Lonely Siren in Pike Place is such a frickin’ vibe, with its big sunny windows and Iberian cuisine, wine, and cocktails. Two of their Portuguese wines are five bucks a glass, as well as draft beers and ciders, while bubbles and wells are $6. For $9, you can get a tônico, which is your choice of gin, ruby port, tawny port, or white port combined with botanicals and Seattle Soda Co.’s tonic and poured into a giant medieval goblet.

Conservas—imported tinned fish—are $12, as is the luscious Siren Smash Burger.

SIFF Cinema Downtown Fresh off a well-deserved James Beard nomination this spring, exquisite Roquette doesn’t need to have a happy hour. But it does, because it loves you. Specials include a buck off wine, beer, and bubbles, 12-dollar Negronis and martinis, and a daily menu cocktail that’s also $12. Also, there’s a huge discount on their signature high/low snack, an ounce of Osetra Caviar served with crème fraîche and Bugles, for $85. That’s $40 off!

In the historic old Sit & Spin spot—real ones know—Luka’s Sit, Sip & Roll started doing pub food and wonderfully weird cocktails on May 1. (Owner Jess Gifford, who formerly owned Lava Lounge, White Rabbit, and Mr. Darcy’s and currently owns Cottontail Club, named the bar after her pet rabbit.) From 4 to 6 p.m. every day, they’ll

Luka’s Sit, Sip & Roll has $8 daiquiris 4–6 p.m. and is a 3-minute walk from SIFF Cinema Downtown. Just saying. have $8 house daiquiris and a $10 smashburger-and-beer combo, plus additional daily specials as whimsy dictates. Make sure to try the Orange Juice Jones, a boozy take on an Orange Julius with acidulated pineapple and garam masala, and the house kvass made from fermented Raisin Bran—among other wild concoctions from cocktail polymath Dakota Etley (Sophon, Rumba).

Navy Strength will see Luka’s 8-dollar daiquiri and raise them a 6-dollar daiquiri, from 4 to 5 p.m.! Just kidding. It’s not a competition, guys. They’re different daiquiri

We’re talking skull-shaped cocktail picks, submerged glowing neon balls, and drinks that have been set on fire. concepts, too, although you won’t find any daiquiri quackery at either of these very high-level cocktail bars. This tiki joint also offers you a panoply of 10-dollar options, e.g., nachos, a rummy mai tai, or a glass of whatever’s in the slushie machine today.

All of these items are gateway drugs for the real juice at Navy Strength, though, where owner Chris Elford goes HAM on the cock-

tail swag—we’re talking skull-shaped cocktail picks, submerged glowing neon balls, and drinks that have been set on fire.

SIFF Cinema Uptown and SIFF Film Center Because they’re European, the Sitting Room has Aperitivo Hour between Tuesday and Saturday, 4 to 5 p.m. (they’re closed Sundays and Mondays), with a $10 cocktail menu, wine specials for $9, and a dollar off draft beers. Snacks like truffle almonds, olives, and chips and salsa are also discounted, along with a special snacky-sized version of their signature Crunchywrap [sic]. Also, anyone who comes in before or after a SIFF show will get 10-percent off the regular, non-happy hour menu! You kinda can’t lose here.

The new-ish Traveling Goat serves Asian fusion tapas and craft cocktails, and their happy hour is normally daily from 4 to 5 p.m.—but it extends to the duration of every Kraken and Storm game. HH specials include $10 wings, $7 pot stickers, or a pair of tacos for $9 (try the ones made with Thai larb!).

As for drinks, wells are $6, and a variety of classic cocktails like the French 75 and the Dark & Stormy are $8–9. Draft beers are $6, and Rainier and Coors tallboys are just $4.

MOHAI Seattle’s WURST restaurant since 1988, heh heh, Schultzy’s Bar & Grill was recently bought by brother-and-sister team Will

BILLIE WINTER

Schulze and Emily Scully—the kids of the original owners—who’ve worked there since they were teens. The scene is a little more modern now, with a punched-up food menu and some fancier domestic beers on tap! German sausage and beer are still the name of the game, though, and from 3 to 6 p.m., they have daily beer specials, 12-dollar cocktails (all of them!), discounted bratwursts and Seattle dogs, cheap wine, a very estimable soft pretzel with beer cheese, and the universally beloved Schultzy’s tots, smothered in cheese and bacon.

Heartbreakingly, the show’s over at the historic College Inn Pub on June 15, since the owners failed to find a buyer after searching for more than a year. So get your ass down there before it’s gone. This basement dive has daily HH specials on booze, Jell-O shots, and pints—one thing per day is discounted, but it’s always something different.

Shoreline Community College This particular district of Shoreline’s a little scarce when it comes to happy hours, but Aurora Borealis, which is a venue with a bar in it, is boldly touting theirs as the best happy hour in all of Shoreline. The HH menu’s mostly food-based, and there’s lots of it—standouts are the birria fries, barbecue pork, and “lightly breaded” Wisconsin cheese curds. Drink specials include $4 wells, wines, domestic drafts, and shots of Jack Daniel’s, $5 micro drafts, and $6 shots of Tito’s, Cazadores, and Captain Morgan. ■

30 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

MAY 2025

31

ALEXA PITT

The Screens We’ve Loved and Lost Remembering the Beloved (and Haunted) Movie Theaters of Seattle’s Past

W

hile we were putting together this issue of The Stranger, and contemplating all the ways in which we could cover the upcoming Seattle International Film Festival now that we’re back in print, we started to think back to the old days, when The Stranger would pilfer the SIFF offices for weeks on end, grabbing all the VHS tapes and DVDs we could get our greedy hands on.

I worked at The Stranger through many a SIFF season (my first stint at the paper was between 2000–2013) and I loved SIFF season. I loved how jumping from one SIFF show to the next was an annual springtime tradition. I loved taking a chance on a movie I knew nothing about, save for the 100 or so works in a snarky alt-weekly. I loved getting to eat popcorn every day for two weeks.

While SIFF has continued going strong—51 years running!—it’s undeniable that things have changed. COVID-19, of course, had a profound impact on cinema.

In 2023, the National Cinema Foundation reported that more than 2,000 movie theaters closed across the US during the pandemic. But even before that, Seattle was

BY MEGAN SELING losing its treasures. Harvard Exit closed in 2015, the Seven Gables Theatre and Guild 45th closed in 2017, and more recently, we’ve lost AMC 10 (formerly the Metro). While both the Grand Illusion and the Egyptian haven’t closed, neither org is operating fulltime—Grand Illusion was forced to relocate in February and the Egyptian is still under construction following last year’s busted pipe and flooding.

So many movies, so many memories… Fin. So we started asking around. Who else was wistfully recalling the days when there was an indie movie house on every block in the U-District, the Guild 45th brightened up commutes with their punny marquee, and the back pages of The Stranger were full of printed weekly showtimes (received via fax!)?

It turns out, so many of you did. Local artists, musicians, and Stranger writers old and new did stints at theaters across town in the ’90s and 2000s, and they all and had funny,

weird, heartwarming, and even scary stories to share about ghosts, local celebrities, attendees fucking in the cry rooms (for those who don’t know, we’ll explain what a cry room is in a second), and employees finding the weirdest shit on theater floors.

Brandy Rettig, who worked at the Metro in the mid ’90s, says, “I found wads of cash, orthodontic devices including dentures and retainers, jewelry, beepers, and various illegal substances from joints to pills to unknown powders. The worst was bodily fluids—vomit was more common than you might think. One time a woman dropped her drawers and peed in the aisle—it was pre-cell phone, so there was no RunPee app, I guess.”

[Editor’s note: the RunPee app tells you the best times to run and pee during a movie; isn’t technology incredible?]

This month, as you (hopefully) file into a local movie theater—whether you’re seeing Sinners for the fifth time or going in blind to a collection of SIFF shorts—take a moment

“One time a woman dropped her drawers and peed in the aisle.”

to appreciate that the theaters we have now exist at all. Thank the folks working there, for giving us all a dark and butter-scented space to escape to, even if it is for just a couple of hours. And please, silence your cell phones… and don’t piss on the floor. *** Brandy Rettig, the Metro, 1994–1997 Do you remember the “cry room” at the Metro? Only one theater had it, and it was intended for parents with babies. People used to sneak in there and do all kinds of stuff, from smoking pot to probably conceiving new babies. I was never one to wanna interrupt another’s good time, but there were others on staff who lived to bust in on that.

What I remember most was the staff camaraderie. We were all mostly broke, punk-rock college kids in perpetually butter-stained uniforms, surviving on leftover popcorn, the occasional few dollar bills we’d find on the floor between showings, and the knowledge that we’d never have to pay for a movie again so long as we showed up and did the absolute minimum.

32 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

MAY 2025

PHOTOS BY JOE MABEL

Left: The Egyptian, where popcorn was smuggled out in cereal boxes; Right: the Harvard Exit, where as far as we know, no one pooped on the floor.

To this day, the theater tagline still floats through my mind whenever I go to a movie, “Sit back and enjoy the show. The best films in the world have a home at Landmark Cinemas—your year-round film festival.” *** Clyde Petersen, Guild 45, 1994 It was 2004. I had just returned to Seattle and started a job at the Guild 45th. I was working concessions and tearing tickets in Theater 2 on the day I saw the ghost.

The movie was A Very Long Engagement, which I recall having low ticket sales. There were only a few people at the screening, so I was surprised when someone came out to concessions mid-film. I was counting soda cups and taking inventory of candy. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a person enter the room, and I said out loud, “What can I get for you?” As my gaze settled upon them, I realized they were not flesh and blood, but a transparent human-shaped apparition, awaiting my assistance at the counter. As I made eye contact and walked towards the ghost, it disappeared.

That building was truly haunted and employees would hear all sorts of spooky noises throughout screenings. Sometimes these noises turned out to be people having sex in the crying room, but there was a general consensus that it was primarily ghosts. *** Bree McKenna, the Egyptian, early 2000s When I worked at the Egyptian in the mid2000s, when I was maybe 20 years old, they were intense about the popcorn bags. They made us count in popcorn bags for each shift, like they were made of gold—and to

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make sure no one was stealing the popcorn money! But I was also sneaking in tons friends, also in their early 20s, and to hook up the popcorn, I’d tell people they could bring in whatever random container—like an empty cereal box, or a massive brown paper grocery-store bag—and I would fill whatever vessel they could scrounge up with the free popcorn because there was no way to count the actual popcorn itself.

Just the stupid bags.”

their boyfriend. Excited to provide this clutch service, I printed off 17 free tickets to La La Land for our opening night. In prime seating. I didn’t think anything of it until the whole La La Land run, especially on that opening Friday night, started to sell out. When my horde of freeloaders and I showed up very, very high to the screening, I kept my head down and only allowed my friends to get one free concession item each from my coworkers.

raining, because you don’t want the film to get ruined. That was a heavy freaking film.

And you couldn’t have two people carry it.

It always had to be one person. We had that type of film for a loooooooong time. There were certain coworkers who knew at what minute certain scenes would show up, so they would make sure to go check the theaters at that time.”

***

***

Nathalie Graham, Cinerama, 2016-2018 The Cinerama [SIFF Cinema Downtown] was in its golden age back when Paul Allen had flesh and bones and a bottomless pocketbook. Allen, and his company Vulcan, owned the Cinerama. He would rotate his collection of movie memorabilia (Chewbacca costumes, R2D2s, an alien suit from Alien) in the theater’s lobby display cases. The Cinerama, it seemed, wasn’t meant to be a moneymaker for Allen, at least that’s what it felt like working there in the late 2010s. Employees could have free snacks, food, and drinks.

We were able to print complimentary movie tickets for ourselves and friends. Probably this was meant to be done with a manager’s permission, but that rule quietly eroded the longer I worked there.

On one of the rare occasions I was working box office, I learned we would be showing a 70mm version of La La Land the next month—around three months after the film was released. I figured there wouldn’t be a huge crowd for this. We hadn’t sold any tickets yet. I texted the group chat of my eight college housemates: “Who wants to see La La Land at the ‘rama next month?”

Everyone said they wanted to. Everyone with a boyfriend asked if they could bring

Ernie Collins, Guild 45th, 2001-2004 Before there was digital, movies came in [to the theater] on, like, 12 reels of film that needed to be spliced together. It used to be less, but Mulholland Drive and Apocalypse Now Redux, those ones were at least 12.

The movie theater companies had to buy the actual film, so they owned the film at that point, but they had to pay the studio back for the first three weeks. After that, they can actually make decent money off ticket sales. So Mulholland Drive came in, my friend Jolene spliced it together, and it needed to be moved from G1, the pink building, to G2, the blue building. I weigh maybe 130 pounds, and this is a good three or four feet across—12 reels of taped cellulite on a platter, and the thing felt like it was at least 70 pounds. You have to pick it up, hold it in the center, and try to make sure your arm goes all the way around it, but also make sure it doesn’t fall off the platter. So I’m having to walk down the 1920s-era stairs, because Guild used to be a vaudeville theater, so the stairs are tiny. It’s the same area where the women’s bathroom was, where sewage once leaked into the box office. [Laughs] I had to walk that down and then go outside to make sure it wasn’t

Siobhán Doyle, the Metro, 1994–1997 Probably one of the strangest events to happen at the Metro is the mystery pooper. Every once in a while, during some of the busiest times in our lobby, when the crowds finally died down, there would be a log of poo sitting in the middle of the lobby. To this day, there were no witnesses, and amazingly enough, no one ever stepped in it.

I also remember one night we were closing up, and the manager at the Netpune had to call us for some backup. Apparently, Courtney Love had shown up late to a movie and was banging on the doors screaming to be let in. The manager had stepped out to see what the commotion was, and upon letting Love know that it was too late to be allowed in, Love threw her up against the doors and screamed at her.

Some of the other characters I remember from the Metro: Bill Nye was a frequent customer and would always order a hot chocolate, and instead of saying thank you, he would say “Yay, science!” Tom Skerrit would always try and use his celebrity to get in for free. And Bill Gates came in on occasion, and I remember someone telling me he complained about the price of water.

***

But wait, there’s more! Read extra movie memories at TheStranger.com!

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Bust a Move

A Brief History of Dance Styles in Hip-Hop

BY DAUDI ABE AND CHARLES MUDEDE ILLUSTRATIONS BY NAOMI LIKAYI

W

e live in a time where cruelty has become the dominant passion. How do we, to use the words of Hole, “live through this”? By, for one, countering cruelty with a passion that has been central to Black culture, dancing: the passion of joy.

More to the point, dancing is one of the four original elements of hip-hop. In fact, between the show-stealing Rock Steady Crew scene from the movie Flashdance, the studio-backed films Beat Street, Breakin’, and Breakin’ II: Electric Boogaloo, and a starring role in the closing ceremony of 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, it could be argued that dance was the most prominent part of this culture during the early 1980s. But as the decade came to a close, dance fell into the background as rap surged in popularity and profitability.

Lines like “but I don’t party and shake my butt” from Ice Cube’s 1990 song “Jackin’ for Beats,” and singles such as 1998’s “They Don’t Dance No Mo’” by Goodie Mob confirmed this demotion.

But all is not lost. The joy of dancing is still with us. The undeniable drums and irresist-

ible basslines have protected and preserved the dance space within hip-hop over the decades. What we present in this article is a very small sample of the moves, the styles, and the forms of butt-shaking that captured the world’s imagination.

THE DANCE: Uprock THE KEY MOVE: Shuffling of feet (sometimes forward; sometimes backward) as arms swing rhythmically from side to side. The best uprocking never looks sturdy, but instead looks as if the dancer is about to collapse, yet is somehow defying the pull of this collapse.

THE TRACK: “Apache” by Incredible Bongo Band

“Apache” was originally recorded by the UK group the Shadows in 1960, but Incredible Bongo Band’s much funkier 1973 version became one of the most sampled tracks in music history. In the 1980s it became synonymous with hip-hop after being sampled by the likes of Grandmaster Flash (“Grandmaster, cut faster”) and the Sugarhill Gang (“Tonto, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it”). For many, “Apache” became the ultimate uprock song. Here, we must point out that uprocking—the standing

moves of breakdance—mostly consisted of styles developed around the time “Apache” was dropped. Watch any line dance section of Soul Train in 1973 and you will see forms of this dance: popping, locking, the Robot, the Moonwalk. And we must not forget that Freddie “Rerun” Stubbs (Fred Berry) brought uprocking to the mainstream in the sitcom What’s Happening!! (1976–1979). By the early ’80s, these moves, and more, were a part of a collection of dances consolidated by breakdancers in NYC. It is, however, with great shame that, during the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Australian b-girl Rachel Gunn gave a kangaroo-looking interpretation to stand dancing. Thankfully, Rerun didn’t live long enough to see Raygun.

THE DANCE: The Pee-Wee Herman THE KEY MOVE: Stand on your toes, bend knees slightly, and, with jerky motions, move backward and forward.

THE TRACK: “Pee-Wee’s Dance” by Joeski Love

The comedy of Paul Reubens was not for everyone. However, it was for enough people to get two Pee-wee Herman movies and

an Emmy-winning children’s television series made. The famous scene from Peewee’s Big Adventure with Pee-wee dancing on a bar to the song “Tequila” by the Champs made its way further into hip-hop culture thanks to Joeski Love’s slamming 1986 single “Pee-Wee’s Dance.”

THE DANCE: Seattle’s Square Dance THE KEY MOVE: Basically, square dance as directed and imagined by Sir Mix-a-Lot. THE TRACK: “Square Dance Rap” by Sir Mix-a-Lot

In 1988, Seattle’s defining rapper, Sir Mix-a-Lot, presented to the world the Central District’s version of square dancing.

Explaining the track has proved far easier than explaining the dance. “Square Dance Rap” combined two early hip-hop trends.

One was the use of a voice modulator that gives a sound à la “Pappa Smerf (The Big Throw Down)” by Electric Power Band. This use of technology gave more of a Chipmunks sound than the Auto-Tune style so common in rap today. Another dynamic was the eclectic inclusion of elements of other music or cultures. But, and here is the rub: How do

MAY 2025

you do it? Here we admit complete ignorance and refer you to the description provided by Mix-a-Lot in these lines: If you can’t dance, I’ll tell you how Wave your hands and take two steps Grab your hips and slide to the left Get all in your partner’s face Swerve to the side and show your lace If you’re a freak then let it show And grab your partner doshy-do (do, do)

more fun and poppy stylistic approach.

Kid ’n Play wholeheartedly represented the latter. Their video for “Gittin’ Funky” introduced Air Jordans as dance shoes and gave us the Kid ’n Play Kick Step and the iconic running man. The latter ruled the late ’80s and early ’90s and can be described as the “Red Queen race” (running without moving).

ist toward the East. “Pump It Up” shows Hammer snatching a microphone from three men who clearly represent RunDMC; “Turn This Mutha Out” features a newspaper headline that says “Hammer Takes On New York” and finds him openly challenging a big-shot New Yorker during a provocative performance in a club.

THE DANCE: Get Busy in a Burger King Bathroom THE KEY MOVE: Humping (“It’s supposed to look like a fit or a convulsion”).

THE TRACK: “The Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground

On top of their highly original music and style, Digital Underground, in 1990, also promoted a new dance described by MC Shock G’s wild alter ego Humpty Hump. The song features an incredible looping bassline along with a perceived dig at a fellow Bay Area artist— “People say, ‘You look like MC Hammer on crack, Humpty.’” Also, before going full-on gangster with Suge Knight and Death Row Records, Tupac Shakur’s early affiliation with Digital Underground included him performing the Humpty Dance during live appearances, the most notorious of which was on The Arsenio Hall Show.

THE TRACK: “Ladies First” by Queen Latifah

THE TRACK: “C-Walk” by Kurupt

THE DANCE: The Kick Step THE KEY MOVE: The key to this dance—which involves a half-kick forward, followed by returning the leg to the ground with a backward foot slip/slide—is maintaining a regular bounce to the beat.

THE TRACK: “Gittin’ Funky” by Kid ’n Play

As the 1980s came to a close, different styles and energies began to define what would become known as the “Golden Era of Rap.” However, these styles did not always peacefully coexist. Artists who lean more to the hardcore side would sometimes criticize those who embraced a

THE KEY MOVE: Shuffling from side to side with legs that are apart and slightly bent; roll the shoulders as you shuffle.

THE TRACK: “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar

We know it’s not fair to give all the credit for this new hip-hop dance to the literary theorist and Harvard historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., but no one busts it like he did to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” Watch it on Instagram. Gates has it down, and he even described the move as “a deep dive into family history.” And so it is. We must identify this dance. We call it: The Professor.

The Professor requires that you look funky, proud, and snobby at once.

THE TRACK: “Anaconda” By Nicki Minaj

THE KEY MOVE: Intricately move feet and ankles as arms are raised in a suspended manner, almost to the chin.

THE DANCE: Hammerdance

THE KEY MOVE: Half-step with a dignified, forward lean as arms alternately swing toward chest.

THE KEY MOVE: Crouch and bounce that thing God gave you.

THE KEY MOVE: Flexed arms that are shaken vigorously as you hop and turn, hop and turn.

Given all she has done, it can be easy to forget that Queen Latifah’s varied and dynamic career began as a member of the Native Tongues collective (Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Monie Love). In those early times, Latifah’s videos and performances featured the dancing of Allison Ashmawy and Kika Martin, aka the Safari Sisters. (Gone are the days when rappers had designated dancers.) In an era before bare cheeks and twerking, the Safari Sisters brought righteous flavor to the still evolving environment of video presentation and live shows. (We have no problem with twerking, it’s just that we want dance moves to be more democratic, more open, more mixed up.) The Safari Sisters were Afrocentric, rebellious, and fly. Indeed, the Fly Girl, as a dance and attitude, gave Jennifer Lopez her start on the show In Living Color, and it spectacularly opened Spike Lee’s 1989 movie Do the Right Thing. The Sarafi Sisters made the Fly Girl a rebel with a cause.

THE DANCE: The Professor

THE DANCE: Booty Bounce

THE DANCE: Crip Walk

THE DANCE: The Fly Girl

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The West Coast’s most identifiable move is without a doubt the Crip Walk, which has roots in the 1970s and was, of course, associated with the Crips. In fact, the dance steps for C Walking supposedly spell the word “Crips.” In 1998, hip-hop appropriated the gang-based dance by way of Kurupt’s 1998 hit track “C-Walk.” This year, the whole world watched tennis superstar Serena Williams Crip Walk during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance. And what makes this dance so striking? It’s all about footwork. The feet are the stars of this move. The body is chill and even amazed by what the feet are doing: so complicated, so precise, so smooth, so intricate. We believe that human feet are big fans of the C-Walk.

Nicki Minaj is a descendant of the 1990s, when women in rap began to openly wrestle with ideas of sexual empowerment versus sexual exploitation in new ways. The days of MC Lyte wearing creased jeans and a turtleneck (see the video for “Paper Thin”) had been swept away. Now, the famous sample from “Baby Got Back” was synchronized with booty bounces. Scholar Imani Perry argued, “Black American dance is discursive in that sexuality is usually combined with humor, and that the body is used to converse with other moving bodies.” In this decade, the TikTok sensation Doechii made it clear in her “Booty Drop” that strip-club culture was definitely in this house.

THE TRACK: “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer

In the annals of music history, Hammer is often reduced to a caricature, if not left out completely. The truth is that he was at the forefront of a massive shift in hiphop culture during the late 1980s. In 1988, Hammer released his second album, Let’s Get It Started. Two videos, “Pump It Up” and “Turn This Mutha Out,” did a couple of things. First, they broke wide open the discussion of what was considered hiphop dance at that point. Remember, this was only four years after breaking and popping and locking were stars of the seminal hip-hop films Beat Street and Breakin’.

Hammer’s groundbreaking choreography, backed by Oaktown’s 3.5.7, completely revolutionized not only dance within hip-hop, but in other genres as well. Secondly, these videos turned out to be early (and lesser recognized) shots from a West Coast art-

THE DANCE: East Coast Stomp THE KEY MOVE: Seize/crunch the body as if you are having a stomach ache full of beats as you step with a pop (stomp) and throw arms out alternately.

THE TRACK: “Scenario” by A Tribe Called Quest (featuring Leaders of the New School)

The notion of regional dance emerged within hip-hop in the 1990s. The West Coast had the Hammerdance and the Crip Walk, the East Coast had the Stomp made famous by A Tribe Called Quest, Leaders of the New School, Black Moon, and the like. The East Coast Stomp is not at all expressive like the Hammerdance or the Fly Girl. The dancer instead stunts the run, stunts the hands, and shakes like the boom bap has got a grip of their soul. Hammerdance goes outward; the East Coast Stomp goes inward.

THE DANCE: The Lean Back THE KEY MOVE: Just lean back.

THE TRACK: “Lean Back” By Fat Joe

Fat Joe put it like this: “...my niggas don’t dance / we just pull up our pants, and do the Rockaway, now lean back.” So, again, with this move, you actually don’t dance; you just lean back.

Bust a Move: The History of Dance Styles in Hip-Hop with Charles Mudede, Professor Daudi Abe, and DJ Vitamin D, Wed May 14, the Royal Room, 8 pm, $12/$15, all ages until 10 pm.

36 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

MAY 2025

We do our best for accuracy, but please check venue websites for updates and more information, as event details may have changed since press time!

$

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Housekeeping note: We have ceased to include pricing information, unless the event is free or sliding scale. (This is mostly due to third-party ticket vendors, like Ticketmaster, who have a monopoly on pricing that is not only unfair, but also confusing, due to varying fee structures. We hate them, and so should you.)

Kendrick Lamar May 7, Lumen Field

MUSIC Dreaming in Analog MAY 9

When author and music journalist Charles R. Cross died in August, he left a huge hole in the heart of Seattle’s music community. “People think of Charles as a biographer of Seattle legends, but every time he and I got together, all we talked about was all the new bands we loved,” radio DJ Marco Collins told The Stranger last year. “He was a tireless champion of our music scene, old and new.” On Friday, May 9, Cross’s family and friends will keep the beloved author’s commitment to the city’s music scene moving forward with Dreaming in Analog, a celebration of life and fundraiser featuring performances from some of Cross’s favorites—Nancy Wilson, Sir Mix-a-Lot, Chris Ballew, Pete Droge, Mary Lambert, Eva Walker, Molly Sides, Shaina Shepherd, and many more. What’s more, net proceeds from the evening will support the newly established Charles R. Cross Music Writer’s Grant to help fund the next generation of music writers and journalists. For Charley. (The Moore, 7 pm, all ages) MEGAN SELING

TIMOTHY NORRIS/GETTY IMAGES

might’ve been categorized as ruminative and lo-fi, Momma have really tapped into their power as an indie-rock band with the singles from their recently released album Welcome to My Blue Sky. The songs are stuck in my head, and I take every opportunity to scream-sing them in my car. Indianapolis band Wishy opens the show with pop-punk-tinged grooves.

(Neumos, 7 pm, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

Grand National Tour: Kendrick Lamar and SZA MAY 17

I don’t need to explain the cultural and artistic force that is Kendrick Lamar. After smashing this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, by now even your Republican relatives know the lyrics to “Not Like Us.” The track has cemented itself in history as the greatest

Momma May 14, Neumo’s

Momma, Wishy

Nils Frahm MAY 21

On his 2022 magnum opus, Music for Animals, German composer and musician Nils Frahm follows in the footsteps of the patron saint of ambient music, Brian Eno. Similar to Eno’s albums Music for Airports (1979) and Music for Films (1976), Frahm trades his usual piano for an electronic palette to create atmospheric works with titles like “The Dog with 1000 Faces” and “Seagull Scene.” Frahm’s shows regularly sell out, so don’t miss the chance to experience his moving compositions that ride the line between ambient, electronic, and modern classical music.

(Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN

Rilo Kiley: Really F**king on Tour

MAY 14

School friends Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten started the band Momma in 2015 outside of Los Angeles and have since moved to Brooklyn, added a drummer and bassist, and signed with Polyvinyl after the label cold emailed them. While their early music

diss track of all time, but it’s also an era-defining song that highlights Kendrick’s ability to use his intellect, wit, and lyrical mastery as a powerful weapon. Given the triumphant year he’s had, I am happy to see that he’s playing the largest venue in Seattle, alongside SZA. For those of us who remember Kendrick’s feature on SZA’s 2014 song “Babylon,” it’s kind of heartwarming to see two artists who have been collaborating and championing each other’s work for over a decade still have each other’s backs. (Lumen Field, 7 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN

MAY 24

AVERY NORMAN

When the 2025 lineup for Pasadena music festival Just Like Heaven dropped in late January with Rilo Kiley on the bill, the internet began buzzing. Did the

reunion indicate a full tour for the indie legends?

Fans didn’t have to wait long: A week later, the Jenny Lewis-fronted four-piece announced its first tour since 2008. The tour is named after a lyric plucked from “A Better Son/Daughter” off the band’s breakthrough sophomore album The Execution of All Things, which got a reissue this spring from Saddle Creek Records. “The stakes are only to have a good time, to revel in this nostalgia,” says bassist Pierre de Reeder. I can barely contain my excitement for this one; I’m expecting loud-as-hell sing-alongs, tears, the works. (Chateau Ste. Michelle, 7 pm, all ages) JANEY WONG

Outlaw Music Festival: Willie Nelson & Family, Bob Dylan, and More MAY 25

It’s not every day that you can see living legends Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson perform on the same bill. You read that right: the 92-year-old country icon and stoner legend’s Outlaw Festival is back on the road this May, bringing along Dylan, Billy Strings, and Lake Street Dive. I was lucky enough to see Bob Dylan kick off his revived Rough and Rowdy Ways tour in Tulsa earlier this spring, and it was amazing.

The man, who these days primarily plays the piano due to tendinitis, played several guitar solos and picked up the harmonica. He also pleased fans with old classics like “It Ain’t Me Babe,” “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” and “Desolation Row”—which, if you know him, is a rarity. (Gorge Amphitheatre, 2:40 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN

38 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

More Tosca May 3–17, McCaw Hall, various times, all ages

The Jesus Lizard May 10–11, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Reflect: Deep House & Melodic Techno May 6, Hidden Hall, 8 pm, 21+

Seattle Rock Orchestra Play the Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band & Magical Mystery Tour May 10–11, Moore Theatre, times vary, all ages

Grails, somesurprises May 7, Neumos, 7 pm, 21+

Wet, Julie Byrne May 11, Crocodile, 8 pm, 21+

The Oc34n, THC.XLR May 8, the Royal Room, 7:30 pm, all ages until 10 pm

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds May 12, Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Too Many Zooz May 8, Crocodile, 8 pm, all ages

Bartees Strange, Tré Burt May 13, Crocodile, 8 pm, all ages

An Evening with Yo-Yo Ma and the Seattle Symphony May 8, Benaroya Hall, 7:30 pm, all ages

Slowdive May 13, Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Godspeed You! Black Emperor May 8–9, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Bust a Move: The History of Dance Styles in Hiphop with Charles Mudede, Daudi Abe, and DJ Vitamin D May 14, the Royal Room, 8 pm, all ages until 10 pm (see preview, pg. 34)

Northwest Terror Fest May 8–10, Neumos, times vary, all ages

Swamp Wife, Trash Sound Conglomerate, Glitt May 15, Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+

Levitation Room, Los Blenders, Screen Frogs May 9, Tractor, 8:30 pm, 21+

Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, Love Spells May 15–16, Crocodile, 8 pm, all ages

Jess Williamson May 9, Ballard Homestead, 7:30 pm, all ages

Tan Dun Conducts Nu Shu: The Secret Songs Of Women May 15–16, Benaroya Hall, times vary, all ages

TUSH May 8, 29, 30, Clock-Out Lounge, 8:30 pm, 21+

Victor Wooten & The Wooten Brothers May 9, Nectar, 8 pm, 21+ Spiral XP, Mt Fog, Jo Passed May 9, Clock-Out, 9 pm, 21+ Mayday Parade May 10, Showbox SoDo, 7 pm, all ages Geordie Greep May 10, Crocodile, 6 pm, all ages

Fisherman’s Village Music Festival 2025: The Dip, La Luz, LaRussell, Blind Pilot, Telekinesis, and more May 15–17, Downtown Everett, all ages Allison Russell, Kara Jackson May 16, Showbox, 8:30 pm, all ages A Sunset Anniversary Show with the Moondoggies May 16–17, Sunset Tavern, 9 pm, 21+

IMAGINE SEATTLE WITHOUT .

Jess Williamson

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JACKIE LEE YOUNG

MAY 9

I first became acquainted with Texan singer-songwriter Jess Williamson through Plains, her collaborative countryfolk project with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield. My love of Crutchfield’s songwriting compelled me to pick up their debut album, I Walked with You a Ways, but I stayed for Williamson’s Emmylou Harris-esque vocal delivery and the duo’s jaw-dropping blended harmonies (evocative of legendary supergroup Trio). After overplaying Plains’ single “Abilene” to death, I moved on to Williamson’s solo albums Sorceress and Time Ain’t Accidental with delight. She will return to Seattle for an intimate solo acoustic performance to debut some not-yet-released new songs. (Ballard Homestead, 7:30 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN

MAY 2025

Hermanos Gutiérrez June 1, Pier 62

XXXX JIM HERRINGTON

Deep Sea Diver, Byland May 17, Showbox, 8:30 pm, all ages Lambrini Girls, Party Dozen May 17, Baba Yaga, 7 pm, 21+ A Tribute to Robert Flack with Rebcca Young, Darren Loucas, Chris Icasiano, Mario Pierce, and more May 17, the Royal Room, 8 pm, all ages until 10 pm Suzzallo May 17, Madame Lou’s, 6:30 pm, 21+ Jack White May 19–20, Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages Gang of Four May 20, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages Tropa Magica with Gata Galáctica May 22, Hidden Hall, 7 pm, 21+ Seattle Bands Stand with Gaza: Drew Martin, Kevin Murphy, Abbey Blackwell, Shaun Crawford, and Ran Park May 22, Fremont Abbey Arts Center, 7 pm, all ages

Early Warnings

TOKiMONSTA June 6–7 Neumos, 7 pm, all ages Elvis Costello & The Imposters June 12, Woodland Park Zoo They Might Be Giants June 13–15, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages Mary Chapin Carpenter, Brandy Clark June 10, Benaroya Hall, 7 pm, all ages Wild Powwers, Biblioteka, Moss June 20, Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+ Jonathan Richman June 22–25, Tractor, times and age-ranges vary Pixies June 23–24 Paramount Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages Perfume Genius, Storefront Church June 26, Showbox, 8 pm, all ages

American Football, Sea Lemon May 22–23, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Queer/Pride Festival 2025: Tinashe, Lil’ Kim, Rebecca Black, Countess Luanne, Heidi Montag, and more June 27–29, Capitol Hill, times vary, 21+

Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, Antonio Sanchez Trio May 22–25, Jazz Alley, times vary, all ages

Halsey June 28, White River Amphitheatre, 7 pm, all ages

King Youngblood, Justin Harden, Liv Victorino May 23, Baba Yaga, 7 pm, 21+

Wu-Tang Forever June 28, Climate Pledge Arena, 8 pm, all ages

Hurray for the Riff Raff May 23, Crocodile, 6 pm, all ages

Silversun Pickups July 13, Pier 62, 5 pm, all ages

Cheekface, Pacing May 23, Neumos, 8 pm, all ages Babe Night: Wax Witch, Girl_IRL, Frida K, DJ Girlfriends May 23, Massive, 9 pm, 21+ Rock n Roll Circus w/Acapulco Lips, Sun Atoms, Scott Yoder May 24, 8:45 pm, 21+ The Court of Sappho Dance Party w/ToX!c, DJ ILY, Baby Van Beezly May 24, 9 pm, 21+ Mary Lambert + Betsy Olson Band May 25, Tractor, 7 pm, 21+ Khruangbin, John Caroll Kirby May 27, WAMU Theater, 8 pm, all ages Fotoform, Mt. Fog, Darkswoon May 29, Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+ Good Luck Club: Baby Van Beezly, Pupusa May 29, Nectar, 9 pm, 21+ The Bouncing Souls, the Adolescents, the Jack Knives May 30, Crocodile, 8 pm, 21+ Lemon Boy, Terra Nobody, Art Gecko, Pink Moss (Mutual Aid Benefit) May 30, Hidden Hall, 7:30 pm, 21+ The Return of Ninety Pound Wuss, Middle-Aged Queers, Bobby Joe Ebola & the Children Macnuggits, Dollar Store May 30, the Black Lodge, 7 pm, all ages Zookraught, Black Ends, Flesh Produce May 30, Sunset Tavern, 9 pm, 21+ Blitzen Trapper, Sunbathe May 30–31, Tractor, 8:30 pm, 21+

Capitol Hill Block Party July 18–20, Capitol Hill, 21+ Maseo July 19, Remlinger Farms, 6 pm, all ages Of Montreal: The Sunlandic Twins 20th Anniversary Tour, Bijoux Cone July 22, 7 pm, Neumos, 21+ Devo July 23–24, Woodland Park Zoo Cap’n Jazz July 25, Neumos, 8 pm, 21+ Timber! Outdoor Music Festival July 24–26, Tolt-Macdonald Park Iggy Pop July 28, Marymoor Park Death Cab for Cutie: ‘Plans’ 20th Anniversary June 31 and Aug 2, Climate Pledge Arena, 8 pm, all ages Pickathon July 31–Aug 3, Happy Valley, OR Mekons, Jill Sobule Aug 2, Tractor, 8:30 pm, 21+ THING Fest Aug 2, Aug 9, Aug 16, Aug 23, Remlinger Farms Less Than Jake, Fishbone, the Suicide Machines, Catbite Aug 5, Showbox Sodo, 7 pm, all ages Lady Gaga Aug 6-7, Climate Pledge, 8 pm, all ages Dinosaur Jr., Snail Mail, Easy Action Aug 8, Chateau Ste. Michelle, 6:30 pm, all ages Lucy Dacus, Julia Jacklin Aug 10, Remlinger Farms, 6:30 pm, all ages Alabama Shakes Aug 16, Climate Pledge Arena, 7 pm, all ages The Lumineers Aug 16, T-Mobile Park, 8 pm, all ages

HONK! Fest West May 30–June 1, various locations, times vary, all ages

L7 and Bratmobile South Sound Block Party August 22-23, the Port of Olympia, all ages

The Seattle Symphony: 100 Years of Epic Film Scores May 30–June 1, Benaroya Hall, times vary, all ages

Stardew Valley: Symphony of Seasons Aug 29–31, Benaroya Hall, times vary, all ages

Hermanos Gutiérrez June 1, Pier 62, 5 pm, all ages

Bumbershoot 2025: Arts and Music Festival Aug 30–31, Seattle Center, all ages

39

40 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE 6 nights/week Jazz, Blues, R&B, World Music Supper Club & Craft Cocktails Family Owned since 1980 THE MIRACLES

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MONTY ALEXANDER

THE ORIGINAL ROBERT GLASPER PIANO TRIO

MORGAN JAMES

SHEMEKIA COPELAND

MARCUS MILLER

BÉLA FLECK, EDMAR CASTAÑEDA, ANTONIO SANCHEZ TRIO

DAVE HOLLAND & LIONEL LOUKE

LINDSEY WEBSTER

BILL FRISELL

THU, JUNE 5 – SUN, JUN 8

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TUE, JUN 10 – WED, JUN 11

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TUE, JUNE 17 – WED, JUNE 18

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Full schedule:

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MAY 2025

41

Japanese Breakfast, Ginger Root Sept 2–3, Woodland Park Zoo

Hannah Flowers: Two Moons in a Violet Sky May 9–June 7, Roq La Rue, free

Osees Sep 5–6, Nuemos, times and age-ranges vary

Never Turn Back: Echoes of African American Music Opens May 17, MoPOP

W.I.T.C.H. Sep 8, Tractor, 7 pm, 21+

Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze) May 17, 2025–May 17, 2027, Olympic Sculpture Park, free

Pup, Jeff Rosentock, Akko Astral Oct 7, Showbox Sodo, 7:30 pm, all ages Garbage, Starcrawler Oct 15, Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Anthony White May 22–June 28, Greg Kucera Gallery, free

Shonen Knife, the Pack A.D. Oct 25, Tractor Tavern, 8:30 pm, 21+

WoP: Hibiki Miyazaki, Vander McClain, Stas Orlovski, Julie Liger-Belair May 24–July 6, AMcE Creative Arts, free

VISUAL ART

Early Warnings 2025 Hi-Fructose Invitational June 13–Aug 2, Roq La Rue, free

Carmen Winant: Passing On

Chase the Light: Pop-Up Exhibition & Print Sale June 21, Photographic Center Northwest, free

EVERY THURSDAY–SUNDAY, THROUGH SEPTEMBER 25

Columbus-based artist Carmen Winant’s photographs are feminist, liberating, and historically grounded all at once—the artist pulls together large-scale photographic assemblages from archival research and uses “thousands of images collected from libraries, advocacy organizations, instruction manuals, and estate sales.” That kind of dedication is difficult not to appreciate, but Winant gives us extra reasons to engage; in Passing On, her work explores feminist action through documentation, collection, and preservation, undersung techniques that are uniquely important to activist movements. (Henry Art Gallery, suggested donation) LINDSAY COSTELLO

Brandon Vosika: Self Help MAY 8–JUNE 7

Salvaging book-shaped scrap wood from a previous Factory show, Seattle artist Brandon Vosika carved and painted the blocks into the books he wanted to see in the world. Titles include How to Be a Worm, How to Paint Like Philip Guston, and my favorite: How to Hold a Cigarette and What It Says About You. I enjoy “things that look like other things” themes in art (in baking, too, though I resent that cake show’s shark-jumping gimmickry), and books have always held a special place in the genre—from bookshelves that are actually doors to books that are actually hollow so you can hide maps and money and drugs in them. Vosika’s books (that are actually sculptural paintings) aren’t necessarily attempting to trompe l’œil, but there is a satisfying attention to detail (bookmark ribbons; the heart-shaped lock on the child’s diary) and the medium lends itself well to Vosika’s style: a little bit whimsical and a little bit melancholy. These books seem like they’d be nice to hold. (The Factory) EMILY NOKES

queer joy JUNE 1–30

Curated by Washington Ensemble Theatre, this “sensory indulgence” at Slip Gallery celebrates Pride with an intriguing question: “What does queer joy feel like, sound like, smell like?” My guess is that it sounds like echoing laughter and freshly baked cookies, but I’m sure this immersive experience is more creative than that. Inspired by quotes and ideas from LGBTQIA* folks in Seattle, queer joy seems purposefully open-ended; the installation “examines the big bold brashness of queerness, and the subtleness that is being a queer person day in and day out.” To find out what that means, head to Belltown. (Slip Gallery, free)

FriendsWithYou: Little Cloud Sky Opens June 27, Seattle Art Museum Hugh Hayden: American Vernacular June 28–Sept 28, Frye Art Museum, free Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled July 12, Frye Art Museum, free Seattle Art Fair July 17–20, Lumen Field Event Center Spirit House June 26–Jan 11, 2026, Henry Art Gallery, free TARRAH KRAJNAK, COURTESY ZANDER GALERIE, COLOGNE

Boren Banner Series: Tarrah Krajnak

EVERY WEDNESDAY–SUNDAY, THROUGH OCTOBER 5

For this installation of the Frye’s regular Boren Banner series, photographer-artist Tarrah Krajnak will continue her practice of “reshaping the boundaries of contemporary photography” with lush, challenging black-and-white compositions. The best part about the Frye’s Boren banners—billboard-sized works sited facing Boren Avenue— is that you can view the artwork anytime. Just drive by or take a stroll to scope it out on the façade of the museum.

(Frye Art Museum, free) LINDSAY COSTELLO Jacob Lawrence: Prints Through May 17, Greg Kucera Gallery, free As Above, So Below: Lauren Boilini, Melinda Hurst Frye, Chris Jordan Through May 28, J. Rinehart Gallery, free WEIRDO TIMES: Early Seattle Punk Posters Through June 1, Long Brothers Fine and Rare Books, free Anne-Karin Furunes: Illuminating Nordic Archives Through June 8, National Nordic Museum

As Above, So Below Through May 28, J. Rinehart Gallery

Holly Ballard Martz: Past Perfect Future Tense Through May 17, Greg Kucera Gallery, free

Rebecca Solnit

Carmen Winant: Passing On Through Sept 25, Henry Art Gallery, Thurs–Sun, suggested donation

MAY 11

Suchitra Mattai: she walked in reverse and found their songs Through July 20, Seattle Asian Art Museum, sliding scale

Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form Through January 4, MoPOP

Dharma Strasser-MacColl: Intersection May 3–31, Traver Gallery, free Tariqa Waters: Venus Is Missing May 7–Jan 5, Seattle Art Museum, Wed–Sun

The Princess Diana Collection Through May 13, MoPop, free

Self Help: Brandon Vosika May 8–11, the Factory

MELINDA HURST FRYE

MAY 10–11

Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei Through September 7, Seattle Art Museum

Dawn Cerny: Portmeirion Through June 22, Frye Art Museum

Dante Marioni: Random Thoughts in Three Dimensions May 3–31, Traver Gallery, free

Force of Nature Through May 11, AMcE Creative Arts, free

Seattle Art Book Fair

Josh Faught: Sanctuary Through August 3, Henry Art Gallery

Fringe Practice: Alternative Methods in Photography Through June 12, Photographic Center Northwest

Boren Banner Series: Tarrah Krajnak Through Oct 5, Frye Art Museum

More

LITERATURE There are few things more special and satisfying than a well-designed book. I could hold, look at, read, and think about books (zines, paperbacks, chapbooks, hardcovers, you name it) all day, but art books are a particularly special tier. The Seattle Art Book Fair broadly defines them as books that: “...often combine type, images, and materials in thoughtful ways that push the possibilities of what books can be. They can feature narrative, poetry, photography, and illustration.

They can be handmade, offset-printed, letterpressed, photocopied, screen printed, or risographed. Or, they can take some surprising new form and feature an unexpected medium that allows one to experience the world in a wholly new way.” The fair is free and will include an impressive 85-plus exhibitor lineup of artists, designers, and makers, as well as talks, art installations, and workshops. More tactile, thoughtful, well-designed everything, please! (Washington Hall, 11 am–5 pm, free, all ages) EMILY NOKES

Ten Thousand Things Through Spring 2027, Wing Luke Museum

LINDSAY COSTELLO

Kameelah Janan Rasheed Aug 23–April 26, 2026, Henry Art Gallery, free

Belltown Art Walk May 9 (second Friday of every month), various locations, free

If you’ve visited a bookstore anytime in recent memory, you’ve likely spied a copy of Rebecca Solnit’s smash-hit essay collection Men Explain Things to Me—or perhaps Recollections of My Nonexistence, or Hope in the Dark, or The Mother of All Questions. The longtime writer and activist is the closest thing to a literary household name we’ve got right now, and in No Straight Road Takes You There, she delves into themes of climate change, feminism, democracy, hope, and the abuse of power. If you’re like “Whew, okay, I don’t know if I need more of that at the moment, I’d rather read Ariana Madix’s cocktail book,” first of all: I get it. But consider this: Solnit has a way of making even the heaviest topics feel expansive rather than crushing. It might be just what you need to survive the next few years. (Town Hall Seattle, 7:30 pm) LINDSAY COSTELLO

42 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

PERFORMANCE

Rebecca Solnit May 11, Town Hall

zoe | juniper, Xiu Xiu MAY 17–18

More

TRENT DAVIS BAILEY

Viet Thanh Nguyen and Shawn Wong May 7, Seattle Public Library–Central Library, free Brandon Som May 8, Roethke Auditorium at University of Washington, 7:30 pm, free C Pam Zhang May 8, Town Hall, 7:30 pm Drag Story Hour with Khadijah Diamond May 10, Charlie’s Queer Books, 10 am, free Sarah Schulman with Dan Berger May 10, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm, free Rebecca Solnit May 11, Town Hall, 7:30 pm Jemimah Wei with Jane Wong May 12, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm, free Sanjena Sathian with Charley Locke May 13, Elliott Bay Book Company, free Daniel Tam-Claiborne with Joyce Chen May 14, Hugo House, 7 pm, free Alec Karakatsanis with Erin Papworth May 15, Town Hall, 7:30 pm

Former Mercury writer Chris Stamm wrote: “Xiu Xiu has been waging a war against passive listening for close to 20+ years. Real-time exposure to their music is an either/or affair: You’re either giving Jamie Stewart & co. your full attention or you’re not.

Xiu Xiu isn’t here to soundtrack your life. They’re here to stop you in your tracks.” As someone who started high school around when the experimental project was filling everyone’s iPods with strange sounds, I cosign this. They’ll team up with dance-art team zoe | juniper for UNTITLED, which draws inspiration from The Crucible to reflect on pervasive misogyny, MeToo backlash, and Jordan Peele’s brand of horror. Xiu Xiu will perform live while a roster of collaborators (Zoe Scofield, Joe Seely, and others) fill the stage with dance, video projections, and puppets. (Moore Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

Juno Birch: The Probed Tour MAY 18

“Oh my goodness me, it’s absolutely stunning...yes, that’s happening. Yessss!” Alien diva drag queen Juno Birch has plans to invade the Neptune Theatre for her Probed Tour. Juno will beam us up for her one-woman comedy set, but I’m crossing my rubber-gloved fingers that she’ll also grace us earthlings with her killer Jennifer Coolidge impression, share some gawjus makeup tips, or regale us with tales of her latest Sims adventures.

(Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages) JANEY WONG

Ada Limón May 16, Seattle Public Library–Central Library, free

More

Blaise Agüera y Arcas with Charles Mudede May 17, Town Hall, 7:30 pm

DADS Through May 10, 12th Avenue Arts, times vary, all ages

Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, Amanda Doyle May 17, Paramount Theatre, 7 pm

Golden Through May 11, ACT, times vary, all ages

Cathy Linh Che with Alex Gallo-Brown and Paul Hlava Ceballos May 18, Elliott Bay Book Company, 5 pm, free Dave Barry May 20, Town Hall, 6 pm Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna with Margaret Mitchell May 20, Third Place Books Lake Forest Park, 7 pm, free Jennifer Hope Choi with Jane Wong May 21, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm, free Caro De Robertis and Gaysha Starr May 21, Charlie’s Queer Books, 7 pm, free The Moth Mainstage May 22, Benaroya Hall, 7:30 pm, all ages

Laughs in Spanish Through May 11, Bagley Wright Theater, times vary, all ages Jesus Christ Superstar Through May 17, 5th Avenue Theatre, times vary, all ages Tosca Through May 17, McCaw Hall, times vary, all ages Eddie Izzard Hamlet Through May 18, Seattle Rep, times vary, all ages Return to Joy Market: An Improvised Asian American Story Through May 24, West of Lenin, times vary, all ages Complexions Contemporary Ballet May 8–10, Meany Center for the Performing Arts, 8 pm, all ages Seattle Vice ‘76: The Saga of Sin May 8–18, Triple Door, times vary, 21+

Sophie Lewis with Emi Koyama May 25, Elliott Bay Book Company, 5 pm, free

Always… Patsy Cline May 14–June 14, Taproot Theatre, times vary, all ages

Moira Macdonald with Bethany Jean Clement May 28, Seattle Public Library–Central Branch, 6:30 pm, free

Nicole Byer May 16–18, Emerald City Comedy Club, 21+

Kevin Kwan May 29, Town Hall, 7:30 pm Alison Bechdel May 30, Town Hall, 7:30 pm Ocean Vuong with Thanh Tân June 1, Town Hall, 7:30 pm

Early Warnings Ira Glass June 7, Pantages Theater (Tacoma), 7:30 pm

House of Joy May 16–June 8, Seattle Public Theater, times vary, all ages My Straight Friends May 21, Emerald City Comedy Club, 21+ Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam Volume 27: Monster of the Week May 23–24, Theatre Off Jackson, 8 pm, 18+ Champions of Magic May 23–24, Paramount Theatre, times and age ranges vary

The Dogist June 9, Neptune Theatre, 7:30 pm

Massive Monkees Day May 25, Neptune Theatre, 6 pm, all ages

Wendy Elisheva Somerson (Wes) with Ijeoma Oluo June 10, Third Place Books Seward Park, 7 pm, free

Melissa Villaseñor May 29, Crocodile, 7 pm, 21+

Daniel Tam-Claiborne with Anne Liu Kellor June 17, Third Place Books Ravenna, 7 pm, free BANTER with William Shatner & Neil deGrasse Tyson June 18, McCaw Hall, 7:30 pm, all ages David Sedaris Nov 16, Benaroya Hall, 7 pm

Duel Reality May 29–June 22, Bagley Wright Theater, times vary, all ages Dani Tirrell + the Congregation May 29–31, Kubota Garden, times vary, all ages Two Dykes and a Mic May 30–31, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

MAY 2025

Six

JOAN MARCUS

MAY 6–11

Six is unlike any musical I’ve seen before; it’s more like a high-energy rock concert where it almost feels wrong to stay seated the whole time. Henry VIII’s six wives tell their stories and battle it out over who’s the best with bops, ballads, raps, and impressive costumes and choreography. Though we know how their tales end, this engaging adaptation has you on the edge of your seat to hear their side of the story about how they all met their fates, whether it’s “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, or survived.” (Paramount Theatre, various times, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

Ms. Pak-Man: On Another Level June 6, Triple Door, 7 (17+) and 9:30 pm (21+) Varietopia with Paul F. Tompkins June 7, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages Bye Bye Birdie June 10–June 29, 5th Avenue Theatre, times vary, all ages NW New Works Festival 2025 June 12–14, On the Boards, times vary Ramy Youssef: Love Beam 7000 June 14, Moore Theatre, 7 pm, all ages Alex Edelman: What Are You Going to Do? June 19, Neptune Theatre, 7 pm, all ages W. Kamau Bell June 27, Neptune Theater, 7:30 pm, all ages Kate Berlant July 25, Neptune Theater, 7 pm, all ages Bridget Everett and the Tender Moments Aug 3, Moore Theatre, 8 pm, all ages After Midnight Aug 5–Aug 24, 5th Avenue Theatre, times vary, all ages Steve Martin & Martin Short Aug 22–23, Paramount Theatre, times vary, all ages A Play That Goes Wrong Aug 28–Sept 28, Seattle Rep, times vary, all ages Fancy Dancer Sept 18–Nov 2, Seattle Rep, times vary, all ages Nikki Glaser Sept 12–13, McCaw Hall, 7 pm, all ages Suffs Sept 13–27, 5th Avenue Theatre, times vary, all ages An Enemy of the People Sept 20–Oct 5, ACT, times vary, all ages Shrew Oct 18–Nov 2, ACT, times vary, all ages Chicago Oct 22–Nov 2, 5th Avenue Theatre, times vary, all ages Nate Bargatze Nov 6, Climate Pledge Arena

zoe | juniper

FILM

&

Xiu Xiu

Seattle International Film Festival 2025 MAY 15–25

Feast your eyes on The Stranger’s SIFF Notes guide on pg. 14—it’s packed with blurbs, show times, recommendations, and the blood, sweat, and tears of watching more than 100 films while also making a newspaper. Get into it!

Pink Narcissus MAY 7

Watching James Bidgood’s 1971 queer arthouse classic Pink Narcissus is like opening up a gaudy pop-up valentine—it’s an explosion of candy colors, glitter, and idealized romance. The story, which follows the fantasies of a gay male sex worker, isn’t as much about the plot as it is about the aesthetics of the whole thing: surreal sets, extravagant costumes, creative lighting, and tender eroticism. If you don’t believe me, just take it from John Waters, who once called the movie “as beautiful and timeless as The Wizard of Oz.” Don’t miss this stunning new 4K restoration at the Crocodile’s cozy Here-After theater, programmed by the beloved (and currently closed) Grand Illusion Cinema. (Here-After at the Crocodile, 7:30–9:30 pm, 21+) AUDREY VANN

The Encampments MAY 9–14

As student arrests continue, it’s unfortunately a really (like, really) good time to keep abreast of

PHOTO: ANTON KARRAA

Early Warnings

untitled

WORLD PREMIERE DANCE AND LIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCE CO M M I S S I O N E D B Y S E AT T L E T H E AT R E G R O U P

M AY 1 7 & 1 8 , 2 0 2 5

43

44 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE

MAY 2025

Trump’s disturbing trajectory toward destroying the right to protest. The Encampments tracks student organizers protesting the genocide in Gaza, including ICE-detained activist Mahmoud Khalil, professors, and Ivy League whistleblowers. I never thought I’d be quoting Macklemore here, but surprisingly, it applies: “Students have always led the charge for justice, from the sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement to the campus protests against South African apartheid...[The Encampments] ensures the students in US and Gaza are heard, their actions are remembered, and the fight for Palestinian liberation continues.” (The Beacon, times vary) LINDSAY COSTELLO

The Encampments The Beacon Cinema

FOOD Seattle Beer Week 2025 MAY 9–17

Titicut Follies May 7, the Beacon, 4:30 pm

SAM Films: Ai Weiwei Never Sorry May 11, Seattle Art Museum, 2 pm

3 Women May 7, the Beacon, 7:30 pm

Junk Head May 11–13, Central Cinema, times vary

Björk: Cornucopia May 7–10, SIFF Cinema Uptown, times vary

Under the Roofs of Paris May 11–13, the Beacon, times vary

Nightshift May 8, the Beacon, 4:30 pm

Collide-O-Scope May 12, Here-After, 8 pm

Parasite: A Real Change Fundraiser May 8, the Beacon, 7:30 pm

Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary May 13, the Beacon, 7:30 pm

Jawbreaker May 18, Here-After, 9 pm

Thom Yorke and Jonathan Zawada Present: Tall Tales May 8, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 7:30 pm

Spice World: The Movie with DJ Tona and tattoos

by Inner Punk May 13, Here-After, 8 pm

Demons (4K Restoration) May 19 Here-After, 7:30 pm

RRR May 8, Central Cinema, 8 pm

The Gutter May 14, Here-After, 9 pm

Noroi: The Curse May 9–12, the Beacon, times vary

Law and Order May 14–15, the Beacon, times vary

The Totally ABBA Sing Along May 22, Central Cinema, 8 pm

Porco Rosso May 9–14, Central Cinema, times vary

Baron von Terror Presents: Army of Darkness May 15, Central Cinema, 8 pm

The Crazy Family May 23–24, the Beacon, times vary

I Know Catherine, the Log Lady May 10, the Beacon, 7 pm SIFF ‘n’ Stitch: Mamma Mia! May 11, SIFF Cinema Uptown, noon Mama Mia! May 11, Central Cinema, 4 pm Queens of Drama May 11, Northwest Film Forum, 7 pm

Koyaanisqatsi: Live with Philip Glass Ensemble July 22, Benaroya Hall, 8 pm, all ages

The Rocky Horror Picture Show—50th Anniversary Oct 28, Paramount Theatre, 7:30 pm

The Films of Frederick Wiseman Through May 11, SIFF Film Center, times vary

Castration Movie Anthology i: Traps May 10, Northwest Film Forum, 4 pm

Mourning Sickness with Miss Monday Mourning: Barbie July 20, Northwest Film Forum, 8 pm

Movies at the Mural Every Friday, July 25–August 22, Mural Amphitheatre, 9 pm

More To Live Is To Dream: A Northwest Tribute To David Lynch Through August 10, multiple locations

45

The Chase May 15–19, the Beacon, times vary The Green Fog May 15, the Beacon, 7 pm Mermaid Legend May 16–20, the Beacon, times vary The Elephant Man May 16–21, Central Cinema, times vary Blue Velvet May 16–25, Northwest Film Forum, times vary

Flow May 16–20, Central Cinema, times vary The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos May 17–18, Northwest Film Forum, 6:30 pm Hookers on Davie May 17–21, the Beacon, times vary SAM Films: Rohingya May 18, Seattle Art Museum, 2 pm À Nous la Liberté May 18–20, the Beacon, times vary

Seattle’s craft beer scene is always alive and bubbling with activity, but during Beer Week, that geeky enthusiasm gets kicked into high gear, with a stacked lineup of beer dinners, festivals, socials, pub crawls, and releases galore. A handful of this year’s highlights include Cask-O-Rama (12 casks from Seattle breweries on the bar top) at Beveridge Place Pub on May 9, Haze Fest (a celebration of hazy beers) at Reuben’s Brews’ Ballard taproom on May 10, a wing competition at Queen Anne Beerhall on May 25, and a beer-can derby at the Pine Box on May 17. (Various locations) JULIANNE BELL

Hospital May 21–22, the Beacon, times vary

Phenomena May 23–27, the Beacon, times vary Fantastic Mr. Fox May 23–28, Central Cinema, times vary Going Down May 23–June 1, Northwest Film Forum, times vary The Royal Tenenbaums May 23–28, Central Cinema, times vary SAM Films: Vivos May 25, Seattle Art Museum, 2 pm Le Million + Entr’ace May 25–27, the Beacon, times vary

Louis: A Silent Movie with Live Accompaniment by Wynton Marsalis

Missile May 28–30, the Beacon, times vary Hundreds of Beavers May 29, Central Cinema, 8 pm Existential Crisis: NWFF’s 2025 Annual Gala May 30, Washington Hall, 5:30 pm The Dead Spawn May 30–31, the Beacon, 10 pm

MAY 28

Dan Pritzker’s 2010 silent film Louis pays homage to jazz icon Louis Armstrong and his life as a young boy in the early 20th century. Filmed in rich sepia tones, the film follows a 6-year-old Armstrong as he wanders the streets of New Orleans while yearning for a horn he can’t afford on display in a pawn shop window. As you watch the jazz legend’s story unfold on the big screen, master jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his 10-piece ensemble will accompany the film with Paramount a live score. (Paramount Theatre, 7:30 pm) AUDREY VANN

Pavements Opens May 30, SIFF Cinema Uptown, times vary There Is Another Way May 31–June 4, SIFF Cinema Uptown, times vary

Early Warnings Cross-Faded Cinema with DJ Nicfit June 4, Here-After, 7 pm The Phoenician Scheme Opens June 5, wide release, times vary They Call Her Death Opens June 14, SIFF Film Center, times vary Pink Flamingos June 26, SIFF Film Center, 7:30 pm

MICHAEL LOCCISANO/GETTY IMAGES

‘Barbie’ the Movie: In Concert with the Seattle Symphony June 27–28, Benaroya Hall, times vary The Sandlot Special Event with the Cast July 11, Neptune Theatre, 7 pm DreamWorks Animation in Concert July 11–12, Benaroya Hall, times vary

Author Talk: Tyler Malek, Salt & Straw: America s Most Iconic Ice Creams MAY 15

The Portland-based artisan ice cream sensation Salt & Straw, which now operates 42 locations across the country, isn’t known primarily for its subtlety—some of its most memorable flavors include caramelized turkey with cranberry sauce, “Creepy Crawly Critters” (matcha with chocolate-covered crickets and toffee brittle mealworms), and pear blue cheese.

Nevertheless, cofounder Tyler Malek is taking it back to basics with his new cookbook, Salt & Straw: America’s Most Iconic Ice Creams, which focuses on classic flavors like vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate.

That’s not to say it’s boring—readers can riff off of the 10 base recipes with a myriad of tempting suggestions included in the book, like roasted strawberry whiskey and bananas Foster caramel. (Book Larder, 6:30–8 pm) JULIANNE BELL

Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park MAY 17

Perhaps you were one of the millions of people who became aware of the “Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park” sensation after a simple poster advertising it went massively viral on TikTok last year. The joyful gathering, which bid attendees to “BYOGB,” ended up drawing hordes of friendly carb-seeking queers.

It’s back again for a second time this spring, with plenty of beverages and games under a veranda. Go forth and thaw the Seattle freeze, and don’t forget to

46 THE STRANGER’S SEAT TLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ISSUE bring your own buttery, allium-laced snacks to share.

(Wallingford, location available with RSVP, 4 pm)

foods and crafts from around the world, check out workshops and lectures, or just hang out and soak up the atmosphere. It’s a very PNW granola vibe, and I love it. (Seattle Center, free, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

JULIANNE BELL

Bite of Greece 2025

Ballard FC 2025 Home Games

MAY 30–JUNE 2

MULTIPLE DATES BETWEEN MAY 23–JULY 12

Longing for a Mamma Mia!-esque escape to Greece?

Head to this free festival to stuff yourself with gyros, slow-roasted lamb sandwiches, grilled souvlaki, Greek salad, spanakopita, and other authentic Mediterranean delights prepared by the community of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption. You’ll get to peruse a marketplace with pastries, crafts, imported deli items, and more. Plus, brush up on your fancy footwork with Greek dancing lessons and traditional live music. (Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption, times vary, free) JULIANNE BELL

USL League Two champions Ballard FC are back this season to defend their title. The team returns to Interbay Stadium this year, bringing them closer to their namesake and adoring fans. Don’t miss the home opener on May 23; last year the game ball was delivered by parachuters and Dick’s burgers were thrown into the crowd after every goal. Even without all that hullabaloo, I would recommend a game to anyone as cheap, entertaining, family-friendly fun. It doesn’t get much more local than being sponsored by Reuben’s Brews and having “Up the bridges!” as the team’s main chant. (Interbay Stadium, various times, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

More

Salmon Bay FC 2025 Home Games

Ballard Farmers Market Every Sunday, Ballard Ave, 9 am–noon, free Capitol Hill Farmers Market Every Sunday, E Denny Way and Nagle Pl, 11 am–3 pm, free

MULTIPLE DATES BETWEEN MAY 26–JUNE 29

West Seattle Farmers Market Every Sunday, Alaska Junction, 10 am–2 pm, free Fremont Sunday Market Every Sunday, Evanston Ave N and N 34th St, 10 am–4 pm, free Author Talk: Wishbone Kitchen, Meredith Hayden May 13, Book Larder, 7 pm My Dinner with SAM: Chef John Sundstrom May 14, Seattle Art Museum, 6:30 pm Columbia City Night Market May 16, third Saturday of every month, Columbia City, 6 pm–10 pm, free French Macaron Class May 17, the Pastry Project, 10 am Author Talk: Hawa Hassan, Setting A Place for Us May 19, Book Larder, 6:30 pm Dining in the Dark May 23, the Collective Seattle, 6 pm & 8 pm, 12+ Mighty-O Tour de Donut 2025 May 31, Mighty-O Donuts (Ballard), 9:30 am

Early Warnings My Dinner with SAM: Renee Erickson June 5, Olympic Sculpture Park, 6:30 pm Panda Fest June 6–8, Fisher Pavilion Author Talk: Gaz Oakley, Plant to Plate June 12, Book Larder Gobble Up South Lake Union June 28, Lake Union Park Bite of Seattle July 25–27, Seattle Center

THIS&THAT 17th Annual Flower Festival MAY 10–11

A Mother’s Day weekend tradition for 17 years running, the Flower Festival fills Pike Place Market with delightful blooms from over 30 local flower farms. Don’t forget the allergy meds if you’re pollen-intolerant—we promise the sights and smells of tulips, daffodils, irises, peonies, and more will be worth it. Pick up a bouquet or two for mom, the mother figures in your life, and yourself! Even better, bring your loved ones to pick out their own flowers and spend some quality time exploring one of Seattle’s best tourist destinations (that even we locals love). (Pike Place Market, 11 am–4 pm, free, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

COURTESY OF RICK MARTÍNEZ

Author Talk: Rick Martínez, ‘Salsa Daddy’ MAY 20

I’ve adored James Beard Award-winning food writer Rick Martínez (and his colorful nail polish and adorable dog Choco) since being introduced to him via the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen YouTube channel back in 2020. His hotpink New York Times bestseller Mi Cocina occupies prime real estate on my kitchen shelf and inspires daydreams of throwing dinner parties with pollo al pastor and cochinita pibil tucked into homemade tortillas. Now, the queer icon returns with his second cookbook, Salsa Daddy, a deep dive into the beloved Mexican condiment with countless recipes and variations. You’ll learn how to whip up your own zesty, flavorful salsas and transform them into meals like chilaquiles and puffy tacos. Rick will discuss his new release with Rachel Belle, host of the Your Last Meal podcast and the Cascade PBS show The Nosh with Rachel Belle. (Fremont Abbey Arts Center, 7–8:30 pm) JULIANNE BELL

Bike Everywhere Month 2025 MULTIPLE DATES BETWEEN MAY 7–JUNE 3

Do you ever dream of a car-free utopia? The Cascade Bicycle Club and League of American Bicyclists encourages you to make that dream a reality as you ride your faithful two-wheeler across the city, ideally forgoing all other forms of transportation for the month of May. Meet up with fellow cycling enthusiasts for the Redmond light rail station opening on May 10, Bike Everywhere Day on May 14, and even Mighty-O’s Tour de Donut on May 31. That last one is technically unaffiliated, but we think it captures the spirit of the month perfectly (with the bonus of tasty vegan treats).

(Various locations, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

U District Street Fair MAY 17–18

The U District Street Fair claims to kick off Seattle’s summer event season, and they’re not wrong—I find

it to be one of the first weekends where the city feels fully out of hibernation and alive again with sunshine and smiling people. This community arts and crafts fair spans over a dozen blocks and draws tens of thousands of visitors who stroll the Ave while enjoying live music from local bands, food trucks, restaurant specials, beer gardens, activity booths, and more.

The U District light rail station makes it easy to get to, depositing attendees right in the heart of the action so no one has to deal with parking. (University District, 11 am, free, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

Welcome to the sound, Salmon Bay FC! Ballard FC’s new sister team kicks off their inaugural season with a friendly against Spokane Zephyr FC on Memorial Day and home opener against the Tacoma Galaxy on May 30. The women’s soccer team’s owners include Seattle Reign FC players Lauren Barnes, Olivia Van der Jagt, and Jess Fishlock, Seattle Storm co-owner and former Olympian Ginny Gilder, Rough & Tumble Pub owner Jen Barnes, and Kirkland local and NWSL player Sam Hiatt. I’m all for more women in sports, so let’s get out there and support this stellar new team.

(Plus, the aesthetic’s killer.) (Interbay Stadium, various times, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

More Drag Bingo with Sativa Every Friday, Rough & Tumble, 7 pm Smash Putt Through June 1, Base Camp Studios 2, 21+ Seattle Mariners 2025 Home Games Through September 28, T-Mobile Park Seattle Reign FC 2025 Home Games Through October 17, Lumen Field Spirit of Africa May 10, Seattle Center BonsaiFEST May 10–11, Pacific Bonsai Museum Rock Stars on Ice May 15, Climate Pledge Arena A Glimpse of China—Seattle Chinese Culture & Arts Festival May 17, Seattle Center, free 2025 Eurovision Finale Viewing Party May 17, Admiral Pub Seattle Storm’s Opening Night May 23, Climate Pledge Arena Cascade PBS Ideas Festival: Al Franken, Jake Tapper, Amanda Knox, Cory Doctorow, Phoebe Judge, and more May 31, Amazon Meeting Center Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival May 31–June 1, Seattle Center

Early Warnings Fiber Fusion NW Natural Fiber Festival June 7–8, Monroe, WA Black Night Market June 13, June 20, Pier 62 Georgetown Carnival June 14, Airport Way S between Lucille and Vale St

Northwest Folklife Festival

Marysville Strawberry Festival June 20–22, Marysville, WA

MAY 23–26

Kitsap Medieval Faire June 21, Kitsap County Fairgrounds

Folklife started in the ’70s and it shows, in large part because it has somehow escaped the jaws of capitalism to remain a free community festival that’s open and welcoming to all. It’s also full of buskers, drum circles, impromptu jam seshes, barefoot dancing, and faded tie-dye. You can explore dozens of stalls selling

Indigiqueer Festival June 27, Pier 62 The NW Pinball and Arcade Show July 6–8, Greater Tacoma Convention Center Urban Craft Uprising Summer Show July 26–27, Magnuson Park Hangar 30

MAY 2025

B Movies BY NATE CARDIN

47

ACROSS 1. Vancouver’s country 7. Bro’s sib 10. * 1995 movie featuring a barnyard baby boar 14. Observes Yom Kippur 15. Texter’s “No clue” 16. Cis/straight supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community 17. Artifacts of the past, like might be found at the Burke Museum 18. One of five rolled in Yahtzee 19. Yahtzee, for example 20. * 2005 movie featuring Bale in a bodysuit 23. “Stainless” metal 24. “What do you get when you cross an elephant with a ___?” (shrugs while answering) “Elephino!”

25. When doubled, a cheerleader’s item 28. Expulsion from a whale’s blowhole, like might be seen in Puget Sound 30. Duwamish or Suquamish 32. “Spread love, not ___” 36. The E in ESL 37. Throws with force 38. * 2018 movie featuring a blindfolded Bullock 40. * 1995 movie featuring Black buddy-cops 41. Washington’s neighbor to the South 42. Slangy response to “Why?” 43. Online crafts marketplace

Find the crossword solution at www.thestranger.com/puzzlesolution

BINGO

The Seattle International Film Festival is always full of weird, wonderful, and weirdly wonderful sights.

Keep your eyes peeled for the details described below and see if you can get BINGO!

SIFF

44. Hereditary units 45. May 15-25, 2025, for this year’s Seattle International Film Festival 47. Not even, literally 48. Utterly exhausted 50. Like salad greens 55. * 1963 movie based on a Brecher Broadway blockbuster 57. Assign stars to on Letterboxd, say 60. Also 61. Give the cold shoulder to 62. Colorful part of the eye

GRATUITOUS HITCHCOCK/ DOLLY ZOOM SHOT

COP HIT IN THE HEAD WITH A USED DILDO

CANNIBALS

SPACE EXPLORATION (THE COOL KIND, NOT THE ASSHOLE KIND)

63. Former advice columnist Landers, whose writing desk now belongs to Dan Savage 64. ___ trap (sexy selfie)

FIZZGIG

65. * 2008 movie featuring a bold but bamboozled bowser 66. “___ Miz” 67. Inserted heart parts

DOWN 1. Seattle Marathoners’ pre-race intake, often 2. Bothered, as one’s conscience 3. Actor Nick of 1989’s “Three Fugitives”

A FILM THAT PASSES THE BECHDEL TEST

MEDIUM TO BIG NATURALS

MISANDRIST TWINS

A MOVIE CO-WRITTEN BY A STRANGER WRITER

4. “Princess Mononoke” genre

UNREALISTIC PILL TAKING

5. Transferrable stickers often seen on Nalgenes 6. Professional org., like the Downtown Seattle ___ 7. One-armed embrace 8. “That’s cool, daddy-o!”

9. Ball of yarn 10. Shopping totes 11. Pie ___ mode 12. Racial justice initialism since 2013 13. Pupil’s place (in the face)

FLAMINGO SEX

A WOMAN WHO TURNS INTO A CHAIR

FREE!

SOMEONE GOOGLING DOES THE DOG DIE?*

21. Yankee Stadium’s borough

BJÖRK

22. “Got it” 25. Make a quick policy change 26. Follows orders (but hopefully not fascist ones!)

27. Needing neatening 29. Exploited laborer 31. Broccoli ___ (bitter vegetable) 32. Former streaming service now known as Max 33. Broadcast

A POET DRINKING AN ILL-ADVISED BEER

A MOVIE MADE IN THE PNW (NOT VANCOUVER!)

PATTON OSWALT

PARENTS FUCKING UP THEIR KIDS

KIDS FUCKING UP THEIR PARENTS

34. TikTok ___ (social media fad) 35. One of 12 on a cube 37. Seattle visibility reducer, sometimes 39. Given to ordering people about 40. Flat-topped hill (with a name that might make you giggle) 42. They’re gorges!

45. Make a fillet of, like at Pike Place Fish Market 46. Snub

A MOVIE THAT MAKES YOU CRY

THE LIFE-SAVING POWER OF MUSIC

A PINK SHEEP

A DOC THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO BURN EVERYTHING TO THE GROUND

49. “He loves me, he loves me not” piece 51. Bert’s “Sesame Street” roomie

AN ALCOHOLIC CULT LEADER

52. Add decorations to 53. Seattle University setting ___ Hill 54. Throws with force, in modern slang 55. Highest quality 56. Stand-up routines, like at Laughs Comedy Club 57. Barbecue morsel

*(Yes in Mongrels, no in Good Boy)

58. Not prone to crushes, briefly 59 Shop ___ you drop

GRAB YOUR TICKETS & ESCAPE TO THE Reel World.

Embark on an unforgettable journey of independent & international film.