SIFF unleashes a Battle cry

SIFF unleashes a Battle cry

Seattle's mega International Film Festival returns by Sara Michelle Fetters - SGN Contributing Writer Okay, I admit it: Memorial Day weekend in Seattle is my favorite time of year. Better than Thanksgiving, better than Christmas - hell, it's even better than my birthday, and the reason for all this enthusiasm and glee has nothing to do with the summer holiday. It's SIFF time, and for 25 days starting in May I become a giggly, bubbly, enthusiastic cinephile bursting at her fetchingly beguiling (and oh-so girly) seams. For those not having the first clue what it is I'm talking about, that four-letter acronym up above is the shorthand for the Seattle International Film Festival. It's the largest and most attended event of its type in the United States, and while Cannes, Toronto and Sundance get most of the hype our little cinematic party has been chugging along since 1976, growing in both size and scope each and every year since its launch. This 34th annual version promises to live up to that statement. Beginning next Thursday with the opening night gala presentation of the star-studded WTO riot drama Battle in Seattle (starring Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Rodriguez, Ray Liotta, Channing Tatum and Martin Henderson, among others), and finishing up June 14 at the Cinerama with local premier of the spirited wine melodrama Bottle Shock staring Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Chris Pine, Freddie Rodriguez, Rachel Taylor and Eliza Dushku, the festival has over 400 screenings, forums and events to get even the most jaded movie-lover excited. Like what, you might ask? Well, for our readers, there is the usual healthy does of some of the best and most interesting GLBT cinema the world has to offer. The chief highlight might just be the locally produced documentary Bailey-Boushay House: A Living History, which chronicles the history of one of Seattle's most beloved nonprofit organizations. Other standouts include France's caustic black comedy Before I Forget, the Spanish comic-thriller Boystown, the riveting documentary Chris & Don: A Love Story and the critically acclaimed German drama The Edge of Heaven (winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival). Also from that particular country comes the world's first Gay zombie movie, Otto; or, Up With Dead People, a sure-fire midnight movie cult sensation if there ever was one. All in all, SIFF 2008 will showcase films both big (DreamWorks' latest animated comedy Kung-fu Panda premiers) and small (Bangladesh's On the Wings of Dreams is a tiny little picture I'm going to be seeing if only for the simple fact it is, well, from Bangladesh - when the hell do you ever get to see something from Bangladesh?) with plenty of in-between (Alexander Nevsky gets an archival presentation with accompaniment from the Seattle Symphony, F.W. Murnau's timeless Sunrise screens at the Triple Door, John Waters will be here talking about making movies as a Hollywood renegade, Sir. Ben Kinsley gets a lifetime achievement award and there's a big Gay-la screening of everyone's favorite former 90210 resident Tori Spelling's latest effort Kiss the Bride) to keep viewers of all ages excited and inspired. Other notable events include more entries in SIFF's Face the Music series, an afternoon chat with Oscar-winning actor F. Murray Abraham, the return of the ever-popular Fly Filmmaking Challenge, the oh-so-quiet and on the hush-hush Secret Festival, the slam-bang Midnight Adrenaline and the always exciting Films4Families series. Also returning in 2008 is the Planet Cinema program which presents documentaries and features with environmental themes, while the Northwest Connections program highlights 11 films with roots right here in the Pacific Northwest, many of them premiers. As for me, I'll be hitting one or more of the venues each and every day of the festival. While I'll still be checking in with the latest Hollywood has to offer (can't miss Sex in the City, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted or The Happening after all), mostly I'll just be sitting in a theater sipping on Diet Coke, munching stale popcorn and watching world and independent cinema come to life on the type of gigantic stage it seldom gets to see but so often richly deserves. Like I said before, this is as good as it gets, but like Christmas, Thanksgiving and my birthday, the sad fact is it only happens once a year. Hopefully you'll get the opportunity to make the most of it. I sure as hell know that I will. For more information on the 34th Annual Seattle International Film Festival check out the pages of the SGN starting May 23. For more from Sara, check out her SIFF Blog starting May 22 and running the length of the entire 25-day festival at www.moviefreak.com.

2008 Tony Award nominations announced

by E. Joyce Glasgow - SGN A&E Writer Whoopi Goldberg will be the Mistress of Ceremonies for the 2008 Tony Awards presentations on Sunday, June 15, at Radio City Music Hall. The event will be covered on CBS television from 8-11 p.m. Pacific Time. A limited number of tickets to the live event are available for purchase by the general public. On Tuesday, May 13, the nominees were announced in New York by Tony Award winners David Hyde Pierce and Sara Ramirez. The 2007/2008 eligibility season began on May 10, 2007 and ended on May 7, 2008. This season has included some prominent and historical Broadway revivals including; Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, directed by Seattle's Intiman Theatre's artistic director Bartlett Sher, who has been nominated for Best Direction of a Musical and the musical has received the second highest number of Tony nominations for 2008 at 11, and Sunday in the Park With George, from London, which has received the third-highest number of 2008 nominations at nine. Patty LuPone is making a dramatic splash in the revival of Gypsy. I've heard consistently great reports about the play August: Osage County, from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. In the Heights, which began off-Broadway, has been very successful, garnering the most Tony nominations at 13. Passing Strange, which had its origins off-Broadway at the Public Theatre, is a popular hit. The New Mel Brook's Musical Young Frankenstein, which had its beginnings at Seattle's Paramount Theatre last year, was nominated for three awards. The following is a complete list of 2008 Tony-nominated musicals and plays with the number of nominations received: In the Heights (musical) 13, Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific (musical revival) 11, Sunday In The Park With George (musical revival) 9, August: Osage County (play) 7, Gypsy (musical revival) 7, Passing Strange (musical) 7, Boeing-Boeing (play revival) 6, Macbeth (play revival) 6, The 39 Steps (play revival) 6, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (play revival) 5, Cry-Baby (musical) 4, Rock and Roll (play) 4, The Seafarer (play) 4, Xanadu (musical) 4, A Catered Affair (musical) 3, The Homecoming (play revival) 3, The New Mel Brook's Musical Young Frankenstein (musical) 3, The Little Mermaid (musical) 2, Come Back Little Sheba (play revival) 1, Cyrano de Bergerac (play revival) 1, Grease (musical revival) 1, Is He Dead? (play) 1, Mauritius (play) 1, November (play) 1, Thurgood (play) 1 and Top Girls (play) 1. A 2008 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre will be presented to composer Stephen Sondheim. The 2008 Regional Theatre Tony, along with a $25,000 grant, will go to the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and a 2008 Special Tony Award will be presented posthumously to Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981) "In recognition of his historical contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific." For further information about the 2008 Tony Awards visit www.tonyawards.com.