The 2025 Vashon Island Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, August 7, with a gala screening of director Noémie Merlant’s The Balconettes, a charming, pitch-black comedy about three women trapped in a Marseille apartment during a heat wave. It’s a delightfully Queer and female-driven romp that takes several warped turns before its crowd-pleasingly perverse conclusion, and attendees should prepare themselves for a deliciously twisted good time.
The lineup for the four-day festival showcases notable international selections, as well as several local productions, including a free shorts program labeled shortCUTZ, for which tickets are certain to be hard to come by.
I sat down with Mark Mathias Sayre, Vashon Island Film Institute president and founder of the distribution and international sales agency The Forge (specializing in independent films and documentaries from around the globe for the North American market). Here are the edited transcripts of our conversation:
Sara Michelle Fetters: What’s the feeling like right now? I imagine you’re getting pretty excited for opening night.
Mark Mathias Sayre: I am very excited. It always feels a little overwhelming right before, but I can’t wait for August 7. Everyone here at the Vashon Film Institute can’t wait. We’re eager to get things started.
SMF: What are some of the surprises that you have in store for attendees this year?
MMS: I think this is one of the strongest lineups we’ve ever had at the festival. This year, we have a new lead programmer, Stacey Oristano, who is a friend of mine and an actress known for Friday Night Lights, Bunheads, Shameless, and a number of other titles. She’s put together a compelling program this year of notable and award-winning films. It’s a fantastic assortment of features, documentaries, and shorts.
In addition, we have several fun events scheduled throughout the festival. So many surprises. These include having The Blue Shadows coming up from Los Angeles to play on Friday night, and they’ll have a special guest who is sort of a Seattle legend: Tyler Willman of Green Apple Quick Step.
SMF: One of the great things about the Vashon Island Film Festival is that it’s not just about the cinema but also a celebration of community and culture. How important is it to make sure that remains an integral part of the festival?
MMS: It’s why the festival is called the “Vashon Island Film Festival” and not the “Vashon International Film Festival.” Certainly, the programming is international, but the island itself is the centerpiece for everything that we do. It’s the thing that makes it extra special. I don’t think almost any other film festival exists in the same sort of setup that we do. The topography, the community, the celebration of the arts here — those are all important parts of what help make this festival so special.
SMF: Post-COVID, it’s been a struggle for festivals to get back on their feet. It seemed like last year’s was bucking that trend, and I imagine your expectation is that will hold for this year’s event. What are your expectations?
MMS: We’ve seen growth both in terms of audience numbers and patrons, but also certainly in regards to enthusiasm and advocacy for it. That naturally happens as we’re able to raise literacy, not only on the island but in the greater Seattle and Tacoma areas as well. This is only possible through routine and consistency, as well as growing the festival at a pace and in a manner that we can control. It’s about putting our heads down and doing what we know we do well as far as programming and special events are concerned. We want to show our visiting filmmakers and audiences as good of a time that we can, and I think our success on that front is shown in attendance and in the continued growth of the festival overall.
SMF: This is an international lineup that features so many high-profile and award-winning films from other festivals like Sundance and Cannes. And yet you still make sure that local filmmakers and features get the opportunity to take center stage. Why is that important, and how proud are you that you get to showcase those films?
MMS: We’re so proud about that here at the Vashon Film Institute that, at the end of the day, I don’t even know if that’s a feeling we can even quantify. The ultimate goal at the institute is to celebrate and support filmmaking in the Pacific Northwest. Certainly this is done by bringing in films that are produced outside of the Pacific Northwest as a celebration of cinema, but it’s equally key that we showcase the art that is produced right here and made by local filmmakers. The sky is really the limit for films made, not just here in Vashon or Seattle but in the Pacific Northwest as a whole, and I think you’re going to see a lot more films being produced in this area.
SMF: As part of that, you once again have a local shorts block that is free to anyone who can snag a ticket. Why do you make sure that this local shorts block remains a free program?
MMS: It’s the most hyperlocal program that we offer here. shortCUTZ are short films that were shot or produced on Vashon, or about Vashon, or made by filmmakers who do or did reside here. We want to activate as much of the community to show up for those, which they definitely will.
This year, we have a film that local third graders produced here on the island. We have a film that local middle schoolers produced here on the island. We have a short film that a former student of Vashon Island High School, who moved to New York, shot with a group of friends.
shortCUTZ is designed to be as much of a communal event as possible, so we can all celebrate these filmmakers and their films together.
SMF: I imagine those third graders and middle schoolers are going to go crazy when they see their film up there on the big screen.
MMS: That will be one of the more magical moments of the festival. Our youth programming is so important to us here at the institute, spearheaded by Rich Hazzard, our director of strategy and development. This is really the tip of the iceberg of the infrastructure he’s developing, both here on the island and in the Seattle-Tacoma region. I think there’s really no ceiling here as to what these kids can do and what this program can become.
SMF: You’ve left the ticket prices very reasonable again this year, with a full-series pass costing only $69.99.
MMS: I think, this day and age, it’s more important than ever to keep ticket prices reasonable. While it is important to generate revenue to keep the festival sustainable, it’s also important to me and to the rest of the team that people are able to come and see a wide assortment of international and award-winning films for an affordable price that they may not get the opportunity to see in a theater otherwise.
SMF: For LGBTQ attendees, whether they are islanders or are visitors, what are some of the highlights of this year’s event?
MMS: I admit that this may be a selfish plug, considering that I am also the distributor of the film here in North America, but that would Noémie Merlant’s The Balconettes, our opening night film. It’s just terrific. It was up for the Queer Palm at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, and it’s such a glorious feminist and Queer anthem. Top of the list. For sure. Check it out.
SMF: When we talk about festivals like this one, as cineastes, we can’t help but get excited. But the current social and political climate has made showing films like these something of a radical act. How important is it to keep showcasing stories from around the world from so many diverse communities and points of view?
MMS: These films couldn’t be more important than they are right now. These stories, whether they be on film, on the stage, or in a book, or in a painting — it couldn’t be more important for us to support artists and consume art than it is right now. Art really engenders empathy, and to me, empathy really is the kryptonite to prejudice. … This couldn’t be more important than it is today.
SMF: And that makes attending festivals like this almost a form of protest, don’t you think?
MS: 100%. There is active war being waged against art. We need to continue to show our support for art to show that these stories matter, that these voices matter. As proud as I am of the work that we do at The Forge, the work that we are doing here at the Vashon Film Institute is even closer to my heart, probably because it has such a visible and direct impact on the community I not only grew up in but reside in now. It’s been such an incredible gift to contribute back to this community that I owe everything to.
SMF: For attendees, whether they are Vashon residents or visitors to the island, what do you want them to take away from this year’s festival?
MMS: I hope that they are talking about the quality of the programming, the bold and beautiful stories that are being told here, the natural beauty of the island, and the kindness and the hospitality of the community. That’s what I would hope.
The 2025 Vashon Island Film Festival runs August 7–10, with ticket prices set at $10 and an all-access pass going for $69.99. For a full calendar of events and to purchase tickets, head to www.vashonislandfilmfestival.com/tickets.
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