SIFF: The People Experience

Aside from seeing films and talking with filmmakers, SIFF also provides ample opportunities to mingle with fellow festival goers and friendly festival staff. We are a loosely-connected but vibrant community in ourselves, with the festival being our annual, month-long, massive convention.

Top L: me with my great friends (and siblings) Sandy and Eric. SIFF is one of many interests we have in common.

Top R: me with Eric at ShortsFest. It's nice when our schedules overlap and we can carpool.

Bottom L: me with Joey. We have quite different tastes in movies but we share a love of short films.

Bottom R: me with Pamela. We met two years ago at SIFF Opening Night, over the cupcake stand.

Top L.: me with Dustin Kaspar, SIFF programmer and Educational Programs Coordinator.
Top R.: me with Jason Plourde, SIFF 2011 short film competition juror, Programming Director for Three Dollar Bill Cinema.
Bottom L.: Beth Barrett, SIFF Director of Programming, working away in between screenings at SIFF Cinema.
Bottom R.: Geoff Klein and Mo Fine, founders of the Tumbleweed Film Festival.

I met Geoff and Mo during the ShortsFest and talked to them about the Tumbleweed film festival. As filmmakers themselves, their main mission is to introduce non-mainstream films to the Eastern Washington audience, though they hope to expand to Seattle area as well. As you could imagine, it's not a small feat to put on a film festival. Geoff and Mo had the smart idea of partnering with the many wineries in the region to create non-conventional, low-cost film venues. Fine wine with a fine film, who could resist the combination? They are in the process of procuring films for their second annual festival, getting the word out through press and mutual promotional opportunities with SIFF. They told me that they have received many submissions, mostly from the U.S., but also entries from many European countries, Japan, Brazil and more, thanks to their listing on Withoutabox.com. They are open to all genres and styles, starting with mostly shorts though open to features as well. Sounds like an exciting venture and I wish them all the success! Tumbleweed Film Festival is a non-profit organization currently seeking 501(c)3 status.

I also met Lisa and Joshua Puddy, a devoted mother-son team, during the ShortsFest. They watched all but two shorts packages during the three-and-half-day-long short film marathon at SIFF Cinema. Joshua, a young aspiring filmmaker, had previously participated in a 911 Media project that produced the short film "The Pirate Hunter". I'm sure he got a lot of inspiration from the hundred-plus short films he watched, especially the FutureWave shorts made by other youth filmmakers. When I ran into Lisa and Joshua again at the Closing Party, they told me Joshua already picked a topic for a short documentary: Bus plunge stories. Intrigued? I know I am! I look forward to seeing his finished work, maybe even at SIFF 2012?

SIFF 2011 Closing Party: SIFF Artistic Director Carl Spence rocking the dance floor;

me with Steve the Chicken Man; the late crowd being kicked out of the venue