Each spring, SIFF sweeps through the city like a season of its own. Seattleites know the rhythm by now: the trailer drops, the posters go up, and the festival’s distinct look starts showing up everywhere.

And while the films change from year to year, the team behind that visual identity has stayed the same. WongDoody, a global creative agency founded in Seattle, has been designing the festival’s campaigns pro bono for two decades.

Mark “Monkey” Watson, the creative director who’s led the charge from the beginning, calls the partnership “a luxury” in the creative world. “The structure of what we do is far more like a trailer or a piece of entertainment,” he says. “It’s not an ad. Even if it is technically marketing, it should feel like 60 seconds of entertainment, not just a pitch.”

Each campaign starts with a theme. This year’s is a retro resort-inspired “film getaway,” part Poconos, part White Lotus, with a Yacht Rock soundtrack — playful, beachy, and built around the idea of escaping through cinema. Think vintage postcard come to life, with a lake in the distance or a Mai Tai by the pool.

“We thought about it as this kind of travel-themed resort, but approachable,” Monkey says. “Not velvet ropes, more like the Catskills. Something fun and unpretentious.”

Over the years, WongDoody has created everything from a virtual-reality-style “Cinescape” in 2012 to a big surprise party for SIFF’s 50th last year. One campaign centered on cults — “a cult you actually want to join,” Monkey says. The idea was to playfully reframe the festival as something inclusive and fun, not highbrow or exclusive. 

From SIFF’s cult-themed campaign.

Courtesy of WongDoody

The SIFF trailers are part of the tradition too, often packed with references to films from the past — sometimes hundreds of them.

“We’re always trying to upend the expectation,” Monkey says. “We know the film lovers will come. But how do we bring in people who think a festival isn’t for them? That’s where we play.”

That approach is part of what makes SIFF different. “It’s not like Sundance, which is so industry-oriented,” he says. “It’s not like Toronto, where people go to premiere films for Oscar buzz. This truly is an audience festival.”

Stills from this year’s campaign are styled like vintage travel postcards, with nods to older films like Poltergeist and Dune.

Courtesy of WongDoody

The WongDoody team doesn’t get early access to the film lineup when planning for the coming year. Instead, it looks back through SIFF’s decades-long archive to build a campaign rooted in cinematic memory, referencing classics and designing for people who just love movies. This year’s trailer includes nods to The Empire Strikes Back and Austin Powers, all wrapped in the breezy optimism of a summer escape.

The Yacht Rock soundtrack came from younger team members. “And then a couple months after we picked the theme, HBO announced their Yacht Rock documentary,” he says. “So we knew we were on the pulse.” The broader idea of cinematic escapism was developed before election season ramped up, and before everyone started talking about taking a break from doomscrolling.

That kind of timing has surfaced before. Over the years, many of the concepts have landed right in step with the cultural moment, like the campaign from a couple years ago that leaned into space exploration just as headlines focused on going back to the moon. Through it all though, the tone of SIFF stays consistently surprising, playful, and always in on the joke.

This year’s trailer was produced by Pyramide Productions, a South Seattle company. WongDoody often partners with local illustrators, musicians, and designers, sometimes commissioning original music to match the year’s theme.

“Sometimes the music is what drives it,” Monkey says. “The trailer basically became a music video a few years ago. It’s a whole extra layer of complexity, but it’s so much fun when it works.”

That kind of collaboration is part of what’s kept the work fresh for 20 years. “We just have all these film nerds on the team,” he says. “Everyone has ideas to throw in. There are people here who actually make films. And it’s not precious. It’s collaborative.” 

The work also comes with an unusual amount of freedom. SIFF trusts WongDoody to bring the ideas, and WongDoody trusts its production partners to run with them. “We hand them the script and say, ‘Go off and be as creative as you want,’” Monkey says. It’s an artistic freedom and trust that feels baked into Seattle’s identity.

Art from past SIFF campaigns.

Courtesy of WongDoody / SIFF

The goal, Monkey says, is simple: “To create something people want to walk into. Something that makes them feel like they’re already part of it.”

This year, SIFF features 245 films from 74 countries, presented in 63 languages. Attendance typically hovers around 120,000.

The Seattle International Film Festival runs through May 25 at venues across the city. Full schedule and ticket info here.

Past SIFF marketing campaigns are archived here.