SIFF Opens and Offers a Way-Cool iPhone App

I attended SIFF’s jam-packed opening at the Paramount last night, which featured a pretty funny British mockumentary (In the Loop), a Mayor’s Award for Lynn Shelton (and her soaring success), and a lot of thankful speeches (perhaps too many…then again, SIFF has a lot of people to thank). I’m told the post-screening party food was fabu but the crowd was so thick I couldn’t get to it (and I was starving, so I slipped out to forage for a meal elsewhere). But the atmosphere was full-on festive (see for yourself on Seattle Channel’s Art Zone this evening–Nancy Guppy was in attendance, doing live interviews with special guests and audience members), thanks in part to the blessedly clear evening.

Speaking of which, every year I curse SIFF for opening just when our weather is taking a turn for the better…and this weekend looks to be no exception. There are several films I’m hoping to catch over Memorial Day–including Trimpin: The Sound of Invention (about local sound installation artist Trimpin), “blackly comic thriller” Terribly Happy (from Denmark), The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (the crowd pleaser by local filmmaker David Russo) and so many more… but I’m also hoping to catch some rays too. I’m telling you, it’s Sophie’s Choice.

At least we can be thankful that SIFF has introduced a super-cool widget for this year’s fest that makes it easier to sort through the massive offerings. It’s called the SIFFter, and you can use it either online or you can download it free from iTunes. It’s extremely slick, both in appearance and functionality–you can sort (or rather, SIFFt) by movie genre, country of origin, or the venue you’d prefer to see it in. Once you have your results, you can easily read the previews and watch a short trailer. It’s really, really great. Now if only it also factored in the likelihood of cloudy skies…