Spokane International Film Festival turns 25 this year, and you’re all invited to come to its birthday party.
No seriously, actually come out.
After years of virtual-heavy festivals in the wake of the pandemic, SpIFF is trying to return to in-person screenings in a big way.
Everything is blown out for this 25th anniversary SpIFF, which runs from Feb. 9-16. Last year there were 12 features — this year there are 19. The number of shorts has increased over 2023 from 44 to 57. In recent years there have been about 10 to 15 visiting filmmakers at the festival. This year? That number is above 40 filmmakers.
But most crucially, there are 30 in-person screenings this year, starting with the opening night Best of the Northwest shorts program at the Bing Crosby Theater on Feb. 9, with all subsequent screenings at the Magic Lantern. That’s a huge leap from just 10 in 2023.
“This is really our year to see if people are ready to come back out,” says SpIFF Director Peter Porter. “We’ll at least celebrate the 25th. And we’ll see what the future holds. Because it’s quite a bit of work, so if it works, and it’s great, then we’ll need to recruit some more support. And if not, then we’ll just scale it back again.”
With that in mind, here are some of the most noteworthy films SpIFF 2024 has to offer.
FEATURES
DARUMA
Shot partially in the Inland Northwest with the local crew that worked on Z Nation, this dramedy feature follows Patrick (Tobias Forrest), a paraplegic wheelchair-using vet who’s let his life descend into a mess. He’s a strip-club obsessed borderline alcoholic who struggles to keep a job and lashes out with rage at the world. Things change quickly when child protective services show up telling him he has a 4-year-old daughter and that her mother died, so he must care for the girl or she’ll go into the foster system. While the filmmakers make Patrick so unlikeable that it’s hard to fully buy his telegraphed redemptive arc (thankfully some characters call him on this), it’s a caring film that touches on more humor and heart when it becomes a road trip film halfway through with Patrick, his adorable daughter, and his cranky double amputee neighbor. Tue, Feb. 13 at 6:30 pm. (SS)
PUNDERNEATH IT ALL
Do you ever feel PUNished for your love of wordplay? Do you ever PUNder if somewhere there’s a space free of eyerolls and groans? Somewhere where your humor would be appreciated, celebrated and PUNderstood? The documentary Punderneath It All explores the nationwide phenomenon of pun slams, comedy competitions where PUNdamonium reigns supreme. Crisscross the country from breweries in Seattle, comedy clubs in Austin and the Punderground in our very own Spokane to meet a group of people who definitely intend their puns. Turns out comedic competition isn’t all PUN and games — rules get stricter, tensions rise and puns take on politics. The film will definitely make you reconsider whether puns are the lowest form of humor. I say, let the PUN shine! Sat., Feb. 10 at 7 pm and 8:30 pm (EB)
FANTASY A GETS A MATTRESS
In my decade of living in Seattle, there was never a local movie that made a buzz. But last year so many of my Emerald City friends couldn’t stop talking about Fantasy A Gets a Mattress. It became a local sensation, selling out screenings and garnering critical praise. The comedy is loosely based on the life of its star, autistic Seattle rapper Fantasy A, who hustles like crazy to try and make it (including struggling to keep a roof over his head and dealing with loads of exploitative people). It’s wildly colorful for a micro-budget feature with a Napoleon Dynamite-esque quirky comedic sensibility that gets some of the vibes of how hard it is to make it in Seattle. (That said… I think it’s an incredibly bad, borderline unwatchable, movie. But hey, other people love it and I also hated Napoleon Dynamite. So take my opinion with a grain of salt!) Sat, Feb. 10 at 9:30 pm. (SS)
RICHLAND
“Plutonium is the fruit of the tree. And we have eaten of the fruit.” A choir sings in Richland, Washington, a town originally built by the U.S. government to house employees making weapon-grade plutonium at the Hanford nuclear site. This documentary intersperses archival footage, interviews of Richland residents, written word and visual poetry to draw up a portrait of a place embedded in pride, guilt and dust. The death and devastation brought by exposure to plutonium are complicated by the pride of serving the country, the grief of warfare and the guilt of environmental destruction. From bowling alleys to church choirs, alphabet homes to school mascots, reminders of the atom are everywhere. “We were just taught to be proud of the area,” one resident says. “We did an amazing, terrible thing. But people drop the terrible.” Sun, Feb. 11 at 11 am. (EB)
SHORTS
A BEAR NAMED WOJTEK
One of the most famous soldiers in Polish military history is Corporal Wojtek. He earned his stripes during 1944’s Battle of Monte Cassino. Oh, also Wojtek is literally a Serbian brown bear. The improbable true story gets told in a family-friendly manner with beautiful impressionistic animation in this 28-minute short that goes down smooth. Screening as part of the Animation Showcase on Sat, Feb. 10 at 11 am. (SS)
THE CLOSET
This succinctly titled short follows Sina, a 10-year-old boy who has “girlish tendencies,” as he must contend with the ostracization that comes with being different. After being removed from class for wearing nail polish, Sina finds himself hiding in an actual closet — a manifestation of the metaphoric place that many queer kids find themselves in — where he gets stuck after the school is closed. By using this closet to hide and protect himself, Sina’s story illustrates the sanctuary that secrecy has created for queer youth. Screening as a part of Queer Lives: Queer Shorts on Sun, Feb. 11 at 7 pm. (CR)
CHIMERA
In this snapshot of a not-so-distant, digitally enhanced future where screentime is monitored and restricted, we follow Mick (Grasie Mercedes) as she struggles with the grief of a past relationship by recreating her ex-girlfriend in virtual reality. Meanwhile, she’s letting her current relationship — her closest connection to reality — fall by the wayside as grief turns to obsession. Imagine a Black Mirror: San Junipero-esque vibe without any of its succinct resolution, further tying this short to the real world where we’re often left without any satisfying conclusions. Screening as a part of Queer Lives: Queer Shorts on Sun, Feb. 11 at 7 pm. (CR)
CRUMBLE
While only 2 minutes long, Crumble boasts the most intriguing animation in all of SpIFF, as a gorgeous hybrid of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation tells the story of a rock struggling as the cute critters that inhabit his floating island begin to bail before everything collapses. Screening as part of the Animation Showcase on Sat, Feb. 10 at 11 am. (SS)
THE GOOD NEIGHBORS
This Spokane short is a comedic treat, following a mother and her adult son trying to figure out the best course of action when they peer out the window and notice that there happens to be some unexpected nudity in their neighbor’s yard. Screening as part of Best of the Northwest on Fri, Feb. 9 at 7 pm. (SS)
HARVEY
Pencil animations that are so soft they suggest an inherent kindness offer viewers a soft landing in this heartfelt adaptation of the children’s graphic novel Harvey: How I Became Invisible. It’s an incredibly warm reflection on childhood imagination and how it can help when facing devastating losses. Screening as part of the Animation Showcase on Sat, Feb. 10 at 11 am. (SS)
HEADDRESS
This quirky short takes you through the internal dialogue of queer Native American Taietsarón:sere “Tai” Leclaire — the film’s director, screenwriter and main character — as the various pieces of his personality try to figure out how to react to a white woman wearing a Native headdress to a festival. The funny character traits listed for each version of Tai go blazing by on the screen, but watch closely and you’ll catch some of the best pieces of humor in the short. From Goth Tai who is the “Oldest Identity” to Queer Tai who “still hasn’t seen Moonlight” to Bougie Tai who “pronounces ‘Ibiza’ exactly how you think he does,” the pieces of Tai’s personality bicker over the best response. Screening as part of Through Indigenous Eyes on Sat, Feb. 10 at 1:30 pm and as part of Queer Lives on Sun, Feb. 11 at 7 pm. (SW)
IMPENETRABLE
Am I saying that Geena Pietromonaco is Seattle’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge? That seems like extremely high praise… but maybe? She writes, directs and stars in the very amusing comedic short about a woman suffering from a medical condition that makes her vagina… well… the title says it all. Pietromonaco manages to be both vulnerable and hilarious as she tries to overcome her issues by slightly awkwardly hooking up with a guy she meets at the club. Oh, and guiding her on the journey: a manifestation of her subconscious brought to life in the form of a talking felt puppet of one of her dilators for… down there. Screening as part of Best of the Northwest on Fri, Feb. 9 at 7 pm. (SS)
LEFT HANDED
A controlled, powerful, silent look at how poverty drives harm and mutilation. In this dramatic Persian short, we watch a mother methodically prepare to cut off her right hand in a workplace accident, since losing her right hand will give her more insurance compensation than losing her left. Without any dialogue, writer and director Nasrin Mohammadpour showcases the dread and despair that drive undervalued employees, especially women, in unstable economies and working conditions. Screening as a part of Women’s World: World Shorts on Sun, Feb. 11 at 4 pm. (EB)
MARIA SCHNEIDER, 1983
A seasoned French actress sits for an interview, her back against a mirrored wall. In long shots with plenty of silence, she smokes, sips espresso, fiddles with her earrings. She’s elegant, depressed, articulate but restrained. She doesn’t take many roles anymore. She doesn’t want to talk about her debut performance with Marlon Brando. She wants to talk about power and art and painting. Instead, she’s haunted by a film she did when she was 19. In three interviews over the course of this short doc, an attentive listener will hear the details of Maria Schneider’s story and her struggle for power slightly change. But her experience remains true, constant and universal to this day. Screening as a part of Women’s World: World Shorts on Sun, Feb. 11 at 4 pm. (EB)
NIGHT STAND
Did I mention Geena Pietromonaco kills it at this year’s SpIFF? (I literally did.) In another romcom short crackling with comedic energy, she plays a young woman who awakens in a strange bed after a hookup and begins anxiously trying to figure out how to make this relationship stick while her would-be beau still sleeps. Hijinks with a dog, lack of food at said dude’s abode, and getting locked out very finely capture the anxiety of wanting to make a romantic fling into something more while everything goes awry. (Bonus local points for Gonzaga theater grad Taylor Roel Pedroza playing the apple of her eye.) Screening as part of PNW Makers on Sat, Feb. 10 at 4 pm. (SS)
SHE MARCHES IN CHINATOWN
Since the 1950s, the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team has been a one-of-a-kind entity, bringing together preteen and teenage girls to perform routines that mix Chinese heritage, feminine grace and militaristic marching. She Marches in Chinatown delves into the history of the organization and documents the lead up to their 70th anniversary parade. It’s one of those short docs that drops you into a fascinating world you might not have even realized exists. Screening as part of PNW Makers on Sat, Feb. 10 at 4 pm. (SS)
TÁMQALIKS CIKLÍITOQA
Outlining the rich history of how the Tamkaliks powwow started in 1991, this short is filled with vivid and beautiful imagery from the events held over the last three decades in Wallowa, Oregon, including the 30th celebration in 2022. As noted in the film, the Wal’áwa region is the ancestral homeland of the Nez Perce people. Working together with non-Native neighbors in the valley, Nez Perce leaders including the late Earl “Taz” Conner turned an idea into a highly popular annual event that serves as both family reunion and friendship building opportunity for many each July. “One of the consequences of colonialism is that we became highly fractionated and factionalized. We want people to come here so that we can be together,” says Bobbie Conner, Taz’s niece and the Tamkaliks floor manager. “When we use our languages and sing our songs and pray our prayers, we do that not only to benefit ourselves, but everyone and everything that lives here.” Screening as part of Through Indigenous Eyes on Sat, Feb. 10 at 1:30 pm. (SW)
THINGS LONG LEFT UNSAID
The documentary Things Long Left Unsaid serves as a personal essay by Spokane filmmaker Antonia Thornton. In it, she wrestles with struggles of being Black in Spokane through the lens of her sometimes distant and now-departed father. It’s a moving and reflective mediation on loss and feeling out of place. Screening as part of PNW Makers on Sat, Feb. 10 at 4 pm. (SS) ♦
Spokane International Film Festival 2024 • Feb. 9-16 • $15-$25 per screening • Locations vary • spokanefilmfestival.org
