SIFF 38 is just around the corner

Now that the Spokane International Film Festival is history, it’s time to look ahead to the Northwest’s biggest film extravaganza: the Seattle International Film Festiva l. The 38th edition of SIFF begins just a little over a month from now, on May 17, and runs through June 10.

I first began attending the festival on a regular basis in 1993. I was then still working for the print edition of The Spokesman-Review and thought it was nothing to see as many as 30-plus movies over the three or four weekends that I would drive over the mountains to see. I’m a bit more judicious these days. But I still consider SIFF a regional treasure, an experience that speaks to the cinephile in all of us.

The box office (206-324-9996) won’t open until May 3. But you can buy tickets to the opening gala (the movie “Sister, Sister” and the post-screening party at Seattle Center ‘s Exhibition Hall) by going online. (In the photo above, that’s Emily Blunt and Rosemary DeWitt as two of the film’s protagonists.)

I’d consider it. Some of the best films I’ve seen over the past two decades played at SIFF. As more information becomes available, I’ll outline some of this year’s more interesting offerings.

So stay tuned.