It can sometimes be easy to overlook the community that movie-watching can foster. After all, sitting silently in a dark room doesn't exactly scream connectivity.
But as pandemic times have shown us — with months of shuttered movie theaters and blockbuster delays — it's a massive cultural loss to not share the silver screen thrills together. Even in an age of easy home-streaming, watching a filmmaker's vision unfold on the big screen just hits different.
After almost two years away, Spokane International Film Festival returns to fill that communal void in our movie-going hearts. The 2020 edition of SpIFF was one of the last pre-COVID-shutdown events (wrapping up on March 6, 2020), and the continuing viral threat put a kibosh on having a fest in 2021.
SPIFF 2022 IN-PERSON SCREENINGS
FRIDAY, FEB. 4
Best of the Northwest (+ Q&A) & Reclaim Idaho, 7 pm
SATURDAY, FEB. 5
Animation Showcase (+ Q&A), 11 am
Re-Opening (+ Q&A), 1 pm
World Shorts I, 3:30 pm
Casablanca Beats, 5:45 pm
Vinyl Nation, 8 pm
All in-person screenings take place at the Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. In-person screenings require proof of COVID vaccination or negative COVID test within 48 hours.Masking required.
TICKETS
In-Person Pass $49
All-Access Pass $129
Virtual Pass $99
Single Virtual Screening $10-$15
Single In-Person Screening $13
Full details and virtual offerings at spokanefilmfestival.org.
While slightly scaled back, SpIFF 2022's in-person component will take place on Friday, Feb. 4 and Saturday, Feb. 5 at the Bing Crosby Theater. The opening night program will feature the Best of the Northwest shorts program and the documentary feature Reclaim Idaho, about grassroots organizers campaigning for Medicare in the Gem State during the 2018 election cycle. Saturday's lineup features five screenings: Animation Showcase shorts, World Shorts I, Vinyl Nation (a documentary about the renaissance in record collecting), Re-Opening (a mockumentary about a small theater reopening during COVID times), and Casablanca Beats (a Moroccan drama about a rapper teaching teens hip-hop at a youth center as they struggle to find their place in the Muslim nation). Keeping with The Bing's COVID protocols, all in-person attendees must show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test from within the last 48 hours, and masking will be required.
In total, SpIFF 2022 boasts 90 films (16 features, 74 shorts), and all the films will be available to stream digitally via spokanefilmfestival.org. So if you can't make it to the Bing for whatever reason, the festival isn't excluding anyone.
That sense of inclusion is vital for SpIFF programmer Peter Porter, who returned to a role in festival leadership after time away. The lack of a festival allowed a programming reimagination to lift up the local community even more.
"We kind of rethought everything," Porter says. "When I was first the director, 15 years ago or so, I was really interested in the international piece — bringing films from around the world. Because we didn't have nearly as much access to international cinema in 2006 as we have in 2022. Part of our mission has always been to bring films that people might not see to the community.
"So there's actually a lot of emphasis this year on Spokane filmmakers and also the Pacific Northwest filmmakers," Porter adds. "We really kind of rethought the mission in terms of providing a community event so that filmmakers would have a place to show their films and talk about their films."
The opening night festivities will drive home that point.
"We always love to have Best of the Northwest [in-person]," Porter says. "That's a show that brings a lot of filmmakers together to see old friends, to see how they're doing. And I think this Bing space will enable us to do that in a safe way."
So grab some popcorn, read up on some of our favorite SpIFF films, and welcome back to the Spokane film community. ♦
