America’s biggest film festival starts tomorrow, and, in case you haven’t heard, we have a complete guide to every aspect of the festival in the SIFF Notes section of our Things To Do calendar—from showtimes and ticket links to reviews from Stranger critics and trailers. During the 25 days of the 42nd annual Seattle International Film Festival, there will be screenings of 279 films (many of which will play more than once, and 71 of which are Stranger recommended) and a dozen parties and special events. In case all of those numbers are overwhelming, we’ve picked the films you absolutely must see throughout the festival (17 of them!) and compiled them here. Click through to each film for ticket links, specific showtimes, and trailers. Enjoy!
OPENING WEEKEND
Death by Design
At the outset of the film, director Sue Williams takes viewers to a milk-colored Yangtze River, where metallic muck sticks to oars and old women beg for clean drinking water. This is very much our doing. There’s probably a small voice in every person’s head reminding us that the devices we chuck out every couple of years must have sordid production practices on the other side of an ocean, but that voice gets drowned out by a culture constantly hawking the new iPhone 6. Not here. Death by Design takes viewers from the Yangtze to Silicon Valley, where electronics production once poisoned factory workers, and back to China, where all that work—and all the waste—has been outsourced by major US companies looking to cut corners on labor and environmental practices. Everyone should see this film and learn what a “corporate mortality file” is. (SYDNEY BROWNSTONE)
