I’m not totally clear on why we need two film festivals at the same
time—I barely have the waking hours for one, and it’s my
job to give a care. But Seattle’s True Independent Film Festival
is an admirably scrappy adversary (or companion) for SIFF: It’s
monumentally more affordable, less self-important, and—though the
stinkers might be stinkier—its successes are exciting in their
honesty and creative oomph.
Frank & Cindy (Sat June 7, Rendezvous,
4 pm;
Wed June 11, CHAC, 7 pm)
G. J. Echternkamp documents the day-to-day life of his mom (the
batshit insane but fanatically loving Cindy) and stepdad (Frank, an
’80s one-hit wonder who’s been drinking wine on Cindy’s couch since
1983). The film is hysterical and devastating and completely
mesmerizing—but it’d be worth watching for Frank’s eyeballs
alone.
GodAwesome (Sat June 14, CHAC, 4:30
pm)
A fascinating documentary peek into the inner workings of Tacoma
megachurch Champions Centre, GodAwesome stays meticulously,
conspicuously objective. But commentary would be
redundant—Champions Centre’s spangled and frosted elite cheerily
damn themselves by announcing things like, “Kids are like a blank
slate, and we have the opportunity from God to just paint a
canvas!”
Gustav Braustache and the Auto-Debilitator (Sat June
14, Rendezvous, 6:15 pm)
This is, without a doubt, my favorite 18 minutes of STIFF this
year—or SIFF, for that matter. I had low hopes. It sounded
vaguely German, which made me think it probably involved philosophy. I
almost didn’t watch it. I almost fucked up big-time. It’s the story of
an inventor, a landlord, and the world’s most charming machines.
Strange Girls (Sat June 7, Rendezvous, 8
pm)
When I was in college in Los Angeles, this theater major named
Angela Berliner wrote a creepy play about twins, starring herself and
her twin. Now she and her twin are starring in this creepy movie about
twins, which was delivered to me among the STIFF screeners. I just
thought that was weird.
Chasing the Devil (Sat June 7 CHAC,
7 pm; Thurs
June 12, R Place, 8 pm)
It’s not nice to laugh at the mentally ill. And luckily, there’s
nothing funny about these desperate, lost, broken, raging souls
paddling slowly, hopelessly, up ex-gay creek. Rough production values
can’t sink this maddening and heartbreaking documentary, thanks to the
rich horror of the subject matter. “In my case, my religious identity
trumped my sexual orientation. And for me, there was no way I was going
to accept gay. It just wasn’t going to happen,” says one ex-gay. “There
has been a lot of pain,” says his wife. 
