Post Alley Film Festival

Say you’re gearing up for SIFF but not too jazzed on the idea of those pricey tickets and massive lines. Not to mention the fact that a movie about the persistent Icelandic belief in elves only plays at 1:30 on a TUESDAY and you can’t leave work! Well, here’s a film festival you can conquer in half a day, with plenty of time left over for analysis. Best of all, it looks to be a hell of a good time. “Be prepared for the female-centric and eccentric,” is the tagline of this fourth annual fest put on by Women in Film Seattle and benefiting Pike Place Market Childcare and Preschool. Past years’ highlights show that these curators have skills—from being the first to screen The Heart of the Game in 2003 to making audiences howl last year with a short called Milton is a Shitbag (about an abusive housecat). PAFF is focused on female perspectives rather than exclusively “feminine” topics, with work by men and women from Seattle and around the world included in the 25 shorts, ranging in length from 75 seconds (!) to 18 minutes. SIFF and Sundance selections and works-in-progress are screened alongside archival footage, like a seven-minute excerpt from the film journal of author Zora Neale Thurston. Everything from Barbie to peep shows gets covered, with some social commentary and “deep thought” navel-gazing sprinkled in. As fun and quirky a fest as this may be, what kind would it be without that?

Extra Info
Market Theater 1428 Post Alley, $13-$18 Sat., April 14, 12:30pm