TheTwoOhSix: 2017 Recap - The Film Festivals

Sunday, March 4, 2018

2017 Recap - The Film Festivals

2017 was a big year for TwoOhSix.com as I was able to provide coverage for four different film festivals including a total of 50 movies watched and four interviews conducted. As we gear up for what lies ahead in 2018, let's take a look back at all of those awesome memories including a list of my favorite movies from all of last year's film festivals.

Seattle International Film Festival - Full Recap

I guess you could say SIFF is my home base when it comes to film festivals since I have been covering the festival for six years which is about as long as I've had this website. This was my busiest year having watched 32 movies over the course of the four week festival. Just about every genre was covered from horror to documentary and they came in from all over the world. My favorite film when it was all said and done was Landline, the latest from Gillian Robespierre, although it was a close finish with other films like Time Trap, Say You Will, and Mr. Long getting serious consideration.

The Local Sightings Film Festival is put on by Seattle's own Northwest Film Forum and is a showcase of locally produced, independent films, some of which you won't find anywhere else. This year, I was only able to watch two films although they were both pretty darned good. Portland based Zilla and Zoe was a nice surprise that was just a joy to watch while Walking Out was one of the most beautifully shot movies I watched all year long.

Portland Film Festival - Full Recap

I usually find some of the weirdest movies at the Portland Film Festival and this year was definitely no exception. The horror genre was responsible for over half of the movies I watched and there was no shortage of weird and wacky stuff going on from The Velocipastor to South Korea's Wol-Ha: Very Bad Moon Rising. The best and craziest of the bunch was Secret Santa which blew me away with how much fun it was. I also want to make sure to mention Break the Chain which was a very informative documentary about human trafficking.

Hawaii International Film Festival - Full Recap

If you want big names, big stars, and big surprises to be part of your film festival experience then the Hawaii International Film Festival is one you don't want to miss. This is where you will see movies like Thor: Ragnarok and Lady Bird side by side with some of the best foreign films you can find like A Taxi Driver (택시 운전사) from South Korea and Bad Genius (ฉลาดเกมส์โกง) from Thailand the latter of which ended up being my favorite of the festival.