Post Alley Header

FAQ

Seattle Weekly

PRESS 2007

Post Alley Film Festival Market Theater Film By RACHEL SHIMP

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?

PRESS 2006

Post Alley Film Festival Receives Rave Reviews

"The Post Alley Film Festival was the most thoughtfully programmed of all the festivals Driver's Ed has played. Instead of being lumped simply into a "comedy" slot, we were programmed with other irreverent shorts that looked at women's perceptions of themselves in society, which made me look at my own film in a new way."
- Thom Harp, Director and Co-writer, Driver's Ed

"Post Alley Film Festival is the best film festival I've ever been to in my life. I've never sat through an entire festival, but I could NOT pull myself away. I actually had to cancel two afternoon meetings during intermissions because I was so impressed."
- Mandy Hoover, Stevenson Advertising, Seattle

"As a feature filmmaker dreading another influx of half baked ideas, I was pleasantly surprised to see a complete collection of jewels. Locked away in the caverns of the Pike Place Market is the magic of small cinema. PAFF was right down my alley. The visions of this festival stuck to me like gum on a wall."
- John Comerford, Producer/Writer, Paradigm Studios, LA/Seattle

For Immediate Release

Seattle, WA -The Third Annual Post Alley Film Festival screened 23 short films by emerging and established filmmakers from the U.S. and Canada on February 25, 2006. Playing to an audience of 150 at the historic Market Theater in Pike Place Market, Seattle, the film line-up included such shorts as: Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, Official 2006 Sundance Selection; Backseat Bingo, HBO Comedy Arts winner and Telluride Official Selection; Driver's Ed and Circus of Infinity, 2005 Seattle International Film Festival Fly Film favorites; the world premiere of Truck Stop, and Milton is a Shitbag, multiple award-winner and crowd pleaser.www.postalleyfilmfestival.com for full line-up.

The event, established to benefit the Pike Market Preschool and Childcare Center, featured films ranging from documentary to drama, animation to experimental. Improv theater group, Unexpected Productions, provided the venue. Following the festival, crowds convened across the cobblestone alley at the Alibi Room, a local filmerati speakeasy, for drinks, discussion, and the presentation of the Audience Choice award. Seattle filmmaker Wilson Diehl was pleased to accept the award for How to Go on a Man Date, a pseudo-educational short educating its viewers on male heterosexual etiquette. Courtney Davis won the Curator's Prize for Milton is a Shitbag, a hilarious comedy about a verbally abusive cat that terrorizes his owner.

Festival Curator Virginia Bogert, "Brainchild" Andrew Krueger, and Festival Coordinator Ilsa Spreiter are the team behind Post Alley Film Festival. Bogert (Filmmaker and Vice President WIF/Seattle) said of her role, "My goal as PAFF curator is to program with care and intelligence exceptional work by women filmmakers, provide a venue for female-centric movies, and, at the same time, present a balanced lens that includes films by and about men."

Victory Studios, the largest West Coast post-production facility north of Los Angeles, and Women in Film/Seattle, a global network dedicated to advancing professional development and achievement for women working in the entertainment industries, co-sponsored the event. "This is a win-win-win situation. Victory Studios can help raise funds for an organization that helps provide childcare for many low-income families; help filmmakers showcase their talents; and help Women and Film to further their reputation as an organization that not only supports but also advances the work of filmmakers, writers, directors, and crew. We look forward to continuing our sponsorship of this growing film festival," said Mark MacDonald, President, Victory Studios, and PAFF sponsor.

Thank you to all the participants. Plans are already underway for next year's festival to be held in early 2007. And the gum stays!