Scottsdale International Film Festival Website Goes Live, Schedule Announced

by Sierra Ochoa

Scottsdale International Film Festival will be November 2-6, 2017. The website for the festival went live today with schedule updates, ticket pricing and packages, special guests and more information.

The four day festival will present films from across the globe, as it does every year. This will be the 17^th year the festival runs, after being founded in 2001. SIFF always includes a diverse range of films, including films produced, starring, and directed by people of color, the LGBTQ community, and women.

Films range from obscure foreign language pieces with lesser-known actors, to much-hyped indies with faces like Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Kevin Hart.

Some films will be followed or preceded with a Q&A session facilitated by SIFF and accompanied by the filmmaker, director, or producer of a few of the films. These sessions and screenings are a must-see every year as the audience has the opportunity to interact with the filmmakers and ask the burning questions they were thinking up during the film.

In addition to the creative minds behind these films, SIFF will honor Linda Milhaven with the Scottsdale International Film Festival Ambassador Award. Milhaven has a long history of volunteering her time for the arts and the Scottsdale Cultural Council.

The festival will hold screenings at the Harkins Theaters Shea 14 location this year.

VIP passes and deluxe screening packages are available for purchase until November 1 at 5:00 p.m. The top tier VIP pass allows the viewer special privileges, such as attending the catered opening night reception and admission to the film, “The Ballad of Lefty Brown.” After the film there will also be a Q&A with the director, Jared Moshé. The Western film “Lefty Brown” stars Bill Pullman, Kathy Baker, and Peter Fonda.

The closing night film, “Last Flag Flying,” stars Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne. The film, set three decades after the Vietnam war, is about Carell’s shared journey with his fellow Vietnam veteran friends to bury his son, a former Marine. In what is sure to be a tear-jerking experience for the audience, Richard Linklater’s drama about the effects of war on relationships, friendship and mental health closes out the festival.