About the Festival

The Spokane International Film Festival, now in its eleventh year, is a small, selective festival of world-class films. They are chosen from the very best features, documentaries and shorts that have been made around the world during the past two years but have not yet been commercially released for wide distribution. In fact they are the same films as those seen each year at the Cannes, New York or Toronto film festivals, and our programmers travel widely to screen and select them.

A major attraction of the festival is the presence of the filmmakers and stars themselves as our guests. They meet the audiences, share their own stories and anecdotes about the making of their films, and answer questions from audience members. The discussions are lively and educational and a favorite part of the festival for both filmmaker and audience.

Additional festival events include after-film receptions, which are open to the public, and held at various downtown locations. As the festival grows we will include forums, seminars, script readings, and additional film-related events.

The festival is overseen by its parent, the Contemporary Arts Alliance of Spokane, with an active Board of Directors and generous financial support from a variety of local and regional underwriters.

SpIFF board members and filmgoers relax with cellist
Gideon Freudmann after Metropolis showing, October, 2007.