Category: Cinema Cocktail Virtual Film Festival

Cinema Cocktail 2021 Virtual Film Festival

Welcome to the second installment of the Cinema Cocktail Virtual Film Festival. We started the virtual film festival in 2020 while cinemas were closed due to the spread of COVID-19 and festivals around the country were closing down due to safety concerns. Even though cinemas are beginning to reopen and film festivals around the country have embraced virtual screenings, it was such a delight to program two weeks of film last year – staying connected with our online community of cinephiles and movie lovers using the streaming services we already know and love – that we decided to continue on and program a second edition.

The titles for this year’s festival have all been added, so browse by date, title, special events, or special programming. And if you’d like to join us for any of the festival galas, please fill out the RSVP form below.

We hope you’ll join us! We may be physically distant – but we’re connected by cinema!

Cinema Cocktail 2020 Virtual Film Festival

Updated May 20

Welcome to the very first edition of the Cinema Cocktail 2020 Virtual Film Festival. During this time when cinemas are closed due to the continued spread of COVID-19 and festivals around the country are closing down due to safety concerns, we thought what better way to stay connected with our online community of cinephiles and movie lovers than with an at-home festival, using the streaming services we already know and love.

The festival runs from May 15-31 and all films have been added to the lineup as of today. There has been on programming change – the Eliza Hittman retrospective originally scheduled for May 22 has been rescheduled for May 30, due to the sudden unavailability of Never Rarely Sometimes Always. It will be available as a less-expensive digital purchase beginning May 26, so we’ve adjusted the programming somewhat to accommodate the change in availability.

This was originally planned as a way for me to enjoy the same type of film festival vacation I take every year with the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), and I’d encourage anyone who is able to consider donating to the GoFundMe that has been set up to help support SIFF’s year-round staff members in programming, education, development, and communications and marketing who have been fired due to the festival closure and the cessation of year-round operations. Half of all of our proceeds from festival merchandise and tickets to our Centerpiece Screening will go to help support this cause. You can donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-siff-staff

We hope you’ll join us! We may be physically distant – but we’re connected by cinema!

Announcing the Cinema Cocktail 2020 Virtual Film Festival

Every May for the past few years, I’ve taken some much-needed vacation time to attend the Seattle International Film Festival. The festival coincides with my birthday, and what better way to celebrate another trip around the sun than 25 days of incredible film from every corner of the globe? But with the COVID-19 spread necessitating the shutdown of public gatherings, this year’s festival was cancelled. Rather than give up my yearly celebration of cinema, I’ve decided to take the two weeks off and program my own virtual film festival to coincide with the time I’d be taking off under normal circumstances.

So here at Cinema Cocktail, I am pleased to announce the first-ever Cinema Cocktail Virtual Film Festival – May 15-31. Using streaming services like the Criterion Channel, Mubi, Ovid, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Shudder, and more – as well as the occasional Video on Demand title – I’ll be curating a selection of films that include silent cinema, classics, contemporary film from around the world, long form storytelling, family films, and midnight movies. There are a few principles that are guiding my selection as I narrow down the final choices:

      • All programmed films must be films that I have not yet seen, though exceptions will be made if I can track down some films that are exceptionally difficult to see;
      • If at all possible, 50% of all films programmed should be directed or co-directed by female filmmakers. black and indigenous filmmakers, and filmmakers of color; and,
      • If at all possible, programmed films should represent as many geographic regions as possible.

I do know that I am setting myself up for some challenges here and I may not achieve all three goals, but I do believe they’re worthy goals to strive towards nonetheless.

While the full lineup won’t be announced until early May, I am very pleased to announce both our Opening Night and our Closing Night films!

Opening Night Film and Festivities

We’ll kick off the festival with Autumn de Wilde’s Jane Austen adaptation, Emma., a stylized and luminous comedy that’s that been getting high marks from critics. As Justin Chang wrote for NPR, “This is the first feature from the photographer and music-video director Autumn de Wilde, and while she has an obvious eye for beauty, she has an equally sharp eye for the absurd.” We’ll also include a link to a 33-minute Q&A with de Wilde and star Anya Taylor-Joy for anyone who wants to learn more about the film.

Closing Day Screenings and Celebrations

We’ll be closing out the festival with a retrospective on the French filmmaker Céline Sciamma. Throughout the day we’ll view all of her feature films (Water Lilies, Tomboy, and Girlhood), one of her shorts (Pauline), and an in-depth interview between Sciamma and Tricia Tuttle, director of the BFI London Film Festival. Finally, we’ll end the evening with Sciamma’s latest film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire. “Sciamma has a keen eye for the ways that women have always cared for each other under the radar of society, dealing with unwanted pregnancies and building little communities in plain sight.” (Emily VanDerWerff, Vox)

If there’s enough interest, I also intend to host a few panel conversations and group discussions through the festival, and we’ll see what other ways we can build in some aspects of intentional community building that you get with a traditional film festival. I do hope you’ll consider joining me for as much of this two-week festival as you’re able. Stay tuned for more information!