The annual Seattle International Film Festival champions the power of sharing original stories with diverse perspectives and rich emotional journey and is today one of the most highly regarded film festivals in the world yet still retains local Pacific Northwest flavour.

Longstanding audiences prize SIFF as a unique Seattle experience and are passionate about immersing themselves in an abundance of films. New audiences want to dip their toes into this vibrant, urban cultural experience and community.

For 18 years, WONGDOODY has developed the festival campaign - including a visual identify toolkit, poster, video trailer, and bumpers - that deliver on SIFF’s mission to host complex conversations and gather the community around great film. 

The insight behind this year’s campaign, “Seek New Cinema” is that SIFF is a ritual for many local film lovers to gather and open themselves up to transformation through this shared space. 

After a COVID hiatus, that in-real-life human connection is what makes the in-theater communal experience even more special.

Poster:

To give the art an altar-like appearance, we collaged a multitude of images including cult-referencing elements alongside tickets, popcorn, and film reels in a geometric fashion. The poster invites viewers to travel via film into an eye-opening festival experience that lifts them to new heights of cinematic bliss.

Trailer:

A kaleidoscope of film fandom, the trailer juxtaposes live-action and animation, creating a genre-bending tribute to cinema, welcoming audiences pursuing a higher plane of cinematic nirvana—and of course, to choose the next cult classics. The artwork teases our perception of cults, but playfully—think Partridge Family, not Manson Family. More crystals, kaftans, and comfortable footwear. And popcorn—lots of popcorn. The trailer is broadcast on Seattle television channels in March, leading up to and through the Spring festival (April 14-24, 2022), shown in theatres before each film during the festival and shared on YouTube and other online platforms to promote engagement.

Bumpers:

The festival bumpers serve not only as a palette-cleansing injection of humorous festival branding between pre-feature-film trailers—they also cheekily remind film seekers to keep good standards of movie-going etiquette, such as silencing cell phones, disposing of trash, and wearing masks.

Results:

Our clients at SIFF are thrilled with this year’s campaign and trailer, and they have referred to it as a work of art that supports their mission to inspire, delight, and connect audience members. From Beth Barrett, SIFF Artistic Director: “We live in an age when people gather, not necessarily based on their geography, but around their passions, beliefs, and interests. Communities—online and in-person—are a source of great connection and joy, and the film community is a “cult” of passion and interest—with all of the accompanying ritual, celebrations, and history.”