In anticipation of opening night today (Friday), the Seattle International Film Festival crew set up shop in Renton High School’s IKEA Performing Arts Center this week.
The film festival begins at 7:30 p.m. with a screening of “Black, White and Blues,” directed by Mario Van Peebles and featuring Tom Skerrit as one of the actors.
As an added bonus to hosting a venue for the Seattle International Film Festival, the performing-arts center received some upgraded features.
The center, which opened in 2003, received a $13,000 donation from Brad Brotherton, president of Brotherton Cadillac Buick GMC. Thanks to Brotherton, IPAC now has a movie screen comparable to commercial movie theaters; it’s 14 feet, 6 inches high and 33 feet wide.
This allowed for SIFF to actually take place in Renton this year for the first time. IPAC’s screen was just 12 feet wide and 9 feet high, which was too small for SIFF’s requirements.
The district also purchased a new Sanyo wide-angle zoom lens that will give it the ability to play a DVD that will project onto the new screen and basically fill the entire screen.
“Now that we have the new wide-angle lens together, with the projection screen we’re hoping that we might be able to attract additional rental clients that would be interested in using the new system,” said Barbara Fujita, manager of the performing-arts center.
There were also a few modifications to the control booth and some electrical upgrades to accommodate SIFF.
A six foot cut was put into a countertop making it removable and allowing SIFF to move in all of their projection equipment. The electrical department installed an adequate power source for SIFF to operate its projection system by running a cable from the control booth to the electrical room.
Management considered getting a projection screen that rolled up into a box above the stage, but they were concerned about the electrical source for such a box and it was the more expensive option.
Luckily, a one-piece option was found that flies in and out of the viewing area.
In addition to those upgrades the school is adding a recognition wall to honor donors. In the same star theme that lines the outer rim of the floor in gold and silver, a similar wall of donors was to go up on Wednesday.
The honor wall cost about $5,000.
The recognition wall was created “because we want to recognize [donors] for their contributions to our theater in the same way that we recognized past donors for their help in building this facility,” said Fujita.
IPAC has been host to several beauty pageants, symphonies, ballet companies and a wide range of cultural activities.
Following the screening of “Black, White and Blues,” the Renton Pavilion Event Center at the Piazza will host the opening-night gala. Tickets are $25 for the gala and include the screening beforehand. The festival runs May 20-26 at the Renton venue.
SIFF OPENING NIGHT
WHAT: Opening Night Screening and gala for the Seattle International Film Festival
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Friday (May 20) screening, gala to follow
WHERE: Screening at IKEA Performing Arts Center, 400 S. Second St. and the gala is at the Renton Pavilion Event Center, 233 Burnett Ave. S.
COST: $25. There were only a few tickets left on Thursday.
MORE INFO: For all SIFF venues, tickets can be purchased at www.siff.net, by phone at 206-324-9996 or in person at SIFF’s main box office at Pacific Place, 600 Pine St., second level in Seattle. Tickets also will be available at the box office at the IPAC before each the screenings.
