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2 R SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019 | | The Mix E3 SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL the places it goes and the territory it ex- plores.” Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Wash- ington and Rosemarie DeWitt will star, and filming will begin in a few weeks, continu- ing well into the fall. But for now, Shelton’s excited to return home to walk the SIFF red carpet on May 16, and to listen to the local audience’s reaction to “Sword of Trust.” Female-di- rected comedies are front and center this year at SIFF (other galas include Nisha Ganatra’s “Late Night,” with Emma Thomp- son and Mindy Kaling, and Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,” with Awkwafina) and Shel- ton’s proud to be part of that wave. “It’s pretty great,” she said. “We deserve our specific way of making people laugh.” _____ “ Sword of Trust ” opens the Seattle Inter- national Film Festival at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16, at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., Seattle. Lynn Shelton and Marc Maron will be among the red-carpet guests. Tickets $75 (includes admission, entry into opening-night party and two drink tickets) or $275 (includes admission with reserved seating, valet parking, gift bag, entry into opening-night party and unlimited drinks); 206-324-9996, siff.net Moira Macdonald: mmacdonald@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @moiraverse By MOIRA MACDONALD Seattle Times arts critic “It’s a little bit like going back home to your parents’ house when you’re grown up and moved away — you kind of turn back into a kid,” said filmmaker and Seattle native Lynn Shelton, whose latest film “Sword of Trust” will get the gala treat- ment on Seattle International Film Festi- val’s opening night. “I feel extra anxiety, and am extra excited to show it off to the folks in the place I grew up in and had my formative years in and dreamed about being able to make movies.” Much has changed about Shelton’s career since the previous time that she opened the festival (with “Your Sister’s Sister” in 2012 — the first time a local filmmaker was giv- en that honor). For starters, she’s calling from Los Angeles, where she spends much of her time these days (though she still lives in Seattle part-time). Though feature films remain her first love, Shelton now works frequently in television, with recent credits that include guest-directing stints on “GLOW,” “Fresh Off the Boat,” “The Good Place,” “Shameless,” “Master of None” and many more. “Sword of Trust,” a goofball caper come- dy with a literal sword at its center, is Shel- ton’s first film made outside the Pacific Northwest — it’s a Southern story, and was filmed in Alabama. Like most of Shelton’s movies, she said, it came about because of a particular actor she wanted to work with: comedian Marc Maron, whom Shelton had directed on his TV series “Maron.” With writer Michael Patrick O’Brien, Shelton crafted a story in which Maron plays a pawnshop owner who sees dollar signs when a couple (Jillian Bell, Michaela Wat- kins) bring in a weapon that they claim is an authentic Civil War artifact. Though she’d spent little time in the South beforehand, Shelton embraced the challenge of trying out a new locale, think- ing of filmmaker John Sayles — “someone who goes to a new place, embeds himself in it, and makes it a part of the narrative.” Many locals were involved in the produc- tion, on both sides of the camera: “I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just a Northern- er coming in and making fun of the South. That was really important to me.” Shelton’s eager to make another feature film: She’s got a long-simmering project based on a “This American Life” story called “The Incredible Case of the P.I. Moms,” co-written with fellow Seattle film- maker Megan Griffiths. But her next proj- ect, just announced last week, will be keep- ing her in Los Angeles for a while. She’ll be executive producer of the Hulu limited series adaptation of Celeste Ng’s best-sell- ing novel about mothers and daughters, “Little Fires Everywhere,” and will direct four of the eight episodes. It’s an unusual project for Shelton, who generally prefers to focus on feature film- making and to keep her TV work to guest spots here and there. But “Little Fires Ev- erywhere” just “hit so many buttons for me — the really strong female protagonists, all Filmmaker, part-time Seattleite Lynn Shelton is ‘extra excited’ to kick off SIFF again G A R Y M I L L E R Director Lynn Shelton and actor Marc Ma- ron, who worked together on “Sword of Trust,” appear at the AFS Film Awards. The goofball caper comedy will get the gala treatment at SIFF’s opening night Thursday. ing pin—was made, makes orec- chiette in the world’s most pictur- esque alley and pays homage to his pasta maestra, Alessandra Spisni. There’s also a little footage in To- kyo (long story), then it’s back to Los Angeles for the inevitable elev- enth-hour drama. But the pasta! Good lord, it looks so good, all throughout. And this film is a fun one to love/hate. Chefs and others in Seattle’s more down- to-earth restaurant industry might laugh out loud, probably while planning their next trip to Il Corvo. “Virgin & Extra: The Land of the Olive Oil” Spain, 2018, directed by José Luis López-Linares Showtimes: 3:30 p.m. May 18 at Ark Lodge; 12:30 p.m. June 2 at SIFF Cinema Uptown; 7 p.m. June 3 at Pacific Place The Spanish province of Jaén produces 20%of the world’s olive oil. Be apprised: It is serious busi- ness, and this film about it is an hour and a half long. As regular viewers of food documentaries will be unsurprised to learn, we get into the portentous music and solemn, subtitled voice-over right away: “Olive oil is a living being” (maybe the translation’s a little funny?). But we also get into the beauty: The sweeping aerial shots of the olive groves are ridiculously gorgeous, and Jaén’s clouds, birds and an- cient stone buildings are likewise (and you’ll be seeing themon the big screen instead of watching an advance showing onmy laptop). All kinds of experts come into play in “Virgin & Extra”: archaeolo- gists, botanists, “gastronomic crit- ics,” chefs, potters. The history of olive-oil production in the region takes us back to the ancient Roman empire — repositories of shattered amphorae that the oil traveled in look beautiful too, discarded in shard-heaps, too inexpensive to bother reusing. The chefs prepare exquisite dishes using olive oil in exquisitely lovely kitchens, evange- lizing about its excellence. Butter gets trash-talked (along with France). The virtues of extra-virgin are extolled, and the black-and- white footage of harvests of yester- year is rolled. A contemporary olive-oil cooperative mill, highly mechanized but open air, looks almost as pretty as everything else. Great-looking people evince incred- ible enthusiasmabout Jaén’s olive oil. Italy, they’re coming for you! For a good while, that enthusi- asm is contagious, but eventually, your attention span for sweeping aerial shots and culinary drizzling may wane. Meanwhile, some fasci- nating-seeming olive-oil producers get short shrift, and youmight want to knowmore about how that co-op works. Scenes of a tableful of “oil specialists” tasting olive oil get particularly repetitive (though you have to love a derisive remark about “the U.S. agitprop campaign” of yesteryear against omega-3 fats). If Turismo Jaén and the regional olive oil-industry association got together tomake a film, it might look a lot like this one. “Chef’s Diaries: Scotland” United Kingdom, 2019, directed by Laura Otálora Showtimes: 4:30 p.m. May 22 at Majestic Bay; 6:30 p.m. June 4 at SIFF Cinema Uptown; 4:30 p.m. June 5 at the Egyptian When the three Roca brothers of Michelin-starred Spanish restau- rant El Celler de Can Roca decided to undertake some traveling— “to understand our smallness,” one of them says with charming sincerity — they naturally thought of their interest in whisky. A fine excuse to go to Scotland! This documentary trails their exploration as they spread out all over the place, inves- tigating the natural resources of the country’s food in order to craft a high-end, molecular-gastronomical tribute upon returning home. It’s a three-fish-out-of-water setup that makes for a fine twist on what could be just another unbear- ably gorgeous food documentary. Along with the requisite breathtak- ing shots of castles, cliffs and rolling green hills, the Rocas muse about the country’s character, their Span- ish accents bumping up against Scottish ones (the latter, funnily, gets subtitled too). Of course, a deep dive into haggis is necessary —or “hag-geese,” as the case may be. One brother ventures to a Vi- king festival, which looks like excel- lent fun, and segues into smoking fish in the ancient way on a beach with a fifth-generation practitioner. Adorably shaggy Scottish cows with their bangs in their eyes are encountered, and cloudlike puffs on legs that are Shetland sheep; the seafood, heaped on a table outside on the Isle of Skye, looks incredible. Those who aren’t still silencing their phone during the opening credits will notice this documentary is produced in association with The Macallan, famed producers of single malt scotch. The Rocas’ expe- dition there feels a little…adverto- rial. And after a time, both the Rocas and the Scottish chefs seem to be saying the same thing over and over. It’s a very worthy thing— about how Scotland’s local foods and cooking traditions have gone too long unappreciated, about a nascent revival. But a little more time spent with the Scottish sea- weed forager, for instance, would not have been amiss. Still, the dishes the Rocas pre- pare upon their return, tweezering and liquid-nitrogening away, may make you faint with desire — this one wins best closing credits, hands down. More 2019 SIFF food films Prefestival screeners were not available for review, but “ Lives with Flavor ” presents two episodes of Ruth Zachs Babani and Pablo Gasca Gollás’ documentary series on world-renownedMexican chefs —one about Monica Patiño and one on Carlos Gaytán ( 6:30 p.m. May 29 at Lincoln Square; 7 p.m. June 6 at SIFF Cinema Uptown; 1:30 p.m. June 8 at Pacific Place ). And the documentary “ Le Chocolat de H ,” directed by Takashi Wata- nabe, explores the work and life of Japanese artisanal chocolate phe- nomenon Hironobu Tsujiguchi ( 7 p.m. May 17 at Pacific Place; 3 p.m. May 18 at SIFF Cinema Up- town; 3:30 p.m. June 1 at Kirkland Performance Center ). Bethany Jean Clement: 206-464-2050 or bclement@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @BJeanClement. Feed your stomach, then feast your eyes on these SIFF food films C OU R T E S Y O F R O B V R OOM Chef Evan Funke, subject of the ultra-dramatic documentary “Funke,” is maniacal about pasta. By BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT Seattle Times food writer If you don’t eat first, you’ll regret it — and the food films at this year’s Seattle Interna- tional FilmFestival might make you so hungry, you’ll want to eat again after. A couple of them feel a bit overlong; it’s noth- ing that should keep you away, just time in which youmay be aware that your stomach is grumbling (and your mind is wandering to what you’re going to do about it as soon as possible). “Funke” USA, 2018, directed by Gab Taraboulsy Showtimes: 6 p.m. May 27 at Lincoln Square; 6:30 p.m. May 31 at Pacific Place; 3 p.m. June 1 at SIFF Cinema Uptown “Passion’s not the word,” intones chef Evan Funke at the outset of this documentary. “I’m [expletive] maniacal about pasta.” From the chiaroscuro of the opening scene —does the long black case he’s snapping open contain a semi- automatic weapon? No, it’s his pasta-cutting tools — this rising- from-the-ashes story feels suspi- ciously scripted, overdetermined. If you’ve seen enough high-produc- tion-value food documentaries (or even if you haven’t), the self-seri- ousness — the drama —here might strike you as hilarious (such as, for instance, in that first scene). Then again, this is L.A. And actual drama does build regardless: Funke’s coming off the spectacular fail of his first restau- rant, Bucato, which involvedmiss- ingmillions, lawsuits and, clearly, bad blood. Will his new place, Felix, open on time and on budget, caus- ing zero headaches for his hyper- poised Canadian investor?Well, that wouldn’t be much of a movie, would it? “Funke” does all the usual food- documentary stuff — the childhood photos of baby Funke with food all over his face, the mom-as-inspira- tion, the pivotal trip to Italy where he became a pasta prodigy, the famous chefs talking about his tremendous skills/personal chal- lenges. The facile style doesn’t give Funke much depth; he comes off as a blowhard (and a yeller in the kitchen, or possibly worse). As the Felix build-out protracts, incurring rather unfathomable cost overruns, he blithely returns to Italy (perhaps at the behest of the documentary crew?). He visits the gorgeously old-school wood shop where his mattarello— a pasta-specific roll- TAPROOTTHEATRE.ORG 206.781.9707 MAY 15 - JUNE 22 204 N 85TH ST, SEATTLE PROFESSIONAL THEATRE IN A NEIGHBORHOOD SETTING