Seattle Sister Cities Short Film Festival a fun success
- Lori Ann Reinhall
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
It was at an offsite retreat in June 2024 that the presidents of Seattle’s 20 sister cities decided they wanted to have a more visible outreach into the Seattle community and more closely together as a collective group.
One of their first group collaborations was a soup sampling festival in January 2025 at Seattle’s Polish Home Association, home to many activities for the Seattle-Gdynia Sister City Association. The event was a smashing success, setting the stage for the inaugural Seattle Sister Cities Short Film Festival, held at the same venue on May 4, 2025.
The idea for the short film festival first came from Zbigniew Konofalski, president of the Seattle-Gdynia Sister city Association and longtime organizer of the Seattle Polish Film Festival, held each year at the Seattle International Film Festival Cinema.
“Seattle is a big film-going city, and we felt like an event like this would have a broad appeal and raise awareness about our sister cities” said Susan Kegel, president of the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association.
Konofalski and Kegel took the lead for the event, and soon volunteers from other Seattle Sister City groups were on board to help set things in motion.
After confirming the venue and date, the next step was to set up criteria for the film submissions. It was decided that no film should be longer than 10 minutes (give or take a few seconds), the film should not be available to view online, and the content should concern relationships between people and be appropriate for all ages. The films also needed to be accessible an English-speaking audience, with subtitles where needed.
What resulted was a variety of shorts, from travelogues to docudramas, introspective personal portraits to stories about sister city activities, and even an anthropomorphic aminated film about a lonely little bear. Serious topics were presented: the dreams and ambitions of youth, old-age dementia, bullying, the economic challenges of developing countries, and the immigrant experience of find a home in a new land.
The films took viewers to four continents, from Europe to Asia, from Oceania to Africa, back to Seattle, with entries from these nine sister city groups: Gdynia, Poland; Nantes, France; Be’er Sheva, Israel; Mombasa, Kenya; Bergen, Norway; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Sihanoukville, Cambodia; Christchurch, New Zealand; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
One highlight of the festival was the appearance of local filmmaker John McDonald, who has been making award-winning documentaries for industry, education, and television for over 50 years. John presented his work in progress for his next film, La fête des pères (Fathers’ Day). When planning the new project, he discovered Nantes Park, close to where he lives in the West Seattle. McDonald reached out to the Seattle-Nantes group, who, in turn, helped him solidify contacts in France for his film.
With the event starting at 5 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, food and drink were an important part of the program. To the delight of the attendees, several of the participating sister city associations brought appetizers and desserts from their respective ethnic cuisines. Wine from around the world and non-alcoholic beverages were also available in what could be described as an immersive cultural experience.
“Tonight was soooo fun!” said Michal Inspektor, president of the Seattle-Be’ er Sheva Sister City Association. “I laughed, I was intrigued, I was moved, I learned, and I was little weirded out .…”
In the end, the inaugural Seattle Sister Cities Short Film Festival was a success, providing entertainment and getting people a little out of their comfort zone to learn something new. With a few lessons learned on the organizational side of thing, plans are already in motion for 2026.
“We want next year to be even better,” said Konofalski.
This year’s event was funded by the participating sister city associations, individual donors, and a grant from 4Culture, a cultural funding agency for King County, Wash. The Seattle Sister Cities will be looking to expand their supporter base for future film festivals.
In the meantime, from May 16 to June 1, the entire 2025 Seattle Sister Cities Short Film Festival was made available online for viewing around the world (watch.eventive.org/seattlesistercities).
To learn more about the Seattle Sister Cities, visit seattlesistercities.org.
