SIFF 2026: Family-friendly film picks for kids, tweens and teens

The 52nd Seattle International Film Festival kicks off May 7, and the theme this year is “The SIFF Effect,” aimed at evoking the collective experience of enjoying independent film with a theater of like-minded cinephiles. Screening at venues throughout downtown Seattle, the festival offers a psychedelic line-up of selections for youth and teens to enjoy.

Films4Families is a family-friendly program geared towards kids under seven. There is one animated feature and one documentary for early elementary school viewers in this category, as well as a short film program. SIFF programmers are not offering the FutureWave category like they have in years prior, though there are several films across all categories that tweens and teens will enjoy.

The most bountiful program this year is Documentary. Exactly half of the films on this list are documentary features, and their focuses range from sweet (Girl Scouts selling cookies) to cheesy (a worldwide competition to crown the best cheesemonger) to powerful (a moving adoption story) and soulful (up close and personal at a powwow).

Several entries detail coming-of-age experiences, from a child in 1980s Tokyo to a queer high schooler in South Africa. There are also films that explore a child’s ever-changing relationship with their parent or caregiver, whether it’s on a road trip across America or on a high-mountain plateau in Eastern Europe.

Adolescence is about learning and expanding; these films will help quell the onslaught of questions, at least until the credits roll. Happy viewing, young cinephiles!

“The Best Summer” (Face the Music)

• May 9, 9:15 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Downtown
• May 10, 2:00 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Director Tamra Davis is scheduled to attend
• Tickets

Give it time, and trends come back around. The music, fashion and culture of the 90s are currently back in vogue, and kids who weren’t yet a twinkle in their parents’ eye have embraced the nostalgia of that era. For music enthusiasts, “The Best Summer” offers an unrivaled peek into the 90s rock scene. Filmmaker Tamra Davis was married to Mike D of the Beastie Boys at the time, and her backstage scoop granted her exclusive access to the concert tour in Melbourne. She had a front row seat, and, luckily, she also had her camera. What is essentially a home movie featuring famous bands during a particularly fertile time for rock music, “The Best Summer” offers live performance footage and unseen interviews in a casual documentary that aims to transport the viewer back to the Australian summer of ’95.

Note: Second screening will be presented with Open Captions.

“The Big Cheese” (Culinary Cinema)

• May 16, 6:15 p.m.
• May 17, 1:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Director Sara Joe Wolansky and subjects Courtney Johnson and Adam Moskowitz are scheduled to attend.
• Tickets

After the screening on May 16, pass- and ticket-holders can head over to Tin Lizzie for an udderly delicious cheese tasting, courtesy of Street Cheese and Peterson Cheese, with custom wine pairings available for purchase.

If you have a food connoisseur who is obsessed with cooking shows, “The Big Cheese” offers competition with a bit of history and colorful characters to boot. Adam “Mr. Moo” Moskowitz is a cheese enthusiast and 3rd-generation cheese importer who is attempting to change how American cheesemongers are viewed by the rest of the world. Adam coaches a team hoping to take home the USA’s first gold at the Mondial du Fromage, the “Olympics of Cheese.” Can the underdogs overcome personal clashes, professional obstacles, and cheese-y struggles? The exciting David vs. Goliath story will wow culinary enthusiasts. It is worth noting that the subjects in this film use some mild profanity, but it should not deter mature young viewers.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.

“Black Burns Fast” (African Pictures)

• May 16, 8:00 p.m. at SIFF Film Center
• May 17, 2:30 p.m. at SIFF Film Center
• Tickets

Teens will love “Black Burns Fast”, a charming, queer, coming-of-age comedy that doles out witty commentary on youth culture with political, social and racial undercurrents thanks to its setting: an elite boarding school in South Africa. Luthando is a quirky 17-year-old whose life is turned upside down by Ayanda, a free-spirited new student who makes Luthando confront her own sexuality, all the while hiding her new identity from her conservative family and friends. Told with whimsy and a “cool” vibe akin to teen comedies like “Mean Girls” or “Booksmart”, this SIFF entry is for older teens prepared for some sexual discussion and innuendos, as well as the trials and tribulations of the queer high school experience.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.

“Cookie Queens” (Films4Families)

• May 16, 1:30 p.m. at PACCAR IMAX Theater at Pacific Science Center
• May 17, 11:00 a.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown
• Tickets

Winner of the SXSW Film & TV Festival Audience Award and produced by Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex under their Archewell Productions banner, this documentary is generating all the buzz for its charming premise and universal relevance. Any parent who has navigated the at-times uplifting, at other times overwhelming world of Girl Scouts will find immediate recognition in the stories of these four young women working hard to make a name for themselves in an $800 million business. Don’t let the sugar rush fool you: “Cookie Queens” offers a personal look at the system that forces participants to become salespeople, marketers, and entrepreneurs. The film explores a microcosm, but offers a broader narrative that will feel personal to anyone who has taken the oath and worn the vest.

Note: Second screening will be presented with Open Captions.

“Edie Arnold is a Loser” (New American Cinema)

• May 8, 6:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown.
• May 9, 12:45 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Directors Kade Atwood and Megan Rico scheduled to attend.
• Tickets

Described as “kinetic,” “irreverent,” and “messy,” “Edie Arnold is a Loser” is the rebellious coming-of-age comedy that will have tweens and teens rethinking conformity. After all, Edie Arnold marches to the beat of her own drum, an instrument she handles so well that she secretly formed a band call The NunDead. Miscommunication and terrible coincidences abound as Edie fights off expulsion, disciplinary hearings and the ultimate tragedy: disappointing her mother. With endearing characters and an energetic premise, “Edie Arnold is a Loser” is the teen-friendly buddy comedy ready to rock SIFF.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.

“The Family Picture Show” (ShortsFest)

• May 10, 11:30 a.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown
• More details on each short film presented in this 82-minute program
• Tickets

Travel the world from SIFF Cinema Uptown with “The Family Picture Show”, a collection of shorts that is as wide-ranging as it is emotionally stirring. Renée Zellweger makes her directorial debut with a nine-minute short about a town overrun by unhappy citizens and one hopeful hero and his dog who want to turn their frowns upside down. A visual poem inspired by dyslexia reveals the incredible power of moving to the beat of your own drum. Creator Dawn Richard relives her childhood in New Orleans to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. A lonely robot finds a cause to give him purpose. Flink, an adorable character from Netflix’s “Spellbound”, gets his own tiny movie about saving messenger pigeons who have turned to stone. No film lasts more than 13 minutes, with some as short as two minutes. The series consists of 12 entries from around the world: the USA, Japan, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

“Hot Water” (New American Cinema)

• May 8, 9:00 p.m
• May 9, 11:45 a.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown
• Tickets

There is nothing quite like the road-trip subgenre, and “Hot Water” is here to appease the masses. In his feature film debut, Syrian-American director Ramzi Bashour offers a poignant, though still comedic, story about a mother and son who find common ground as they travel 2,000 miles from Indiana to California. They may be from different generations and upbringings – he is American, she is a Lebanese transplant – yet their shared experiences along the way breed mutual understanding and acceptance. This coming-of-age dramedy offers an emotionally cathartic, offbeat, and endearing entry that teens and their parents can bond over.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.

“Love Chaos Kin” (Documentary Films)

• May 16, 5:15 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown.
• May 17, 4:15 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Director Chithra Jeyaram is scheduled to attend.
• Tickets

“It’s probably the most unbelievable thing that’s ever happened to me,” says Lakshmi Iyer in “Love Chaos Kin”, a stirring documentary that follows one couple’s journey to parenthood and their newfound mission to help their children understand love, family, and identity. Emigrants from India, the Iyers’ struggled to conceive and eventually adopted twin girls with caucasian and indigenous backgrounds. The couple then dive headlong into ensuring the young girls can remain tethered to their ancestral heritage and to the family who gave them up for a more secure childhood. Spanning 12 years of the Iyers’ experience, director Chithra Jeyaram poses some sensitive, though important, questions in this courageous and uplifting documentary.

Check back later to read our full review of this entry.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.

“Powwow People” (cINeDIGENOUS)

• May 16, 2:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Downtown
• May 17, 4:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Director Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) is scheduled to attend.
• Tickets

“Radically immersive” is perhaps the best description we’ve seen for “Powwow People”, a verité documentary that gives viewers not just a look but front-row access to a First Nations event. Overlaid with commentary by longstanding members of the tribe, the footage of the event, which took place here in Washington in August 2023, gives viewers plenty of atmospheric visuals and intimate portrayals: a charismatic emcee, “Tiny Tots” dancers, a circle of powerful singers, and a 30-minute unbroken shot of a Northern Traditional dance. Director Sky Hopinka invites viewers of all backgrounds to learn, enjoy, and experience a powwow in a way it has never quite been seen before. This film would be best for tweens or teens interested in learning more about indigenous culture and how powwows are evolving to keep up with modernity while retaining their long-held traditions.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.

“Renoir” (Asian Crossroads)

• May 8, 3:00 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown
• May 12, 9:00 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown
• Tickets

Set in suburban Tokyo in 1987, “Renoir” first premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film by female director Chie Hayakawa follows plucky 11-year-old Fuki, a young girl navigating her father’s terminal diagnosis and her mother’s bottomless despair. To cope, Fuki wanders the city in search of entertainment, but also distraction. She makes friends and enemies, acquires hobbies and uses her imagination to process this summer of incredible tumult, all while coping with the fragile parts of growing up. This lyrical coming-of-age story opens to an unsettling start (the film plays out a story Fuki has written for a class assignment about her own murder), laying out its ideas about grief and establishing its paranormal undercurrents from the outset. “Renoir” will resonate with young arthouse film enthusiasts looking to feel deeply.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.

“The Songbirds’ Secret” (Films4Families)

• May 9, 12:00 p.m.
• May 11, 6:00 p.m. at PACCAR IMAX Theater at Pacific Science Center
• Tickets

Elementary-aged viewers (and adults alike) will be entranced by “The Songbirds’ Secret”, a cut-paper, stop-motion delight. Lucie has just relocated to a small village in France for school break where her mother Caroline leads an archeological dig of a dilapidated castle nearby. Caro grew up in that tiny town where her life was changed forever by a devastating mill fire that tore her family apart. Decades later, while she excavates, stone by stone, into ancient past, her daughter is digging around as well, shuffling through long-buried family secrets and uncovering the truth about the family trauma that is only now seeing the true light of day. The mode of storytelling and its focus on natural elements makes this a must-see for young viewers looking to dip their toes into SIFF, though proficient reading skills are recommended.

Check back later to read our full review of this entry.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.

“To Hold a Mountain” (Documentary Films)

• Playing May 8, 12:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown
• May 15, 6:00 p.m. at PACCAR IMAX Theater at Pacific Science Center
• Tickets

In a world in which we are expected to answer immediately, move quickly and see everything happening everywhere all at once, “To Hold a Mountain” begs viewers to stop, watch and listen carefully. Set in Montenegro’s Sinjajevina plateau, a shepherd named Gara and her teenage daughter Nada complete each task with deliberate care. Nada may be coming of age, but she is anything but a typical teen. In the midst of a political grassroots effort to protect their ancestral land in the shadow of the steadfast mountain, her story carries a family secret that will prompt post-film conversations about loss, grief and solidarity, both with those in our lives and with the natural world we call home. Prepare your tween and teen viewers for a slow burn documentary; patience will pay off with a new perspective on a different kind of upbringing.

Check back later to read our full review of this entry.

Note: This film is presented with English subtitles.