Overview The Seattle International Film Festival is where Alien had its world premiere, in 1979, and where audiences rather than a jury decide the Golden Space Needle Awards, on ballots filled in after each screening. It runs every May in the cinemas SIFF owns; in 2026 that was eleven days across SIFF Cinema Uptown, SIFF Cinema Downtown in the former Cinerama, the SIFF Film Center and the PACCAR IMAX at Seattle Center. SIFF, the Seattle arts nonprofit behind it, started the festival in 1976 at the Moore Egyptian Theatre, programs its cinemas all year and bought the Cinerama in 2023. On site The 2026 program ran 71 narrative features, 34 documentaries and 98 shorts, with 18 world premieres, and it was entirely in person after the virtual screenings of the pandemic years were dropped. Opening Night screened I Love Boosters at the Paramount Theatre, with the gala afterparty at Cannonball Arts. Olivia Wilde's The Invite closed the festival at SIFF Cinema Downtown, and 2026 had no closing-night party. Secret Fest, introduced in 1983, shows films that cannot get a public screening. Audience The audience votes. Golden Space Needle ballots are handed out at screenings and filled in on the way out, and the winners come from those counts. SIFF reports that 98% of its festivalgoers say they would recommend the festival. Talent and Influencers The 2026 Golden Space Needles went to Edie Arnold Is a Loser for best film, The Life We Leave for best documentary and Ildiko Enyedi as best director for Silent Friend. Boyhood won in 2014, and the first winner, in 1985, was Kiss of the Spider Woman. Ghost World had its world premiere at SIFF in 2001, and Cafe Society its North American premiere in 2016. Directors in town for 2026 included Richie Follin, David Kittredge, Mohammed Ali Naqvi and Poh Si Teng, and Rebecca Zweig and Efrain Mojica with Jaripeo. Track record The first festival, in 1976, showed 18 films; by 1980 it ran for a month with more than 70, and the 2006 edition showed more than 300. In 1988 the founders skipped the 13th festival out of superstition and went straight to the 14th. By SIFF's account, in 1995 it became the first festival to broadcast an entire film over the internet, Party Girl. The 2026 festival drew more than 3,000 more attendees than 2025. Brand presence The 2026 festival listed its sponsors in tiers: Wong Doody and Ingeniux as grand sponsors, Grand Hyatt as official festival hotel, then platinum, marquee, supporting and community sponsors, with KEXP, KNKX, KCTS and The Seattle Times among media partners. Because SIFF runs its cinemas all year, a festival presenting partnership can carry a year of on-screen advertising in those cinemas. Opening Night, the gala afterparty and an industry party are sold as their own sponsorships.