‘Big things have small beginnings’ at VIFF

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 4, 2026

“So we’re at year five,” says Mark Sayre, founder of the Vashon Island Film Festival (VIFF) and president of the Vashon Film Institute (VFI). “This is the year that breaks most film festivals. In fact, IMDb, the influential Internet Movie Database, won’t even list festivals until they’ve been operating for five years.”

The reason is simple, says Sayre: “Most people don’t realize how much it costs to put on something like this, or how much time, energy and effort is required to keep it going. After the initial enthusiasm, the funding often dries up, and many festivals can’t keep up the enthusiasm.”

Not so with VIFF, which is stronger than ever. Five years ago, Sayre — an island local with a long history as an indie film producer and now distributor — created what he lovingly describes as “this scrappy little film festival on a small island in Puget Sound.” The festival runs in partnership with the Vashon Theater, Washington’s oldest operating single-screen movie house. It’s certainly not cheap — it costs at least $70,000 to run annually — and requires the efforts of numerous individuals and volunteers to maintain it. But it has by now garnered a good deal of buzz within the film industry: Film Threat called it “The film fest you always sought to attend, but it didn’t exist till now.”

Sayre hopes to further expand the festival and strengthen the nonprofit VFI. “I want to reach the point where the festival is sold out in advance,” he says. “Knowledge of the festival within the Vashon community has spread, but we need to reach out to wider audiences in Seattle and Tacoma as well.”

“I really want to get to the point where it’s fully sustainable,” he says. “The bigger the audience gets, the more films we can attract, North American premieres, even world premieres, and that only grows the audience further. It’s a virtuous cycle.”

Memberships in VFI are a major part of this vision and a genuine bargain: Members and a guest can attend three free VFI screenings a month, 36 screenings a year, plus receive a full VIFF festival pass. “Getting people to buy tickets in advance is hugely helpful,” says Sayre. “It allows the theater to plan staffing and helps us focus our marketing efforts where they’re needed most.”

This year’s event, which runs Aug. 13-16, has one of the strongest programs yet and will showcase seven films — three features and four shorts — that garnered awards at other festivals. “I’m very excited about this year,” says Sayre. “The festival will highlight eight feature films, 17 shorts and three special presentations.”

In addition, the “Local Spotlights” screening section returns and will showcase seven films — three features and four shorts — with ties to Vashon and/or the Pacific Northwest. These include “Dad Genes,” about islander Aaron Long, a sperm donor who has attempted to meet many of the dozens of children he has fathered. “I found out about this story,” Sayre laughs, “because I play pickleball with Aaron.”

Also in the local section is “Radioheart,” about KEXP DJ Kevin Cole. The film’s director, Andrew Franks, grew up on Vashon with Sayre. Also featured is “Theater Is Dead,” a movie shot entirely on Vashon by a quartet of actresses and filmmakers who came to the first VIFF in 2022 and fell in love with the island. Zach Mann, a Vashon native and VFI board member, struck up a relationship with the group during that first festival and later came on as one of the film’s producers. “So, the film was born out of relationships cultivated at the festival,” Sayre notes. “How cool is that?”

As with last year, VIFF will feature the local competition shortCUTZ, which challenges islanders to produce their own short movies. Last year’s competition was won by a local middle school student.

As usual, the festival will feature several awards. A new inclusion this year is the “S. Gordon Tribble Superstar Award,” honoring the beloved member of the Vashon community and broader film world who passed away last year. The new annual award will select and screen one LGBTQIA+-themed film; this year’s is “Labrador — Autopsy of Silence.”

Tribble’s final film credit was as the hair department head on the movie “Tony,” in which a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown, Massachusetts, and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The festival will open on Thursday with this movie.

“This was a bit of a coup for us,” says Sayre. “‘Tony’ opens nationally the weekend before our festival. Normally, a studio won’t let you program a single screening in the middle of opening week; they want a full-week booking. A24 made an exception for us.”

That A24 has done so emphasizes how far VIFF has come. Another example is the Chinese movie “Black Dog,” a film that won Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and later secured nominations at the Gotham Awards and Film Independent Spirit Awards. Remarkably, it had its North American premiere at VIFF in 2024. As Sayre notes with obvious pride, “It went straight from Cannes to Vashon!”

“We have a world-class festival in terms of the quality of its programming,” says Sayre. “Big things have small beginnings.”

Full details of VIFF 2026, including ticket options, can be found at vashonislandfilmfestival.com.

Phil Clapham is a retired whale biologist and writer who lives on Maury Island.