Cold War Summer @ SIFF Uptown

It may be hot outside, but at SIFF, it’s going to be cooler than the icy, hundred-yard stare of a secret agent who’s seen too much. Presenting Cold War Summer, an explosive new film series on tales of espionage and gadgetry, how they entertain us, inform us and keep us alert when it feels like the world is about to collapse.

“[Cold War Summer] will cover a wide spectrum of genres, including drama, action and even comedy,” SIFF Development and Membership Manager Carson Rennekamp told The Ticket. Rennekamp, who programmed the series, is a self-professed fan of spy movies; he even taught a SIFF Education class on James Bond last year. “I think the Cold War provides the best backdrop for this genre. It could be the analogue technology, the fashion, the paranoia that gives these films an extra layer of appeal. Generally, I think contemporary spy films (sorry, ‘Mission: Impossible’) lack these aforementioned elements.”

The six films in the program include John Frankenheimer’s bruising sleeper assassin thriller “The Manchurian Candidate” (remade excellently 40 years later by director Jonathan Demme) and Charlize Theron kicking all kinds of ass in 2017’s muscular “Atomic Blonde.”

“It will also give film lovers a rare opportunity to see some fantastic spy movies projected on 35mm film.” There’s the soulful surveillance German drama “The Lives of Others” (which beat “Pan’s Labyrinth” for 2006’s Best International Feature Film Oscar), Mike Myers’ swinging OG spoof “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” and even Sidney J. Furie’s “The Ipcress File,” a Michael Caine-led banger that was meant to be an “anti-Bond.”

But there’s still room for 007, of course. “My can’t-miss screening will be ‘GoldenEye,’” Rennekamp said. “If you’re a James Bond fan, you’re going to love seeing this on the big screen projected on film, and if you’re new to the series, ‘GoldenEye’ is a great jumping-on point!”