Calendar
Here Come the Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized
Mar 11
(Peter Sluszka, Julia Pott, Guilherme Marcondes, Santa Maria; USA, 2009, 99 min)
After the release of The Decemberists’ The Hazards of Love last year, four filmmakers embarked on a special project to take the album to new heights. Guilherme Marcondes, Julia Pott, Peter Sluszka and Santa Maria created animated films to accompany the ambitious and acclaimed song cycle.
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
Special guests Edward Mast from Palestine Information Project and John Sinno of Typecast Films will be in attendance for Q&A after both shows on Thursday, March 11th
Mar 08 - Mar 11
(David Ridgen & Nicolas Rossier, USA/Canada, 2009, Beta-SP, 84 min)
Exploring the deeply complex issues at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, American Radical is the insightful and enraging documentary that follows Finkelstein around the world as he attempts to negotiate a voice among his impassioned critics and supporters.
"With impressive restraint, the fascinatingly thorny American Radical is less interested in the validity of Finkelstein’s ideas—seriously mounted, if inflammatory—and more in the topsy-turvy life of today’s professional academic. Amazingly, that choice doesn’t result in a boring movie.” —Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
45365
Seattle Premiere
Mar 12 - Mar 18
(Bill Turner, Ross Turner, USA, 2009, DigiBeta, 93 min)
An elegiac portrait of goings-on in the middle-American town of Sydney, Ohio, 45365 is a celebration of everyday life, mundane and profound. Directors Bill and Ross Turner, using images of their hometown, construct perhaps the world's first rural symphony, a patient, inquisitive and non-judgmental study of community, lives and landscape.
"Captures small town American life in striking cinema verité style that peels away the layers...to reveal a deeper shared experience. Gorgeous" -Seattle PostGlobe
Leonard Cohen Live At The Isle of Wight, 1970
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3FM and Sonic Boom Records/Sony
Mar 12 - Mar 13
(Murray Lerner, USA, 1970/2009, DV-CAM, 64 min)
On August 31, 1970, 35-year-old Leonard Cohen was awakened at 2am and brought onstage to perform at the third annual Isle of Wight Music Festival. An estimated 600,000 people were waiting, energized by a legendary set by Jimi Hendrix...
"It is scandalous that Murray Lerner’s film of Cohen’s Performance at the Isle of Wight has...languished unseen for forty years. The complete set is nothing short of a revelation." -Seattle PostGlobe
Lunch Films
Randy Walker in attendance!
Mar 13
(Various, 2008/2009, 100 mins)
One day Randy Walker's bought a filmmaker friend lunch. Instead of owing him a lunch in return, he wondered why not make a film for that same money? The two made a napkin contract with “rules” to follow. Now 50 "Lunch Films" have been commissioned. Like a menu, the series has a wide variety of tastes and styles, from languid, real life documents to vibrant fiction to pure art.
Early Work of Alain Resnais
Sponsored by JTNews and Alliance Francaise de Seattle
Mar 16 - Mar 17
(Alain Resnais, France, 1950-56, various formats, 86 min)
Discover director Alain Resnais’s hard-to-find documentary shorts of the 1950s! Resnais’ early work established him as a filmmaker of inimitable sensibility.
Soul Nite!
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3FM (DOORS at 7:30PM)
Mar 18
It's back! Curator and host Peter Lucas presents a selection of vintage soul music performance footage on the big screen, cranked up loud. Don’t miss this all-star soul show on screen, including a rarely seen performance from the one and only wicked Wilson Pickett in celebration of his birthday!
October Country
Directors In Attendance Opening Weekend!
Mar 19 - Mar 24
(Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher, USA, 2009, DigiBeta, 80 min)
October Country is a beautifully rendered portrait of an American family struggling for stability while haunted by the ghosts of war, teen pregnancy, foster care and child abuse. This vibrant and intimate documentary examines the forces that unsettle the working poor and the violence that lurks beneath the surface of American life.
Indigenous Showcase Featuring Artists from South of the Border
Co-presented by Longhouse Media and National Geographic All Roads Film Project
Mar 20
(Mexico, 2008, 74 min, Spanish and Quechua with English subtitles)
This Indigenous Showcase features 2501 Migrants: A Journey, directed by Yolanda Cruz, and Danzak, by Gabriella Yepes.
LET'S DO IT! A night of sex worker made media
Sponsored by the Central Co-op Panel discussion and special guests in attendance
Mar 20
(Various, 80 min)
From the Sangli district in the rural south of India to the life of a New York City callboy, sex workers reach out through film and video to share their experiences. LET'S DO IT! is a night of experimental and documentary shorts dedicated to human rights and advocacy for sex workers across the globe.
too
Mar 25 - Mar 27
Choreographed and directed by Amy O'Neal, "too" is an ecstatic interplay of live and recorded movement by dancers O’Neal and Ellie Sandstrom. The duo interacts with strangers, friends, acquaintances and family in dance of physical extremes. Drawing inspiration from the rural/urban divide, karaoke, and Japanese love hotels, "too" ruminates on the increasing challenges of human contact in a fractured and complex technological age.
Warsaw Bridge
20th Anniversary
Mar 28 - Apr 01
(Pere Portabella, Spain, 1990, 35mm, 85 min)
A thoroughly engrossing collage of images and surreal sequences woven together by only a loose plot, Warsaw Bridge is one of intermittent filmmaker Pere Portabella’s (Silence Before Bach) masterpieces.
Jeonju Digital Project 2009
Mar 29 - Mar 30
(Hong Sang-Soo, Naomi Kawase, Lav Diaz; various countries, 2009, DigiBeta, 108 min)
A kind of Northwest Film Forum brethren on the other side of the Pacific, South Korea’s Jeonju Digital Project, initiated in 2000 by the Jeonju International Festival (South Korea), commissions three filmmakers to make a digital short. This year’s selections come from some of the best filmmakers in recent time.
Still Bill
Seattle Premiere Sponsored by KBCS 91.3FM and Jive Time Records
Mar 31
(Alex Vlack and Damani Baker, USA, 2009, Beta-SP, 82 min)
Soul music legend Bill Withers was an undersized, asthmatic, stuttering child from the small town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. It wasn’t until his mid-30s that the instant success of his song “Ain’t No Sunshine” would catapult the unlikely pop star into fame. This intimate documentary highlights his career, catches up with the reclusive, low-key singer at home and captures his first musical endeavors in decades.
Lourdes
Seattle Premiere
Apr 02 - Apr 08
(Jessica Hausner, Austria/France/Germany, 2009, 35mm, 96 min)
Isolated, wheelchair-bound Christine (Sylvie Testud) wants a way to meet people, so she pretends to be pious to take advantage of opportunities for travel with pilgrimage groups. The film’s focus isn’t so much religion, but competing human capacities for openness and jealousy, and our ultimate underlying fragility.
The Ukrainian Time Machine
Director In Attendance!
Apr 02
(Naomi Uman, Ukraine/USA, 2008-09, 16mm, 55 min)
These poetic documentary films combine personal, experimental and non-fiction approaches to capturing life in the Ukrainian town of Uman. Director Naomi Uman draws upon her personal experience, living with her subjects for a long time to become integrated into a family or community.
Éric Rohmer, preuve à l’appui
Apr 04
(André S. Labarthe, France, 1994, Beta-SP, 115 min)
To honor and celebrate the life of Eric Rohmer, who passed away this January, we screen this two-part interview in which Rohmer develops some of the ideas underlying how he sees and makes films. Come out to toast Eric Rohmer, the grandfather of the French New Wave, on what would have been his 90th birthday.
Blood Into Wine
Vineyard partner Eric Glomski in attendance!
Apr 04
(Ryan Page & Christopher Pomerenke, USA, 2010, DVD, 110 min)
Take a look inside the life of one of rock music’s most mysterious figures. Maynard James Keenan is known as the front man for Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. In the mid—1990’s, on a whim, the reclusive rock star left Los Angeles and moved to an Arizona ghost town (population 300). A wine enthusiast, Keenan began to envision a world class wine region on the Verde Valley’s craggy slopes and with wine mentor Eric Glomski.
Man From London
Sponsored by the University of Washington Ellison Center, the UW Center for Western European Studies and the Hungarian American Association of Washington
Apr 05 - Apr 08
(Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky, France/Germany/Hungary, 2007, 35mm, 132 min)
Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr’s latest film features an international all-star cast, including Tilda Swinton. Based on the 1934 French language thriller L'Homme de Londres, Tarr tells the story of an impoverished railway switchman who, after witnessing and interrupting a crime, discovers a suitcase of English banknotes.
My Son My Son What Have Ye Done
Apr 09 - Apr 15
(Werner Herzog, USA, 2009, 35mm, 91 min)
A cinematic cocktail combo, the wholly creative marriage of German agitator Werner Herzog and absurdist David Lynch. Jammed with ostrich farms, Peruvian jungles, and a staging of Sophocles’ Oresteia, this surreal take on reality is the perfect mix of the synthetic with the natural, the iconoclastic and the expected leaving us as always with these two auteurs, queasily involved.
Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective
Apr 09
(Oskar Fischinger, Germany/USA, 1926-47, 35mm, 70 min)
German-born painter and filmmaker Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967) was an enormously influential artist of the 20th century. His abstract animations- made between the 1920s and 40s- greatly expanded the possibilities of the medium of film, presenting a range of inventive, visual and temporal techniques and pioneering a new form of audio-visual art.
Seeing Sound: The Films of Mary Ellen Bute
Apr 10
(Mary Ellen Bute, USA, 1934-52, 16mm, 70 min)
American filmmaker Mary Ellen Bute (1906-1983) is an important and often overlooked pioneer of visual music and electronic art. Beginning in the 1930s, Bute produced short films that translated music (often classical music including Bach and Shostakovich) into choreographed shapes, ever-changing lights and shadows, brilliant colorful forms, and elegant design.
The Magnificent Tati
Apr 11
(Michael House, USA, 2009, Digital, 60 min)
Detailing just how far reaching the career of France’s greatest comic auteur Jacques Tati was, this compelling new documentary explores Tati’s career rom his roots in the Parisian music-halls of the ‘30s to his rise and ultimate fall from grace after the release of his masterpiece Playtime.
Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane
Apr 11
(Jordan Belson, USA, 1959-2005, 16mm/DigiBeta, 70 min)
Filmmaker and artist Jordan Belson has created some of the most moving, ethereal works of visual music. After seeing the films of Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren and Hans Richter, he was inspired to make what he called "cinematic paintings
Seattle Psychedelics
Apr 13
This panel discussion, moderated by curator Peter Lucas, explores the little-known history of experimental films and light shows in the Seattle area in the late 1960s and early 70s, and celebrates the pioneers of this funky, techno-folk multi-media art form.
Sixties Synaesthetics
Apr 14
(Various directors, USA, 1961-70, 16mm, 70 min)
In this final program of the Visual Music series, we present a selection of highly original works by artists who shattered the boundaries between visual and sonic through the creative use of optical printing, animation, electronics, and editing.
Barking Water
Seattle Premiere
Apr 16 - Apr 22
(Sterlin Harjo, USA, 2009, 35mm, 85 min)
Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo traces the impromptu journey taken by weathered, handsome couple Frankie and Irene as they visit the stations of their fractured relationship. This wise second feature affectionately travels Oklahoma’s roads, stopping now and then to reveal itself as one of American cinema’s most moving love stories—adult and unsentimental—to have appeared in a long time.
The Mountain Goats: Life of the World to Come
Co-presented by Easy Street Records Exclusive door prizes to be raffled off before the show, including a signed copy of the upcoming limited-edition DVD!
Apr 17
(Rian Johnson, USA, 2010, Digi-Beta, 60 min)
Join us for the DVD release of this documentary about The Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle as he returns to Pomona College—where he performed Bach minuets as an 8-year-old piano student—in The Life Of The World To Come, playing last year's Bible-based concept record of the same name in solo and duet performances.
Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky
Apr 18
(Dmitry Trakovsky, Russia, 2008, DigiBeta, 90 min)
This outstanding documentary journeys from Los Angeles to rural Russia to investigate Tarkovsky's legacy through encounters with those who collaborated with him. The film offers a touching, highly personal and provocative record of the lingering effects of Tarkovsky on an extraordinary range of individuals.
Wild River
Sponsored by the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Network
Apr 23 - Apr 29
(Elia Kazan, USA, 1960, 35mm, 105 min)
One of Kazan's personal favorites, Wild River pits a timid yet determined Tennessee Valley Authority official—portrayed by a fascinating Montgomery Clift—against a hamlet targeted for imminent flooding and a young resident—played by a radiant Lee Remick—smitten by his eccentric charm.
The Bug Trainer
Sponsored by Seattle Bug Safari and Arkitek Studios
Apr 24 - Apr 25
(Donatas Ulvydas, Linas Augutis, Marek Skrobecki; Lithuania, Poland, Japan, Germany; 35mm, 2008, 53 min)
Ladislas Starewitch, Europe's answer to Disney and a pioneer of puppet animation, is a forgotten film genius. The Bug Trainer explores Starewitch’s creative ideas and concepts of his work, along with opinions from film critics and other animation directors to help us understand why he is considered one of the greatest creators of the animation world.
Barbara Hammer In Person
Sponsored by Seattle Gay News
Apr 24
Barbara Hammer, on tour with her first book HAMMER! Making Movies Out of Sex and Life, presents films from four decades of work in this rare celebration at Northwest Film Forum. Films from each decade will be screened and Barbara will read short passages from her new book.
Typeface
May 04 - May 05
(Justine Nagan, 2009, DigiBeta, 60 min)
In an age of digital design and portable media, this new documentary explores the twilight of an analog craft and the small town museum that once was a thriving center of the printing industry. Typeface investigates the history of wood type, introduces us to proponents of the letterpress process around the country, and champions the convergence of modern design and traditional technique.
The Annual Northwest Film Forum Gala
A fundraiser for Northwest Film Forum
May 06
Save the date! Our Annual Gala is a dinner, a party and a show, and this year we are moving all three to the glamorous Georgetown Ballroom. The evening starts with cocktails at 6, and continues with dinner, a live auction and a film program. It ends at 9, when the after-hours dancing begins.
Breath Made Visible
Sponsored by Velocity Dance and Northwest Dance Network
May 07 - May 12
(Ruedi Gerber, Swtizerland, 2009, Beta-SP, 80 min)
Since she was a small child, Anna Halprin has danced. Now at 89, she still possesses the grace and romanticism of her youth. Halprin has spent her life spreading a gospel of healing and wholeness through self-expression—an extraordinary story that unfolds, with the help of fascinating interviews and archival performance footage, as a moving and beautiful tribute to one of Northern California's most beloved and inspirational artists.
Peter Pan
Mother's Day Special: A CD Release party and screening of Peter Pan, with live harp accompaniment by Leslie McMichael With special refreshments for all mothers and children!
May 09
(Herbert Brenon, 1924, USA, video, 105 min)
Live music gives new life to this amazing 1924 classic version of Peter Pan, lovingly restored after having been "misplaced" for over 70 years. Prepare to fly to another place and time, where magic is in the air and children never have to grow up.
Condomillenium
May 13 - May 15
Join us for a performance spectacle written and directed by Marya Sea Kaminski. Inspired by the transformation of Seattle’s Pike-Pine corridor and developed from interviews with politicians, activists, developers, children, comedians, and construction workers, this event brings performance, video, live music and absurd fantasy together to paint a picture of our evolving urban landscape and the places we call home.
Concert Film Challenge Screenings
May 18
To honor our musical heritage, this quarter we asked local filmmakers to turn their eyes on the music scene and make concert films no longer than 5 minutes for the Concert Film Challenge.