Local Sightings 2024 – Why Dig When You Can Pluck + Fireworks [Hybrid]

Watch online: Sep. 20–29

Watch in person: Sep. 28 at 4:30pm

In-person tickets >

$14 General Admission
$10 Student/Child/Senior
$7 Member

Virtual tickets >

$5 – $25 Sliding Scale

Festival passes >

$60 – $150 Sliding Scale

VIRTUAL, IN-PERSON, and HYBRID (virtual AND in-person) Festival Passes and Individual Tickets are available!

Visiting Artist

** Directors Cambria Matlow and Anastasia Shatska in attendance! **

Click for Accessibility Info

Ticketing, concessions, cinemas, restrooms, and our public edit lab are located on Northwest Film Forum’s ground floor, which is wheelchair accessible. All doors in Northwest Film Forum are non-motorized, and may require staff assistance to open. Our upstairs workshop room is not wheelchair accessible.

The majority of seats in our main cinema are 21″ wide from armrest to armrest; some seats are 19″ wide. We are working on creating the option of removable armrests!

We have a limited number of assistive listening devices available for programs hosted in our larger theater, Cinema 1. These devices are maintained by the Technical Director, and can be requested at the ticketing and concessions counter. Also available at the front desk is a Sensory Kit you can borrow, which includes a Communication Card, noise-reducing headphones, and fidget toys.

The Forum does NOT have assistive devices for the visually impaired, and is not (yet) a scent-free venue. Our commitment to increasing access for our audiences is ongoing, and we welcome all public input on the subject!

If you have additional specific questions about accessibility at our venue, please contact our Patron Services Manager at suji@nwfilmforum.org. Our phone number (206-329-2629) is voicemail-only, but we check it often.

Made possible due to a grant from Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with Sensory Access, our Sensory Access document presents a visual and descriptive walk-through of the NWFF space. View it in advance of attending an in-person event at bit.ly/nwffsocialnarrativepdf, in order to prepare yourself for the experience.

⚠️ COVID-19 Policies ⚠️

As of August 2024, NWFF has adjusted its mask policy from universally required to strongly encouraged at the majority of screenings. In the interest of accessibility, the requirement is still in place for Thursday night screenings and Saturday and Sunday matinees; occasional exceptions will be noted on each event’s page.

Disposable masks are available at the door for those who need them.

Read more about NWFF’s policies responding to the present pandemic here.

About

(Cambria Matlow, Portland, OR, 2024, 51 min, in English) WA premiere!

Spring, Clay, and Elio are a family of three on a summer camping trip to the Oregon coast, where jarring rock formations cut across the horizon. In search of inspiration for a new project, filmmaker Spring takes pictures of the landscape and uses her volatile husband and defiant young son as reluctant props. Otherwise she experiences her family as an unwelcome interruption to her creative process. On the final day of their trip, a harrowing moment between father and son shatters Spring’s illusions and brings her competing desires to be a good mother and visionary artist to a head.

Moving between deadpan realism, unexpected humor and quiet devastation, Why Dig When You Can Pluck challenges norms around motherhood and art-making while exploring themes of trust, violence, and love.

BUY TICKETS HERE

FAQ: How do I watch online?
FAQ: How do I watch in-person?
  • Purchase your ticket through Brown Paper Tickets; come to the show!
  • You can also purchase a ticket on the day of the screening at Northwest Film Forum’s box office (1515 12th Ave, Seattle).
  • If you have purchased a Hybrid or In-Person-Only Festival Pass, we’ll be able to look you up at Will Call by the name you purchased under.

Screens with the short film "Fireworks"

(Anastasia Shatska, Burnaby, BC, 2024, 8 min, in English)

In this film shot on gauzy 16mm, a young woman’s grief manifests in stark landscapes, from first snow to crashing waves. Akin to Proust’s madeleines, the sound of fireworks sends her spiraling into memories of a lost lover.


Festival Directory

Presented by Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum, the 27th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival is a virtual-and-in-person showcase of creative communities from throughout the Pacific Northwest. The 2024 program, which runs from September 20–29, features a competitive selection of curated short film programs and feature films, inviting regional artists to experiment, break, and remake popular conceptions around filmmaking and film exhibition.

Local Sightings champions emerging and established talent, supports the regional film industry, and promotes diverse media as a critical tool for public engagement.


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Northwest Film Forum
1515 12th Ave,

Seattle, WA 98122

206 329 2629


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