Local Sightings 2025 – Homelands (Shorts)
Sun Sep 21:
In-person tickets >
$15 General Admission
$10 Student/Child/Senior
$7 Member
$100 General Admission
$70 Student/Child/Senior
$45 Member
Full Festival Passes and Individual Tickets are available!
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 rajah@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. 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
(65 min TRT)
These documentary and narrative shorts explore diaspora, belonging, and the search for home across the Pacific Northwest, from a gentrifying Portland neighborhood to the Blackfeet Nation’s mountain plains.
Header photo credit: Dear Aloha, dir. Cris Romento
BUY TICKETS HERE
FAQ: What's the festival format this year?
- This year’s festival will be in-person only! For the past several years, we have been proud to offer the festival as a hybrid virtual-and-in-person experience, but due to staff capacity, we cannot do this for the 2025 fest.
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).
- Pass-holders, we will be able to look you up using the name you purchased under.
Films in this program:
Barrio
(Alexander Ibarra, Beaverton, OR, 2025, 14 min, English and Spanish with English subtitles) World premiere!
In the heart of Portland’s shifting landscape, a recent graduate confronts the enigma of her future while working as a cashier at her aunt’s beloved Mexican bakery. As the scent of tradition intertwines with the winds of transformation, our protagonist and her aunt grapple with the imminent closure and bittersweet farewell of their bakery amidst neighborhood gentrification.
Don't Think about the Pink Dolphins
(Anthony Lee, Vancouver, BC, 2024, 15 min, in English) West Coast premiere!
A newcomer to Vancouver grapples with haunting memories from her hometown of Hong Kong. Surrounded by reminders of an identity she never fully embraced—and old regrets she cannot shake—she discovers a legend about a pink dolphin that stirs powerful emotions. As guilt and grief swell beneath the surface, she embarks on an unexpected journey of connection, healing, and self-awareness.
Niitsitapi
(Bryan Gunnar Cole, WA, 2024, 14 min, in English)
Niitsitapi (The Real People) journeys across the vast ancestral territory of The Blackfoot Confederacy – an ancient alliance of Blackfoot speaking people bound together by land, language, and culture.
There Have Always Been Horizons
(Diana Emily de Leyssac, Burnaby, BC, 2025, 7 min, in English) World premiere!
A man takes to the highway in search of a farmhouse left abandoned on the Canadian prairie.
Dear Aloha
(Cris Romento, WA, 2024, 15 min, in English) Northwest premiere!
In the Pacific Northwest, diasporic Native Hawaiians reveal how aloha sustains them amidst distance, loss, and longing. Meanwhile, back in Hawaiʻi, locals grapple with the history of colonization that has Hawaiians disappearing from their homeland.
Festival Directory
Presented by Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum, the 28th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival is a showcase of creative communities from throughout the Pacific Northwest. The 2025 program, which runs from September 19–28, 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.