FREE FORUM 2026: Mississippi Masala
Admission is FREE, but please reserve a ticket!
About
(Mira Nair, 1991, United States, 117 min, in English)
The vibrant cultures of India, Uganda, and the American South are blended and simmered into a rich and fragrant fusion feast in Mira Nair’s luminous look at the complexities of love in the modern melting pot. Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their home in Uganda by the dictatorship of Idi Amin, twentysomething Mina (Sarita Choudhury) finds herself helping to run a motel in the faraway land of Mississippi. It’s there that a passionate romance with the charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius (Denzel Washington) challenges the prejudices of their conservative families and exposes the rifts between the region’s Indian and African American communities. Tackling thorny issues of racism, colorism, culture clash, and displacement with big-hearted humor and keen insight, Nair serves up a sweet, sexy, and radical celebration of love’s power to break down the barriers between us.
Synopsis courtesy of Janus Films
Hana Peoples, former NWFF Cinema Programmer, on Mississippi Masala:
Mississippi Masala has become one of my favorite films after I programmed it for Northwest Film Forum in 2022 after the 4K restoration was released. I love how Mira Nair intricately weaves the stories and cultures of India, Uganda and African American life in the Deep South in the 1990s. It delivers juicy family drama, layered immigration histories, and one of the most sizzling and beautiful love scenes I’ve ever seen. This film is forever seared into my cinematic memory and it is such a delight to watch on the big screen!
Co-Presented with Orcas Microcinema!
Orcas Microcinema was founded by Hana Peoples in 2024 as a community-powered microcinema that provides free filmmaking and cinema appreciation workshops for youth across Western Washington. They host public film screenings of local and international works to encourage intergenerational and intercultural exchange and understanding. Learn more on their website.
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.
NWFF patrons are encouraged to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building. Disposable masks are available at the door for those who need them. Recent variants of COVID-19 readily infect and spread between individuals regardless of vaccination status.
Read more about NWFF’s policies regarding cleaning, masks, and capacity limitations here.
Northwest Film Forum reserves the right to release tickets to anyone on standby if there are open seats 5 minutes after a sold out show’s scheduled start time. If you arrive and your seat has been given away, we will happily refund your ticket.
If you’re not feeling a particular movie you’re already watching, we will refund a ticket if you ask within the first 30 minutes of a film.
If you are unable to make it to a screening (sickness, forgot to come, dog ate your homework, etc.) please email rajah (at) nwfilmforum (dot) org to get a refund.