Local Sightings 2026 – Origin Story (Shorts)
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$15 General Admission
$10 Student/Child/Senior
$7 Member
$35 General Admission
$25 Student/Child/Senior
$17 Member
Weekend Passes
$80 General Admission
$50 Student/Child/Senior
$35 Member
Full Festival Pass
$150 General Admission
$100 Student/Child/Senior
$75 Member
Dual Full Festival Pass
$250 General Admission
$150 Student/Child/Senior
$125 Member
Full Festival Passes and Individual Tickets are available!
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.
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
(61 min TRT)
In this selection of shorts films, past becomes present as we explore the question: how do history and ancestry shape who we are, as well as what we will become?
Header photo credit: UNBRAID ~ unravel, dir. xana lenore
BUY TICKETS HERE
- This year’s festival will be in-person only! In the past, 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 2026 fest.
- Purchase your ticket through Eventive; 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:
Paper Trail
(Vivian Cheung, Vancouver, 2025, 23min, in English and Yue Chinese (Cantonese) with English Subtitles)
After 45 years, a second-generation filmmaker embarks on a mission to rediscover her mother’s roots and save what’s left of her family’s fading memories of their refugee journey to Canada. To do so, she must overcome one of the greatest challenges for every Asian kid – talking to their parents about the past.
UNBRAID ~ unravel
(xana lenore, Santa Cruz, 2026, 25min, in English and Tagalog with English Subtitles)
An adoptee filmmaker invites their adoptive mother, birth mother, and nanny to make a film about ritual, relationship, separation, and reunion.
Hiroshi and Miss. Fujitome
(Mia Watanabe, Beaverton, 2026, 3min, in Japanese with English Subtitles )
Romance blossoms when a new hire starts at the office. However, nothing can start until someone musters up the courage to make a move.
Diamond Belly
(Kyle D’Odorico, Vancouver, BC, 2025, 10min, in English)
Alex’s grandfather is dying of stomach cancer. When the old man starts claiming those aren’t tumours, but pilfered diamonds from a long-forgotten heist in the old country, family secrets and myths collide as Alex grapples with her newfound inheritance resting in a dying man’s stomach.
Festival Directory
Presented by Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum, the 29th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival is a showcase of creative communities from throughout the Pacific Northwest. The 2026 program, which runs from September 18–27, 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.