Local Sightings 2024 – Seattle of the Future? Closing Shorts [Hybrid]
Watch in person: Sep. 28 at 7pm
Visiting Artist
** BEACON iLL director Ezra Bantum and rapper Rell Be Free; Vanishing Seattle director Will Lemke and members of the Massive Monkees b-boy crew; and Visions of Wallingford crew in attendance! **
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.
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
(66 min TRT)
This trio of powerhouse films grapples with, bemoans, and interrogates Seattle’s gentrifying physical landscape. These filmmakers ask: How do we provide an antidote to “placelessness” via intentional, grassroots community spaces?
We begin with BEACON iLL, a kinetic, neon-hued ode to struggling to get by in Beacon Hill, featuring local South End rapper Rell Be Free.
Then we segue into The Beacon, a short from beloved local filmmaking crew Vanishing Seattle. The film profiles the break-dancing studio The Beacon, founded by the iconic hip-hop b-boy crew, Massive Monkees. A community hub for dancers, The Beacon shuttered in 2020 amidst the pandemic. But its triumphant return in 2022 reveals the power of a groove to unite us all. As one dance teacher puts it, “Dance is medicine.”
We close with Visions of Wallingford, a self-aware “community filmmaking project” that initially celebrates, and ultimately questions, Wallingford’s idyllic reputation. Tagging along for a series of walking tours, the viewer listens in on candid conversations with Native elders, urbanist advocates, and unhoused neighbors. What should growth look like in a changing city? Who gets to enjoy Wallingford’s many amenities, and who is left out?
Join us for a thought-provoking, urgent conversation about what Seattle we want for the future.
Header photo credit: Vanishing Seattle: The Beacon, dir. Will Lemke
BUY TICKETS HERE
- Purchase your ticket through Northwest Film Forum’s Eventive virtual cinema. A free Eventive login is required.
- From the Eventive virtual catalog page, purchased tickets will appear under “My Content Library” under your user menu (upper-right). From the Eventive festival landing page, they will appear under “My Tickets” on the site’s menu bar (at top).
- Your confirmation email will also route you back to these pages to watch. (Can’t find it? Check spam!)
- If all else fails, please contact alison@nwfilmforum.org
- 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.
Films in this program:
BEACON iLL
(Ezra Bantum, Seattle, WA, 2024, 4 min, in English)
“It gets ill on the hill sometimes,” raps local South End artist Rell Be Free in this gritty yet stylish musical tour of Beacon Hill.
Vanishing Seattle: The Beacon
(Will Lemke, Seattle, WA, 2024, 15 min, in English)
In 2013, members of the Massive Monkees, Seattle’s acclaimed breaking crew, opened The Beacon Studio in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. After many successful years of growth and development in the dance community, the studio closed in 2020. This is the story of The Beacon’s comeback in a city of vanishing mainstays.
Visions of Wallingford
(Ari Hock, Seattle, WA, 2023, 47 min, in English)
Residents of Wallingford, a gentrifying and predominantly white Seattle neighborhood, film each other as they lead walking tours and ponder their neighborhood’s future. Along the way, they meet Native elders, urbanist advocates, and unhoused neighbors who challenge their views on the housing crisis. Trailer >
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.