Calendar
Seattle Film Summit
Sep 29, 2012
10am - 4pm
The Seattle Film Summit is a conference for anyone in Washington who has a stake in the production or distribution of media content: filmmakers, actors, video game creators, transmedia geeks, editors, media lawyers, film community leaders, legislators, gaffers, writers—anyone and everyone. During a day-long, participant-directed conference, attendees will address the tough questions of the local film business.
Buoy
Sep 29, 2012
(Steven Doughton, 2012, Blu-ray, Portland, OR)
When T.C. receives a call from Danny, her wayward brother, she is tidying up her middle-class home as a suburban mother of two in Portland, Oregon. As the camera tracks T.C. through her household rounds, she and Danny embark on a wide-ranging emotional journey as their dialogue carries the story. Bittersweet childhood recollections merge into searching spiritual conjectures; bizarre anecdotes lead to offbeat cultural critiques and awkward personal confessions. What does it mean to be a good person and to live your life well? How do you keep your disappointment in—and envy for—another person’s life choices from standing in the way of your love for them?
Hello My Name Is Dick Licker
Sep 29, 2012
(Brady Hall, 2011, 75 min, Seattle, WA)
Rich Winthrop is a likable if slightly neurotic high school student whose mom is engaged to an effete and personality-deficient man with the last name Licker. Realizing that his life is about to be scarred by re-branding with the name “Dick Licker,” he enlists his smart-aleck friend Chad to devise a plot sabotaging his mother’s marriage.
Local Sightings Film Festival
15th year!
Sep 28 - Oct 04, 2012
Local Sightings is Northwest Film Forum's premier showcase of contemporary filmmaking in the Northwest, putting homegrown talent in front of Seattle audiences and connecting artists from Alaska to Oregon in a week-long celebration of cinema from the region. The 2012 festival includes features, shorts and documentary programming, artist conversations, art installations and industry networking events. In 2012, Seattle Weekly called Local Sightings the best film festival in Seattle. Check out the official Festival website for the 2012 program.
Re-Enactors
Sep 29, 2012
(Nathan & Zach Hamer, 2012)
In the vein of Christopher Guest’s great mockumentaries (Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman) comes the new collaboration from the Hamer Brothers, Re-enactors. Jed Hankley lives to relive. From Civil War battles to old western shootouts, Jed stops at nothing to create the most “historical” re-enactments. When Jed is offered his dream job, a temp tour-guide at the Milltown Pioneer Village, he must set aside his differences with his old rival, Douglas Marshall-Pickett, to create the most “authentic” experience possible. But will Jed and Doug’s hardcore re-enacting standards clash with the cushy lifestyle of the Pioneer Village campers?
The Drew Christie Show
Sep 29, 2012
Animator Drew Christie has been a staple of Local Sightings since the mid-2000s, winning our jury prize for his short film The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Lincoln. His work is characterized by wry, erudite humor that often illuminates history while lovingly skewering its subjects in terse language, leaving his viewers in a joyful state of reflection. His animation technique applies hand-drawn figures to unusual surfaces including books, newsprint, linocut and crumbled paper, rendering some of the most human touches the medium has seen.
People Of A Feather
Sep 30, 2012
(Joel Heath, Blu-ray, 90 min, Vancouver, BC)
Featuring groundbreaking footage from seven winters in the Arctic, People of a Feather moves through time into the world of the Inuit on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. Connecting past, present, and future is the people’s unique cultural relationship with the eider duck. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, allows both Inuit and bird to survive harsh Arctic winters. Both people and eiders face challenges posed by changing sea ice and ocean currents which have been disrupted by massive hydroelectric dams. Joel Heath’s debut feature employs stunning time-lapse photography and underwater footage to create an authentic and insightful portrayal of a community challenged by a changing environment.
Walking To Linas
Sep 30, 2012
(Tonjia Atomic, 2012, 61 min, Seattle, WA)
In 1974, renowned German director Werner Herzog walked from Munich to Paris to visit his dying mentor Lotte Eisner. In the 2006 film Walking to Werner, director Linas Phillips paid tribute to Werner Herzog in his pledge to take the biggest walk of his life, from Seattle to Werner Herzog’s Los Angeles home. Building upon the classic artist’s journey with a quirky and funny twist, Walking to Linas is a comedic mockumentary that follows Stasha and Ada, true artists and each a diva in her own right, as they embark on a pilgrimage across the city of Seattle to pay homage to Seattle director Linas Phillips, their most revered artistic idol.
The Men Of Dodge City
Sep 30, 2012
(Nandan Rao, 94 min, Corvallis, OR)
The men of Dodge City are not quite men yet. The film centers on three young friends transplanted to Detroit with the aspiration of transforming an abandoned cathedral-sized church into a lively arts space. J., Zach and Ben are at work, transforming a gargantuanspace and trying hard to articulate their enthusiasm and noble ideas. All the while they play, flirt, tell stories and struggle to define themselves with their grand schemes. Rao has created a film that moves in small steps. Viewers are given little in terms of plot, but are richly rewarded by thoughtful and charming characters, confident cinematography and the use of a stunningly beautiful location.
Local Sightings: Narrative Shorts, Program 1
Sep 30, 2012
See them at Local Sightings before they get famous! Our narrative shorts program showcases great new work from Washington-based filmmakers.
Part of our Local Sightings Film Festival 2012 - see the festival website for full program details. Full festival passes are available.
Not That Funny
Oct 01, 2012
(Lauralee Farrer, 2011, 105 min)
A veritable who’s who of recent television, Not That Funny stars Tony Hale (Arrested Development), Brigid Brannagh (Army Wives), Timothy V. Murphy (Appaloosa) and K Callan (Lois & Clark) in a comedy about how far we’ll go for love. Tony Hale gives a great turn as Stefan, an affable 40-ish fellow who by his own admission is alone but not lonely. That all changes when Hayley, weary from a high-pressure job with a self-absorbed boss/boyfriend, returns to her hometown to visit her aging grandmother, who Stefan lives with and cares for. Overhearing Hayley tell her grandmother that all she wants is a guy who makes her laugh, Stefan sets out to become funny and win her heart.
Fast Break
Oct 01, 2012
(Don Zavin, 1977, Blu-ray, 117 min, Portland, OR)
Each year at Local Sightings we reach back into the annals of Northwest filmmaking history to pluck a long-unseen classic back into rotation. In a year where the Sonics’ return to Seattle seem imminent, we’re taking the opportunity to screen this rare 1977 documentary about the Portland Trailblazers, directed by filmmaker Don Zavin. Evoking a feel of cinema verite not found in most sports documentaries, Fast Break examines the 1977 Trailblazers in a surprisingly personal and compelling fashion.
Local Sightings: Documentary Shorts
Oct 01, 2012
See them at Local Sightings before they get famous! Our documentary shorts program showcases great new work from Seattle-based filmmakers.
Part of our Local Sightings Film Festival 2012 - see the festival website for full program details. Full festival passes are available.
Code Of The West
Post-screening Q&A with activist John Masterson!
Oct 02, 2012
(Rebecca Richman Cohen, Montana, 2012, Blu-ray, 71 min)
Once a pioneer in legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, the state of Montana is poised to become the first in the nation to repeal its medical marijuana law. Set against the sweeping vistas of the Rockies, the steamy lamplight of marijuana grow houses, and the bustling halls of the State Capitol, Code of the West follows the 2011 Montana State Legislature as it debates the fate of the law. Following key figures on each side of the debate, the film is a courtroom and political drama. As it explores state sovereignty, patients’ rights and one of the most heated policy questions facing the country today, the film provides insight into the ways in which the debate has affected many lives.
Local Sightings: Narrative Shorts, Program 2
Oct 02, 2012
See them at Local Sightings before they get famous! Our narrative shorts program showcases great new work from Washington-based filmmakers.
Part of our Local Sightings Film Festival 2012 - see the festival website for full program details. Full festival passes are available.
Local Sightings: Experimental Shorts
Oct 02, 2012
See them at Local Sightings before they get famous! Our experimental shorts program showcases great new work from Washington-based filmmakers.
Part of our Local Sightings Film Festival 2012 - see the festival website for full program details. Full festival passes are available.
Coast Modern
Oct 03, 2012
(Michael Bernard and Gavin Froome, 2012, Blu-ray, 60 min, Vancouver, BC)
In Coast Modern, Mike Bernard and Gavin Froome turn their lens on the sleek interiors and lush gardens of stunning examples of modernist architecture, from Vancouver, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, from the early 20th century to the second wave of post-war America to today’s current modernist renaissance. Featuring conversations with architects and their patrons, the films asks if Modernism’s time has finally come, or whether it really went away. Cultural critics abound (including a memorable turn from Douglas Coupland), as Coast Modern pays particularly sharp attention to cultural values embodied in architectural form.
Fly Films
Oct 03, 2012
See them at Local Sightings before they get famous! Given 5 days to shoot, 5 days to edit, and a handful of creative limitations, 4 local directors crafted these short films for the 2012 Seattle International Film Festival.
Part of our Local Sightings Film Festival 2012 - see the festival website for full program details. Full festival passes are available.
Off Label
Oct 04, 2012
(Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher, 2012, Blu-ray, Portland, OR)
Winner of our 2012 Northwest Film Fund, Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher’s Off Label offers a sensitive and poetic examination of the medicated margins of American society. Instead of taking a clinical look at the issue of pharmeceuticals, Mosher and Palmieri offer the personal stories of eight individuals — a young medic who was stationed at Abu Ghraib, a woman whose son experienced a psychotic break and committed a violent suicide in an antidepressant marketing study, a bipolar woman who takes eighteen different prescription drugs a day, a man irremediably damaged by experiments conducted on him in prison, a medical anthropologist and a variety of individuals who make their livings as human guinea pigs in drug test trials.
What Did You Expect? The Archers of Loaf
Seattle Premiere!
Oct 05 - Oct 11, 2012
(Gorman Bechard, USA, 2012, Blu-ray, 88 min.)
Indie rock icons the Archers of Loaf reunited in 2011, playing two legendary concerts at Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill, NC on their reunion tour. Combining in-your-face concert footage and rare interviews with the band, director Gorman Bechard (Color Me Obsessed and the forthcoming Grant Hart documentary, Every Everything) captures the excitement and explosive energy of what its like to see this extraordinary band perform live.
In The Family
Seattle Premiere! Director in Attendance!
Oct 05 - Oct 11, 2012
(Patrick Wang, USA, 2011, 35mm, 169 min)
In his remarkably assured directorial debut, Patrick Wang offer a sensitive story of a child custody battle in a two-Dad family. Wang also gives an outstanding performance as Joey, a gay Asian American man living in the South whose idyllic life is torn asunder when he loses his adopted son after the death of his partner. This is an absorbing, courageous first feature shown in the context of marriage equality laws pending across the country.
Bill W
Seattle Premiere!
Extended run by popular demand!
Sep 14 - Oct 26, 2012
(Dan Carracino, Kevin Haslon, USA, 2012, Blu-ray, 103 min)
In 1934, Bill Wilson—called “Bill” in the tradition of members of Alcoholics Anonymous—faced not only his own lethal addiction, but modern medicine which doomed alcoholics to imprisonment, shock therapy and brain surgery. A surge of spiritual inspiration pushed Bill to recover and pioneer a new way of staying sober: by helping other alcoholics. Seventy years later, nearly 100,000 Alcoholics Anonymous groups follow his timeless example, but his life and legacy have never been documented on film as they are now in Bill W. Dramatic reenactments, never-before-seen image, and interviews with people whose lives were changed by Bill are brought together in this moving account of a hero who refused to be called anything other than an ordinary man.
Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Oct 12 - Oct 18, 2012
Northwest Film Forum is proud to be an official venue for the 17th annual Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in 2012. Please visit the festival website for full schedule and ticketing information.
The Connection
New 35mm print!
Oct 19 - Oct 25, 2012
(Shirley Clarke, USA, 1961, 35mm, 110 min)
When it was released in the early '60s, Shirley Clarke's controversial jazz & junkies film The Connection got shut down by New York police after just two screenings. Adapted from Jack Gelberg's 1959 play (he also wrote the script), The Connection is about a group of eight anxious addicts who agree to let a team of documentary filmmakers film them in a Manhattan loft while they wait for their pusher to arrive.
Detropia
Seattle Premiere!
Oct 19 - Nov 01, 2012
(Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, USA, 2012, Blu-ray, 90 min)
The latest vitally-important film to explore the disintegration of modern urban life, Detropia looks at crumbling buildings, foreclosed homes, and loss of same in Detroit. The city’s deterioration is seen from buses and subways to cultural institutions like opera, as directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady look for answers and infuse their film with a good dose of humor and even some hope.
In Good Time, The Piano Jazz of Marian McPartland
Director in attendance! Seattle Premiere!
Special film introduction and reading from author Paul de Barros!
Oct 20 - Oct 21, 2012
(Huey, USA, 2011, Blu-ray, 90 min)
English artist Marian McPartland arrived in America in 1948 and established herself as a leading musician in the male-dominated jazz world. Now 93, McPartland tells her own story—as a musician, composer, and host of National Public Radio’s Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz—through interviews filmed over four years. In Good Time features McPartland’s own harmonically-rich compositions and piano improvisations. With Dr. Billy Taylor, Elvis Costello, Dave Brubeck, Diana Krall, Bill Frisell, Nnenna Freelon, Renee Rosnes, Dick Hyman and many others.
Jaap Blonk's YappiScope
Oct 20, 2012
Jaap Blonk
On his 25th tour of the USA, revered Dutch voice virtuoso Jaap Blonk presents a full live show with visuals.
YappiScope contains an overview of Jaap's oeuvre, including "projected scores" of his sound poems with simultaneous live performance. These veritable vocal steeplechases include visuals generated in real time by live sounds, new short videos, a live improvised sound track to a silent abstract film, a live improvised sound track to an historic surrealist film, a beautiful multi-media work entitled Traces of Speech, and the incredible sounds produced with Jaap's "cheek synthesizer" technique, seen in extreme close-up.
Improvised Music and Experimental Film
Co-presented with Third Eye Cinema
Oct 24, 2012
The Monktail Creative Music Concern and Northwest Film Forum present an evening of live collaborative media experiments. Some of the area's most talented musicians will play in and alongside a number of pioneering short films by Northwest filmmakers.
Fall Members Happy Hour
Free and open to Film Forum members!
Oct 26, 2012
Join us for an autumn cocktail and an intimate chat with British filmmaker Ben Rivers - bring your Film Forum membership card for entry.
Two Years At Sea
Oct 26 - Nov 01, 2012
British filmmaker Ben Rivers' first feature Two Years At Sea is a nearly-wordless portrait of a man called Jake who lives a solitary existence in a Scottish forest in Aberdeenshire. Jake is seen in all seasons, surviving frugally, passing the time with strange projects, and living the radical dream he had as a younger man which he spent two years working at sea to realize.
FunkJazz Kafe: Diary Of A Decade (The Story Of A Movement)
Seattle Premiere!
Oct 27 - Oct 28, 2012
(Jason Orr, USA 2012, Blu-ray, 134 min)
The story of a cultural legend as told by the innovators of an important (and in some cases overlooked) era in black culture. Spanning the late 1980s through to the early 2000s, this story goes deep into the fabric of soul music: its definitions, pioneers, offspring, movements and challenges to the “mainstream” industry, as well as the evolution of the FunkJazz Kafé Arts & Music Festival, a music and artistic renaissance movement born out of Atlanta’s diverse musical and cultural arts heritage.
Ben Rivers: Shorts Program 1
Oct 27, 2012
British filmmaker Ben Rivers has made 20 shorts over the past decade: free of narrative, drama and character development, inspired by literature and fine art, and exploring worlds at the far fringe of civilization – places of ragged, strange beauty where inventors, seers and eccentric philosophers live in zealous communion with nature. Tonight's program features Old Dark House, where rooms in an abandoned, burnt-out house are revealed by multiple in-camera superimpositions of a single torch-light. This film marked the start start of Rivers' hand-processing his films, which he continues to do.
Ben Rivers: Shorts Program 2
Oct 28, 2012
(Slow Action, 2010, 16mm, 40 min) (Sack Barrow, 2011, 16mm, 21 min)
British filmmaker Ben Rivers has made 20 shorts over the past decade: free of narrative, drama and character development, inspired by literature and fine art, and exploring worlds at the far fringe of civilization – places of ragged, strange beauty where inventors, seers and eccentric philosophers live in zealous communion with nature. Tonight's program features Sack Barrow, which explores a small family-run factory in the outskirts of London. It was set up in 1931 to provide work for limbless and disabled ex-servicemen until the factory finally went into liquidation; the film observes the environment and daily routines of the final month of the six workers. Years of miniature chemical and mineral processes transform the space into another world.
Deconstructing Dad
Oct 27 - Oct 28, 2012
(Stan Warnow, USA, 2011, Blu-ray, 97min)
This feature-length documentary is a comprehensive exploration of the life of musician/inventor Raymond Scott, directed by Scott's son Stan Warnow. In the 1930s Scott invented "cartoon soundtracks,” recording music with his jazz band tailor-made to reflect the action on screen (in a similar way to the soundtracks written for the famous Tom and Jerry capers). From swing music to electronica, Scott's music could be heard in films, television and radio in a career that spanned most of the 20th century.