Calendar
How The Fire Fell
Jan 27 - Feb 02, 2012
(Edward P. Davee, 2011, USA, Blu-ray, 81 min)
Winner of our Local Sightings Film Festival, How the Fire Fell imagines Corvallis, Oregon in 1903. Edmund Creffield set out to teach the true word of God to those who would listen, and in doing so gave birth to a religious cult. Poignant and beautiful, How the Fire Fell evokes the brilliance of Bergman, Malick and Tarkovsky.
"A breath of fresh air...a film that can suck in the viewer." —IndieWire
"Haunting...Cinematographer Scott Ballard's gorgeous, silvery images, the compressed energy of Davee's framing and a remarkable cast make this a unique experience." ‚—Seattle Times
Max Bill – The Master’s Vision
Director in attendance! Co-Presented by University of Washington
Feb 02, 2012
(Erich Schmid, 2008, Switzerland, 35mm, 93 min)
This film about Max Bill (1908-1994) moves between the dynamic fields of art, aesthetics and politics. Max Bill was probably the most important Swiss artist of the 20th century and the most famous student to come out of the legendary Bauhaus in Dessau. He was an ardent anti-fascist and all his avant-garde work as an artist, sculptor, architect and typographer showed a social responsibility and environmental awareness right through his life. His views have become incredibly topical.
The Nine Muses
Seattle Premiere!
Feb 03 - Feb 09, 2012
(John Akomfrah, 2011, USA, Blu-ray, 94 min)
Twenty-five years after the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus still has not returned home. His son, Telemachus, sets off on a journey in search of his lost father. So begins Homer's revered epic poem, The Odyssey, the primary narrative reference point for The Nine Muses, John Akomfrah's remarkable meditation about chance, fate and redemption.
Structured as an allegorical fable set between 1949 and 1970, The Nine Muses is comprised of nine overlapping musical chapters that mix archival material with original scenes. Together they form a stylized, idiosyncratic retelling of the history of mass migration to post-war Britain through the suggestive lens of the Homeric epic.
"As a structuring device to the montage, the nine Greek muses—of dance, tragedy, music, history, etc.—chiefly allow director John Akomfrahto punctuate this very personal meditation on England's changing social fabric." —Seattle Weekly
Chac: The Rain God
Seattle Premiere!
Feb 03 - Feb 09, 2012
(Rolando Klein, 1974, Mexico/USA, 35mm 95 min)
In his first film, Chilean filmmaker Rolando Klein did something remarkable. Working with non-professional actors in the Mexican state of Chiapas, he created a mystical adventure about a drought-stricken village that seeks a diviner (or witch doctor) to conjure rain. Their faith in his abilities is increasingly tested as their journey takes them deeper into the mountains. With each step leading farther away from home, the villagers doubt that this bizarre diviner can truly summon Chac: The Rain God. Long thought lost since the 1970s, we’re pleased to unearth a beautifully restored print of this classic.
The Last Command
At the Paramount Theatre
Feb 06, 2012
(Josef von Sternberg, 1928, USA, 35mm, 88 min)
The Last Command is a silent film from1928. The film starts in 1928 Hollywood director Leo Andreyev (William Powell) looks through photographs for actors for his next movie. When he comes to the picture of an aged Sergius Alexander (Emil Jannings), he pauses, and then tells his assistant to cast the man. Sergius shows up at the Eureka Studio and is issued a general's uniform.
A Good Man
Northwest Premiere!
Special introduction by former Bill T. Jones dancer Catherine Cabeen
Feb 09, 2012
(Gordon Quinn, Bob Hercules, 2011, USA, 86 min)
Commissioned by the Ravinia Festival, renowned choreographer Bill T. Jones sets out to create a contemporary dance piece in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial. In a documentary that covers two years of artistic process, A Good Man portrays Jones grappling to express the legacies of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War and slavery. In a film both personal and political, the viewer is privileged to watch Jones create movement out of the contradictions of a “post-race” society.
We Can't Go Home Again
Seattle premiere!
Friday show free for members
Special introduction by author David Spaner on Saturday (beginning at 6:30)
Feb 10 - Feb 16, 2012
(Nicolas Ray, 1973-1979, USA, Blu-ray, 90 min)
On the occasion of Ray’s centenary, we are proud to present the most complete version of this one-of-a-kind film in a stunning digital restoration undertaken by Ray’s widow, Susan Ray. Made by the one-eyed legendary director and his students during his stint as a film professor at State University of New York, Binghamton, under abysmal financial conditions, the film records Ray’s groundbreaking use of multiple images as a way of telling more than one story simultaneously, and of colorization as a way to heighten emotional expression.
Don't Expect Too Much
Seattle premiere!
Friday show free for members
Feb 10 - Feb 16, 2012
(Susan Ray, 2011, USA, Blu-ray, 70 min)
Using film, video, and stills from Nicholas Ray’s archive, along with interviews with original crew members and directors Jim Jarmusch and Victor Erice, Susan Ray reconstructs the making of Nick’s last, long-unseen work We Can’t Go Home Again.
Feedback Loop
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED!
Feb 12, 2012
Filmmakers are always looking for feedback on their projects. This evening provides a mix of reality TV and friendly advice as three projects present ten-minute clips from projects currently in production. A panel of local critics, well-known filmmakers and film lovers will offer feedback on their works in progress. Imbibe some of our house drink specialties while you see the filmmaking process in action!
Wings
At the Paramount Theatre
Feb 13, 2012
(William A. Wellman, 1927, USA, 35mm, 139 min)
Wings is a 1927 silent film about World War I fighter pilots, produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A. Wellman. Wings was the first film, and the only silent film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Jack Powell (Rogers) and David Armstrong (Arlen) are rivals in the same small American town, both vying for the attentions of pretty Sylvia Lewis (Ralston). Jack fails to realize that "the girl next door", Mary Preston (Bow), is desperately in love with him.
Where is the Friend's House?
Feb 14, 2012
(Abbas Kiarostami, 1987, Iran, 35mm, 87 min)
A country schoolboy's determination to prevent a pal's expulsion for not having done his homework becomes a major geographical, moral and poetic odyssey, testing his ingenuity, nerve and resolve even as it teaches him about the cruelty and compromises of the adult world. A landmark in Kiarostami's career, this funny, frightening and poignant gem secured his international profile.
Framing Pictures
Free!
Jan 13 - Jun 15, 2012
Join us for a monthly discussion with three longtime Seattle film critics (and occasional guest commentators) who have much to say on the subject of cinephilia past, present and future. The conversation includes former Film Comment editor Richard Jameson, Everett Herald/KUOW critic Robert Horton and MSN.com critic Kathleen Murphy.
And Life Goes On...
Feb 15, 2012
(Abbas Kiarostami, 1991, Iran, 35mm, 91 min)
Shortly after a massive earthquake in Iran, Kiarostami returned to the mountain region that had been the setting for Where is the Friend's House?A year later, he made a film inspired by that trip, about a filmmaker traveling with his son in search of two young actors who may have died. The result is an amazingly fruitful exploration of the relationship of life and death, despair and determination, reality and art.
Happy Hour Saloon
Enjoy drink specials from 5-6:30!
Nov 17 - Feb 16, 2012
This Thursday, please join NWFF and special guest Xan Aranda, Director of Andrew Bird: Fever Year for happy hour drinks. Film lovers and film makers: Come out to the Saloon -- make new acquaintance and mingle with old friends! As always, our hand-selected wines and beers are $1 off (which makes beer $3, house wine $4 and wine specials $6).
Through The Olive Trees
Feb 16, 2012
(Abbas Kiarostami, 1994, Iran/France, 35mm, 103 min)
The final Koker film, this time with Kiarostami recreating the (real-life? fictional?) romantic problems arising between two cast members during the filming of And Life Goes On... It is fascinating both as a warm-but-wry tale of life, love and the cinema, and as a multi-layered interweaving of related narratives. At one point we even see two actors playing Kiarostami surrogates and talking to one another!
Andrew Bird: Fever Year
Director In Attendance. Followed by an opening night party! Sponsored by Easy Street Records
Online tickets are sold out. Tickets will be availabe at the door. Box office opens at 7:30.
Feb 17, 2012
(Xan Aranda, 2011, USA, HD, 81 min
Filmed in the final months of Andrew Bird’s grueling 165-date tour, Andrew Bird: Fever Year emerges as a concert documentary as much about Bird’s creative process as the performances shown. Featuring inside looks into Bird’s studio barn and electronic looping process, rehearsals and revision, the film delicately portrays how Bird makes music.
Free Land
Director in attendance!
Co-presented by Longhouse Media
Feb 18, 2012
(Minda Martin, 2010, USA, 62 min)
Beginning with her own childhood experience of relocation, filmmaker Minda Martin traces itinerancy throughout her family history, beginning with the forced Cherokee relocation of the 1800s. With found footage, historical documents and personal interviews, Free Landbinds together questions of ancestry, home, land, culture and identity. Lauded for its powerful sound design, this memoir documentary not only tells a heart-wrenching story, but tells it with profound craftsmanship.
The Dish and the Spoon
Director in attendance!
Feb 19, 2012
(Alison Bagnall, 2011, USA, Blu-ray, 92 min)
Directed and co-written by Alison Bagnall, best known as a co-writer of Buffalo 66, The Dish and the Spoon tells the story of two unlikely friends. Fleeing in her pajamas after finding out her husband is cheating on her, protagonist Rose, played by Greta Gerwig, meets a teenage boy in a winter beach town. With nowhere else and no one else to turn to, the pair forms a friendship.
Bombay Beach
Feb 20, 2012
(Alma Har’el, 2011, USA, Blu-ray, 80 min)
Part documentary, part dance-fiction, Israeli-born Alma Har’el’s debut feature Bombay Beach paints a rich and emotional portrait of the lives of some of California’s absolute poorest. Har’el spent months living at the Salton Sea, capturing the surreal beauty and desolation —without financial backing. Perhaps best known for her work directing music videos for Beirut, the film is graced with original music by Zach Condon.
A Little Closer
Feb 21, 2012
(Matthew Petock, 2010, USA, Blu-ray, 72 min)
In this no-budget debut feature from Virginia’s Matthew Petock, a lonely woman treks into single motherhood with the grace of a veteran. Visually striking, Petock’s handheld camera intimately captures both the Virginia landscape and strong performances from the cast.
Bad Posture
Feb 22, 2012
(Malcolm Murray, 2011, USA, Blu-ray, 93 min)
Equal-parts neo-realist exercise, classic Western, Joycean hometown tribute and Trailer Park Boys-style illicit comedy, Malcolm Murray’s nonchalant debut feature has been glowingly reviewed by the likes of the New York Times and Filmmaker Magazine. Murray says he was inspired by how “directors use Western landscapes to free their characters from having to explain anything about themselves.”
The Color Wheel
Feb 23, 2012
(Alex Ross Perry, 2011, USA, Blu-ray, 83 min)
The Color Wheel is a two-person show, a black-and-white comedic symphony of disappointment and forgiveness. Co-writer Carlen Altman and director Alex Ross Perry star as mutually detesting siblings on a road trip.
My Reincarnation
Sponsored by 8 Limbs Yoga Centers and TheSunBreak.com
See full film information for special film introductions
Feb 24 - Mar 01, 2012
(Jennifer Fox, USA, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, DigiBeta, 83 min)
My Reincarnation is an epic father-son drama, spanning two decades and three generations, about spirituality, cultural survival, identity, inheritance, family, growing old, growing up, faith, meditation, religion, magic, dreaming, Buddhism, Dzogchen—and past and future lives. The film follows the renowned reincarnate Tibetan spiritual master, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, as he struggles to save his spiritual tradition, and his Italian born son, Yeshi, who stubbornly refuses to follow in his father’s footsteps.
TLC Presents: Off The Rez
Co-presented by Longhouse Media
Feb 25, 2012
(Jonathan Hock, 2011, USA, DigiBeta, 86 min)
The story of a family that leaves the Umatilla Indian Reservation in pursuit of the American dream. Shoni is one of the best high school basketball players in the country and Ceci is her mother and coach. Together they struggle to break their people’s cycle of unfulfilled promise.
I'm not Les
Director in attendance!
Feb 25, 2012
Daniel Kopec
Join KCTS 9 for a screening from their Original Documentary Series, I'm not Les. For almost 70 years, Sherri hid herself from the world. Everyone knew her as Les, a welder, a husband and father. She was a biological male but her physical gender didn't match the way she felt about who she was.
Okie Noodling II
Director in attendance!
Feb 26, 2012
(Bradley Beesley, USA, Blu-ray, 68 min)
A documentary sequel? You read correctly! Bradley Beesley follows up his beloved portrait of "noodling," the world’s wildest sport, returning home to Oklahoma to see how the sport has evolved over the last decade. The film explores the legal issues and commercialization of this once backwoods practice. Beesley revisits the colorful original cast and meets some new and eccentric fishermen en route to the largest noodling tournament in the nation.
The Extraordinary Voyage
Feb 28, 2012
(Serge Bromberg, Eric Lange, 2011, France, Blu-ray, 60 min)
In Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon, the first science fiction movie ever made, six academics undertake an expedition that will take them to the Moon. They leave Earth in a rocket fired from a giant cannon. When they arrive on the Moon, they discover earthshine and the Selenites. The six escape from the Selenites' king and return to Earth.
The documentary The Extraordinary Journey charts Bromberg’s discovery of a tinted nitrate copy of the film in Barcelona and the ensuing challenges posed by one of the most complex film restorations in cinema history. With Costa Gavras, Michel Gondry, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Michel Hazanavicius and Martin Scorsese, whose recent film Hugo owes a great debt to Méliès. Screens with A Trip to the Moon with a new soundtrack by the French band Air.
To Catch A Dollar
Feb 29, 2012
(Gayle Ferraro, 2011, USA, 35mm, 85 min)
This inspiring documentary by Gayle Ferraro follows Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Yunus as he brings his unique and revolutionary microfinance program to the US. Witness the birth of Grameen America and the compelling story of the first women borrowers, from the challenges they face to the successes they achieve as they learn to sustainably rise from poverty by starting and growing their own businesses with the education, support and non-collateral microloans they receive.
Sex+Money: A National Search For Human Worth
Mar 01, 2012
(Joel Angyall, 2011, USA, DVD, 92 min)
This is a documentary about domestic sex trafficking of minors and the modern-day abolitionist movement fighting to stop it. Since September 2009, the filmmakers have traveled to over 30 states and conducted more than 75 interviews with federal agents, victims, politicians, activists, psychologists and porn-stars, among others.
Windfall
Seattle premiere!
Mar 02 - Mar 08, 2012
(Laura Israel, 2010, USA, 35mm, 81 min)
The realities of modern rural life, energy production and the environmental movement clash in unexpected ways. This new documentary chronicles the upheaval visited on Meredith, New York, when an industrial wind farm takes up residence. Filmmaker Laura Israel, a part-time Meredith resident, interviewed locals on both sides of the divided community: those who have turned their land over to the 400-foot-high turbines to offset falling agricultural profits, and those for whom the noise and aesthetic blight outweigh any positive impact on the local economy. Turns out it’s not easy being green.
California Company Town
Director in attendance!
Member reception with Lee Anne Schmitt prior to screening, starting at 6
Members Free! (please bring member ID)
Mar 02, 2012
(Lee Anne Schmitt, 2008, 16mm, 76 min)
Over the past 125 years, dozens of corporations such as Occidental Petroleum, Sierra Pacific and Borax Energy have bought huge parcels of land to establish their private operations, which included stores, schools and homes for their workers. In doing so, the companies superseded their roles as employers to become the towns' landlords, merchants and educators as a way to control and placate their employees. However, when the profits stopped rolling in the companies sold out or abandoned the properties, leaving detritus: industrial warehouses, dilapidated homes and businesses, clear-cut, sterile land—and the occasional tourist trap. The bleached tone of the footage, meditative shots of wrecked landscapes and the deadpan narration add to the film's solemnity.
Battle Royale
Mar 02 - Mar 30, 2012
Kinji Fukasaku, Japan, Blu-ray, 114 min
An instant classic when it debuted in 2000, and the final complete directorial effort of the legendary Kinji Fukasaku, Battle Royale is a jarring, jaw-dropping look at a future Japan where a group of 42 largely delinquent ninth-graders are chosen through a governmental lottery to kill each other off. The reason? To reduce crime and a general lack of respect by the youth in the country.