Calendar
Know Your Mushrooms
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3 FM, Mushroom, Inc., Puget Sound Mycological Society, and the Daniel E. Stuntz Memorial Foundation
Jun 13 - Jun 18, 2009
(Ron Mann, Canada, 2007, 35mm, 73 min)
The movie follows visionaries Gary Lincoff and Larry Evans (two expert and unforgettably mercurial characters in the mushroom community) as they lead us on a hunt for wild mushrooms and the deeper cultural experiences attached to the mysterious fungi.
"Just plain fun...[A] delightful exploration of well-chosen subject matter that's more richly fascinating than you might first expect" -Seattle Times
In a Dream
Seattle Premiere
Jun 13 - Jun 18, 2009
(Jeremiah Yaches, USA, 2008, DVCAM, 78 Min)
This loving, complex portrait of risk-taking septuagenarian artist Isaiah Zegar and his wife Julia, directed by their son Jeremiah, explores the obsessive passion that possesses Isaiah to create 50,000 square foot mosaic murals in their south Philadelphia neighborhood. Isaiah's single-minded, narcissistic and unstable personality takes its toll on his wife and his family.
"Exhilarating" -The Stranger
"This highly personal film speaks to all of us in the universal languages of art and love" -Seattle Times
"In a Dream exhibits as much beauty and sensuality as Isaiah’s work, while the unabashedly personal nature of the filmmaker-subject dynamic is as candid about familial madness as Tarnation, and captures more insight than those Friedmans did." -Seattle Weekly
Bachianas No. 5
Plays before Know Your Mushrooms
Jun 13 - Jun 18, 2009
(Curtis Taylor, USA, 2007, 7 min)
In a Tacoma strip club, three women dream of an ideal place for love. Framed within the opera Bachianas Brasileiras (movement No. 5)
The English Surgeon
Seattle Premiere
Jun 19 - Jun 21, 2009
(Geoffrey Smith, UK, 2007, DigiBeta, 94 min)
When British brain surgeon Henry Marsh first visited the KGB Hospital in Kiev in the early 1990s, he was appalled by the conditions. Patients were dying from treatable conditions. Since then, Marsh has been on a mission to create a viable brain surgery clinic, salvaging discarded equipment from British hospitals, second-hand drills from flea markets and any other tools fashioned to do the job.
"A sad, moving, but necessarily unsentimental look into the medical system of Ukraine...The English Surgeon, to its great credit, is more than just a heartstring-tugging portrait of First-World heroism." -The Stranger
My Night At Maud's
Jun 19 - Jun 25, 2009
(Eric Rohmer, France, 1969, 35mm, 105 min)
In this brilliant centerpiece of Eric Rohmer’s “Moral Tales” series, Jean-Louis Trintignant plays one of the great conflicted figures of 1960s cinema -- a pious Catholic engineer in his early thirties who vows to wed the delicate blonde Françoise only to have his rigid ethical standards challenged when he unwittingly spends the night at the apartment of a bold, brunette divorcée, Maud.
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Jun 19 - Jun 25, 2009
(Paul Mazursky, USA, 1969, 35mm, 104 min)
What happens when the sexual revolution hits affluent bourgeois life? Paul Mazursky’s comedy of manners has its protagonists torn between the new hedonism of the late 60s and the domestic status quo.
"An orgy of pot-smoking and on-screen nudity, the movie was undeniably a response to the new cultural permissiveness, but there was nothing glib or opportunistic about it." -Seattle Weekly
Duet for Cannibals
Jun 24 - Jun 25, 2009
(Susan Sontag, Sweden, 1969, 35mm, 105 min)
The directorial debut of famed American writer, philosopher, and political activist Susan Sontag is an intriguing tale of two couples involved in academia and politics.
Munyurangabo
Seattle Premiere Sponsored by KBCS 91.3 FM
Jun 26 - Jul 02, 2009
(Lee Isaac Chung, Rwanda, 2008, 35mm, 97 min)
Set in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, Lee Isaac Chung’s impressive debut feature, Munyurangabo is the story of two young men—one a Tutsi, the other a Hutu—trying to create futures by putting their pasts behind them.
"SW Pick: Fully formed, re-energizing the idiom of pastoral drift, folklore, and elemental tension" -Seattle Weekly
Treeless Mountain
Jun 26 - Jul 02, 2009
(So Yong Kim, USA/South Korea, 2007, 35mm, 89 min)
In this quiet gem of a film, a semi-autobiographical work by Korean-American filmmaker So Yong Kim, sisters Jin and Bin live in a middle-class Seoul apartment. Jin is a serious girl, mature beyond her years. She cares for her sister after school while their single mother works. After a series of events that uproot the pair, they adapt to each circumstance anew, learning to rely on each other after so many disappointments from adults.
"3 1/2 stars... Lovely" -Seattle Times
"Weekend Must: small yet stunning" -Seattle Magazine
"SW Pick: Skillfully unsentimental—because of, but also despite, the presence of two irresistible, unself-conscious performers in virtually every scene." -Seattle Weekly
Cookies For Sale
Plays before Treeless Mountain
Jun 26 - Jul 02, 2009
(Wes Kim, USA, 2007, 4 min)
A little girl selling cookies door-to-door engages in a battle of wills with a very grumpy neighbor.
Bjork's Voltaic: The Volta Tour Live in Paris
Jun 26 - Jun 27, 2009
(Russell Thomas, 2009, 71 min)
Björk's Voltaic: The Volta Tour Live in Paris contains filmed highlights from the Volta tour, recorded in Paris and Reykjavik, with performances of songs from Volta as well as tracks from previous albums including Hunter, Joga, Army of Me, and Hyperballad. A dynamic, grand live experience, the Volta tour has been acclaimed around the world.
"Why not go out to an actual show, or wait for Bjork to come back to Seattle? Simply put: you’ll never get this close to Bjork in your life! ... Throughout the film, every colorful detail and visual idiosyncrasy is brought to you by bird’s eye view, stage hand’s view, front row view, side stage view, and, well, you get the point. It’s hard to image ever wanting to go to a live show again!" -KEXP
Suddenly the City on Film: “Police Beat”
Jul 03, 2009
Northwest Film Forum is proud to collaborate on this unique city-wide event, which runs from July 1-3. Please visit this site for full information.
Seattle has been called a “picaresque city” because its geography is so episodic, an archipelago of hills divided by water and dominated by scenic vistas that stun us into forgetting. Z the peripatetic bike-cop hero of Police Beat is content to drift across this fragmented sequence of views, witnessing the petty humiliations and violent assaults that trigger 911 calls to the police. He is polite, but always looking outward, his mind on the mountains, somewhere west or east of here, and his absent girlfriend, gone camping with another man.
Made in U.S.A.
Seattle Premiere
Never On TV, Video or DVD
New 35mm print
Jul 03 - Jul 09, 2009
(Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1966, 35mm, 90 min)
Hailed as one of Godard’s greatest works, Made in U.S.A. is the director’s modernist, pop-culture infused treatment of a film noir, with his soon-to-be-ex wife and muse Anna Karina as the trench coat and high-heel wearing heroine.
"The Wire: Made in U.S.A. is anti-capitalist and anti-consumerist, decrying miniskirts and rock ‘n’ roll as mind control, but it’s also more devoted to the vulgar modernism of mid-20th-century pop culture than any movie Godard made before or would make after." -Seattle Weekly
Michael Jackson Tribute
Jul 07, 2009
Doors at 7:30pm
Northwest Film Forum hosts a special celebration of and fitting tribute to the great entertainer and popular music icon Michael Jackson who passed away on June 25th at the age of 50. His greatest music videos from the late-70s and 80s will be shown in the cinema (and cranked up loud).
The Gay Deceivers
Co-Presented by Three Dollar Bill Cinema
Jul 08 - Jul 09, 2009
(Bruce Kessler, USA, 1969, 35mm, 97 min)
In the year of the Stonewall riots and the dawn of the gay rights movement, it’s ironic that the one US release to deal openly with homosexuality was this outrageous comedy about two straight men pretending to be gay to avoid the draft. Although criticized for its stereotypes, for viewers today it's a fun watch that’s frequently hilarious—with a lavishly decorated bungalow as the set for the bedlam and bed-hopping.
Shikashika
Plays before Pressure Cooker
Jul 10 - Jul 16, 2009
(Stephen Hyde, USA, 2008, 10 min)
Filmed in Peru, this rhythmic portrait documentary reveals the process of making a colorful shave ice called Shikashika.
Objectified
Additional dates added by popular demand!
Jul 10 - Aug 16, 2009
(Gary Hustwit, USA/UK, 2009, 75 min)
This new documentary from Gary Hustwit (director of last year’s Helvetica) brings us behind the scenes of our material world and introduces us to masters who’ve created some of the most successful products of our time. Interviews with industrial design gurus Jonathan Ive of Apple, Dieter Rams of Braun, David Kelley and Tim Brown of IDEO, Karim Rashid of Dirt Devil and others demonstrate that every object has a story to tell.
"The Stranger Suggests: [a] sharp, brainy documentary obsessed with design...Gary Hustwit takes a kaleidoscopic view of industrial design, from interviews with design superstars to biographies of objects that set the world on fire (the iPod! The Dirt Devil! The Braun toothbrush!) to inquiries into the meaning, purpose, and dangers of our object-drenched planet." -The Stranger
Pressure Cooker
Seattle Premiere
Jul 10 - Jul 16, 2009
(Jennifer Grausman, Mark Becker, USA, 35mm, 99 min)
This inspirational film tells the story of a committed teacher who becomes the champion of a group of talented kids fighting to overcome the challenges of broken homes and financial burdens. Three seniors from Philadelphia's Frankford High School find an unlikely champion in Wilma Stephenson, cooking instructor.
"No doubt about it: Pressure Cooker is inspirational. Not because at the end it depicts something magical, but because it acknowledges that hard work and discipline can have their rewards. A nice break from the usual multiplex fare." -Everett Herald
"By the end of the film I felt connected to all of the students and the presentation of scholarships was one of the most nervous moments of my life, I was sitting glued to the T.V. hoping that Erica, Dudley, and Fatoumata would get exactly what they wanted. Pressure Cooker is a truly inspiring film that teaches teenagers that nothing is out of your reach no matter how impossible or difficult it may seem." -Delaney, TeenTix Blog
Soul Nite!
Jul 16, 2009
Join us in celebrating two years of funky good times! Soul Nite curator and host Peter Lucas presents a selection of favorite 1960s performance footage on the big screen, cranked up loud. This electrifying, all-star summer Soul Nite will feature James Brown, Joe Tex, Lee Dorsey, Arthur Conley, Etta James, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Ike & Tina Turner and many others. Of course beverages will be available, and dancing in the aisles is encouraged. (Doors at 8:30)