Calendar
Portrait of Jason
New 35mm print!
Jun 21 - Jun 27, 2013
(Shirley Clarke, 1967, USA, 35mm, 105 min)
Shirley Clarke’s Portrait of Jason befriends one of the most unforgettable people you’ll never meet. The year, 1967: an African-American gay man in a fitted blazer rehearses show tunes for an act he’s never performed. Clarke builds a memorable cinematic portrait by focusing obsessively on Jason’s dreams for himself (which he chatters about constantly, to anybody listening). Smoothly defying the constraints of genre and the impersonal perspective of classic documentary filmmaking, Portrait of Jason is a legendary character study that has transformed our understanding of self-perception for over 50 years.
Public Hearing
Jun 26, 2013
(James N. Kienitz Wilkins, 2012, United States, Blu-ray, 110 min)
When history remembers our society, how well will it read between the lines? Public Hearing, a tense and hilarious reenactment of the minutes from an American town meeting, digs for an answer. Bickering over how much space the new Wal-Mart should take up in town, citizens and governors take part in a much graver fight below the surface: a struggle for authority in this mini-model of American democracy. From its overwhelming close-up shots to its use of PowerPoint slides from the real town meeting, Public Hearing turns our civilization’s republican customs into absurdities, in a transformation whose most startling feature is its effortlessness.
The Rambler
Seattle premiere! Director in attendance opening night!
Jun 28 - Jul 04, 2013
(Calvin Reeder, 2013, USA, Blu-ray, 97 min)
If you’ve ever comforted yourself with the knowledge that the worst of America’s horrors were safely locked behind bars, The Rambler will make you think twice. A nameless prisoner is released from under lock and key and begins a search for his brother, making him an eyewitness to all that is strange and gruesome in America’s overlooked corners. As he experiences these nightmares with an unfazed and uncomplicated vision, The Rambler takes us on a once-in-a-lifetime wandering across highways and through wilderness, leaving us perplexed as to whether the film’s true subject is its hero or the people he encounters.
How to Make Money Selling Drugs
Seattle premiere! Q&A with Alison Holcomb, ACLU of Washington, and Matthew McCally, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Friday 7pm screening
Jun 28 - Jul 04, 2013
(Matthew Cooke, 2012, USA, Blu-ray, 96 min)
How ironic is the title of How to Make Money Selling Drugs? That’s for you to decide. This film compiles interviews from drug dealers, activists, artistic celebrities and prison inmates, to create a step-by-step guide to becoming the most profitable drug dealer you can be. Leaving no stone unturned, this documentary dares to explore the American drug trade from every possible social and economic standpoint, inviting the audience to use it as a “cookbook,” idiot’s guide, bizarre satire or frightening exposé. Again: you decide. Featuring 50 Cent, The Wire producer David Simon, Arianna Huffington, Woody Harrelson, Eminem and Susan Sarandon, as well as infamous drug kingpin "Freeway" Rick Ross.
Berberian Sound Studio
Seattle premiere!
Jul 05 - Jul 11, 2013
(Peter Strickland, UK, 2012, Blu-ray, 92 min)
It's 1976, and Berberian Sound Studio is one of the cheapest, sleaziest post-production studios in Italy. Only the most sordid horror films have their sound processed and sharpened here. Gilderoy, a naive and introverted sound engineer from England, is hired to orchestrate the sound mix for the latest film by the horror maestro Santini. Thrown from the innocent world of local documentaries into a foreign environment fueled by exploitation, Gilderoy soon finds himself caught up in a forbidding mix of bitter actresses, capricious technicians and confounding bureaucracy.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Introduced by Mayor Mike McGinn Post screening party with free pizza from Big Mario's!
Jul 05, 2013
(Robert Mulligan, USA, 1962, 35mm, 129 min)
Sitting mayor and former lawyer Mike McGinn introduces this beloved adaptation of Harper Lee’s heart-wrenching autobiographical novel of racial hatred in small-town 1930s Alabama. When lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) agrees to defend a black man unfairly accused of rape, he and his two young children are confronted with the reality of racial injustice in their small Alabama town. The film’s message of tolerance—told from the point of view of a child, yet never childish—hasn’t grown old.
All The President's Men
Introduced by Greenwood neighborhood activist Kate Martin
Jul 06, 2013
(Alan Pakula, USA, 1976, 35mm, 138 min)
Longtime Greenwood neighborhood activist Kate Martin's pick is the Watergate tell-all by Alan Pakula, All the President's Men. "The story of the century" gets a film noir treatment as the paranoia of Nixon's White House spreads like a disease through the shadowy streets and underground parking lots, to the suburban kitchens of Washington, DC. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as two young Washington Post reporters, Bernstein and Woodward, who broke the floodgates on the Watergate scandal.
Papillon
Introduced by City Councilman Bruce Harrell
Jul 07, 2013
(Franklin J. Schaffner, USA, 1976, 35mm, 151 min)
Some have questioned the reliability of Henri Charriere's best-selling memoir of his miserable life on (and eventual escape from) the French penal colony, Devil's Island. But in the context of the mayoral campaign, Papillon is a bold selection by sitting city council member Bruce Harrell: the film offers a tale of suffering, endurance, and serial escape attempts, in which Steve McQueen is at his best in the title role, and Dustin Hoffman is amusingly rat-like as his best friend, Louis Dega.
The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Introduced by State Senator Ed Murray
Jul 07, 2013
(Ken Loach, Ireland, 2006, 35mm, 127 min)
Ken Loach has always been committed to exploring the realities of the oppressed and disadvantaged through cinema, a great bedfellow for State Senator and Irishman Ed Murray. The Wind That Shakes the Barley, a film that confronts issues of family, patriotism and liberty, is Loach's take on the struggle for Irish independence (a mirror to Murray's struggle to pass gay marriage perhaps?) at the beginning of the 20th century, and an oppositional melodrama seeking to debunk British myths surrounding the conflict.
Buddy, The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Mayor
Introduced by Peter Steinbrueck
Jul 08, 2013
(Cherry Arnold, USA, 2007, Blu-ray, 86 min)
They say all politics begins locally, and if the life of Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci proves it, so does the political career of Peter Steinbrueck, a man whose father left an indelible mark on Seattle. While they both have well-known political names, the similarities stop there, so it's interesting that Steinbrueck selects Buddy, The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Mayor, a portrait of the longest-serving mayor in modern day history.
Music Craft: Al Green
Sponsored by KPLU 88.5
Jul 11, 2013
In 1968, WNET NYC, began airing Soul!, a landmark televised music program. Just a few of the many artists who graced the airwaves during its 39-week run include Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Stokely Carmichael, the Delfonics, Earth, Wind & Fire, Louis Farrakhan, Nikki Giovanni (a frequent host), Patti LaBelle, Miriam Makeba, Curtis Mayfield, Toni Morrison, Tito Puente, Max Roach, Stevie Wonder. . .and a full hour with Al Green who was 26 when he recorded this concert in the Soul! studios. Part of Music Craft, our regular series featuring rare concert footage from music legends.
The Unspeakable Act
Seattle premiere!
Jul 12 - Jul 18, 2013
(Dan Sallitt, 2013, United States, HD, 91 min)
Sometimes the only storytelling task harder than shocking an audience is normalizing the shock—or, in this case, the unspeakable. Dan Sallitt’s pensive fourth feature film follows a young woman who could be everyone’s heroine were it not for her “unspeakable” feelings for an older brother, feelings that Sallitt carefully and hauntingly picks apart using the camera-as-microscope. Featuring a groundbreaking performance from leading lady Tallie Medel, the sights and sounds of The Unspeakable Act redefine what we comfortably conceive as typical, while coloring our own typical experiences as grotesque.
The History of Future Folk
Seattle premiere!
Jul 12 - Jul 18, 2013
(John Mitchell and Jeremy Kipp Walker, USA, 2012, Blu-ray, 86 min)
You’ve probably seen Bill around—at the park yesterday with his daughter, or last night playing bluegrass in that old alien costume. You have to see Future Folk, though, to start suspecting that Bill might actually be an alien, sent to find a new home for his people and won over by the beauty of Earth music. Has another of his species just arrived to get Bill back on track with his alien mission? Will the two later team up in a bluegrass band and try to save us from invasion? You’ll never know without seeing Future Folk, a hilarious and heartwarming tale lauded at film festivals from Los Angeles to New York. Screens with The Heavens, our 2012 Local Sightings short film jury winner.
The Ghastly Love of Johnny X
Jul 19 - Jul 25, 2013
(Paul Bunnell, USA, 2012, 35mm, 106 min)
This retro-tastic, rock 'n roll, sci-fi musical (the last film ever shot on Kodak's 35mm black and white Plus X film stock) introduces us to intergalactic hoodlum Johnny X and his band of extraterrestrial juvenile delinquents, The Ghastly Ones. Starring Creed Bratton (from The Office), Kate Maberly (from The Secret Garden), singer-songwriter Paul Williams, and the last performance of the late Kevin McCarthy (from Invasion of the Body Snatchers)! An enjoyably wild and surprisingly slick-looking adventure that is worth a look, especially if you’re a fan of over-the-top genre filmmaking.
Design Is One: Lella & Massimo Vignelli
ByDesign opening night reception at 7pm, hosted by ARCADE! Opening night film introduction by Cameron Campbell (Teague, ARCADE Board of Trustees)
Jul 19 - Jul 22, 2013
(Kathy Brew, Roberto Guerra, USA, 2012, 80 min)
“If you can’t find it, design it” is the motto of the husband-and-wife designers Lella & Massimo Vignelli. Their New York City subway diagram and signage, American Airlines graphic identity, Heller dishes and countless other graphics, publications, corporate identities, products, packaging, architectural graphics and interior design, have, over the past 40 years, greatly influenced the American design landscape and endure beyond all fads.
Seattle Moves
Jul 20, 2013
Seattle creative luminaries Brent Watanabe (independent artist), Gabe Kean and Thomas Ryun (from Belle and Wissell, Co.) along with Josh Hayward and Morgan Henry (from Digital Kitchen) will show recent work and discuss the process and expanding field of public and interactive experiential design.
Pablo
Jul 20, 2013
(Richard Goldgewicht, USA, 2012, 103 min)
Best known for his dynamic film title sequences (Dr. Strangelove, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt) and for innovating rapid editing and split-screen techniques, Pablo Ferro has been a great and often under-recognized creative force in design and film for nearly 50 years. Blending animation, motion graphics, and film clips, Pablo presents a lively portrait of the renowned designer, artist and bohemian.
Gehry's Vertigo
Jul 21, 2013
(Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine, France, 2011, 48 min)
French filmmakers Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine’s smart and funny “Living Architectures” film series counters the countless ideal representations of architecture by creating intimate, subjective experiences with the people who actually live in, use, or maintain the spaces. The latest in this series, Gehry’s Vertigo, provides a unique perspective on the complexity of architect Frank Gehry’s iconic Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao by documenting the techniques and challenges of its team of glass cleaners. The film includes rarely-seen views from the top roofs and along harrowing ascents.
Koolhaas Houselife
Jul 21, 2013
(Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine, France, 2008, 58 min)
The first film in the “Living Architectures” series, Koolhaas Houselife provides unusually intimate access to a masterpiece of contemporary architecture—the Rem Koolhaas-designed Maison à Bordeaux—by documenting housekeeper Guadalupe Acedo as she navigates its hydraulic lifts, sliding panels and minimal staircases.
Phase IV
New 35mm print!
Jul 23 - Jul 24, 2013
(Saul Bass, USA, 1974, 35mm, 92 min)
Acclaimed graphic designer and creator of countless classic film title sequences (Anatomy of A Murder, Man With The Golden Arm, Vertigo, Psycho) Saul Bass directs this visionary 1974 sci-fi film, in which a group of scientists study the patterns of cosmically-altered ants that are rapidly evolving to develop a hive mind. His one and only feature film, Bass’ Phase IV is a truly unique masterpiece, boasting visually stunning photography, art direction and optical effects.
Summer Members Party
Free event for Film Forum members!
Jul 25, 2013
On July 25, Film Forum members can join us for open bar and mingling with other film lovers. A rare screening of Federico Fellini's final film, The Voice of the Moon, immediately follows the member party.
The Voice of the Moon
Rare 35mm print!
Jul 25, 2013
(Federico Fellini, Italy, 1990, 35mm, 123 min)
Federico Fellini's final film is a fitting coda to his five decades as one of the world’s foremost artists. Tantalizingly, The Voice of the Moon was never released in the United States - our screening is a rare opportunity to see it on the big screen, and in sparkling 35mm.