Northwest Film Forum Year-End List 2017: Courtney Sheehan’s Top 5 Lines from the Pen of Paul Siple
Paul Henry Siple is a man of many talents. His house is a film nerd’s dream castle, full of electronic appliances and analog media otherwise lost to the sands of time — including but not limited to an awe-inspiring collection of VHS tapes, tube cameras, and various mysterious media devices from the 80s. Lest you mistake him for a homebody, I would be remiss if I didn’t sing Paul’s praises as a veritable dance floor phenomenon; he can cut a rug like no one’s business. And, as the Forum’s Programs & Marketing Coordinator, he cooks up gripping copy on the regular for the plethora of films and events we entreat you to join us for every week. Behold a few of my favorite lines from Paul’s many-splendored mind this year — may 2018 brim with creative juices for you and yours.
5. "Thrill to the kaleidoscopic combustion of astonishing quantities of homemade explosives!"
2. "November! The crunch (and later squish) of leaves under your feet, the wet wind worming its way between the buttons of your coat, moldering jack-o-lanterns mugging at you from front lawns."
1. Paul threw this line into the brainstorm ether one day in the office and we all recognized it immediately as a slogan of the Forum:
About Courtney Sheehan
Executive Director
courtney (at) nwfilmforum.org
As Executive Director, Courtney Sheehan guides vision and strategy by overseeing artistic programs and services, operations, finances, and fundraising activities. Courtney has curated film programs and produced events for theaters and festivals on three continents. On a year-long Watson Fellowship, Courtney investigated the organizational structures, community roles, and programming strategies of twenty film festivals and media centers in India, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. As a journalist, Courtney has covered film events ranging from the world’s largest documentary festival (IDFA in Amsterdam) to South America’s largest animation festival (Anima Mundi in Rio de Janeiro) and her publications include Bitch Magazine, Senses of Cinema, The Independent, and NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies. She co-founded Cine Migratorio, a migration-themed film festival in Santander, Spain. Courtney first worked at Northwest Film Forum in 2009 as a programming and Children’s Film Festival Seattle intern. She holds a degree in Visual Culture from Grinnell College.