Dearest Forum Friend,

As we enter the end of this historic year, focusing on the negative is altogether too easy. Allow me to shift the focus onto something positive for just a moment.

2020 is a year that has exposed structures of systemic inequality while simultaneously illuminating pathways forward,  towards authentic change. Turbulent social and personal transformations have galvanized a broad constituency of allies and alliances to work together in ways never seen bef…

November 11, 2020 – With their newly established Collective Power Fund, Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) is one of the newest nonprofit visual art centers to join The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Regional Regranting Program. A national initiative established in 2007, the Regional Regranting Program recognizes and supports the movement of independently organized, public-facing, artist-centered activity that animates local and regional art scenes that lie beyond the reach of traditiona…

AWARD SELECTION COMMITTEE INCLUDED JUSTIN CHANG, NIA DACOSTA, MEL ESLYN, AURORA GUERRERO, AND NAHNATCHKA KHAN

This year, to honor the legacy of beloved filmmaker Lynn Shelton, Northwest Film Forum and Duplass Brothers Productions launched the Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant. This $25,000 unrestricted cash grant is modeled after Shelton’s own history in the film industry, supporting a woman or non-binary US-based filmmaker, age 39 or older, who has yet to direct a narrative …

Plus: best short films in Documentary, Feature, Animation, Experimental & Social Impact categories

Northwest Film Forum’s 23rd Annual Local Sightings Film Festival (September 18–27, 2020) wrapped its first-ever virtual installment, showcasing over 135 films to 1,200 festivalgoers from throughout the United States and Canada. Local Sightings is one of few regional festivals of its kind, which champions emerging and establishe…

10 Days of Films and Special Events Championing Pacific Northwest Film & Media Makers

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The ever fluid Local Sightings Film Fest has been adapted for the web this year! Though we’ll miss the lobby hubbub and hobnob, we’re excited to extend this showcase of Pacific Northwest media-making talent beyond the bounds of our physical space.

Our 2020 program invited artists in the region to get creative (and a little destructive) with popular conceptions o…

FROM MALAYA MOVEMENT:

We are encouraged by Northwest Film Forum’s presentation of Ramona S. Diaz’s A Thousand Cuts. This important documentary spans the important and courageous work of Maria Ressa, a Filipina journalist who has challenged the violent Duterte administration’s ruthless “war on drugs.”

In his fourth year of office, Duterte’s authoritarian rule has eroded the sovereignty and democracy of the Phil…

SEATTLE, WA (JULY 14th, 2020) — To honor the legacy of beloved filmmaker Lynn Shelton, Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum, alongside Duplass Brothers Productions and with major support from COLOR, are launching the Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant. The $25,000 unrestricted cash grant will be awarded each year to a woman or non-binary U.S. filmmaker, age 39 or older, who has yet to direct a narrative feature.

Shelton often spoke of feeling insp…

Dear Northwest Film Forum Community,

From the time they were forcibly brought to the Americas hundreds of years ago, Black Americans have expressed – using offerings of art, philosophy, story, song and dance – the struggles they have endured within a society which continues to strip them of their rights and systematically limits their access to resources. Yet not enough has changed.

Over the past week, as protests rose up all over the world in support of justice for Bl…

Lucky us! Ben Gibbard (via Death Cab for Cutie) is hosting his LAST weekly livestream to benefit NORTHWEST FILM FORUM (that’s us)! What’s more is that this livestream has a 3x MATCH, which means: starting today, if you have considered donating to NWFF but have been sitting on your hands, NOW THROUGH SUNDAY IS THE TIME! Please Venmo @BenGibbardLiveFromHome to rather than donating through Facebook or YouTube, to ensure that we receive the full matching funds.

Watch it o…