Patrons were asked to leave the Harvard Exit 10 minutes into a Wednesday night Seattle International Film Festival screening of a documentary about the eco-terrorist Earth Liberation Front movement. A person with knowledge of the situation said that the move was prompted by suspicious behavior exhibited by a man who darted into the theater and quickly fled. We have not confirmed details of the situation with theater management, SIFF reps or Seattle Police who were called to the scene. UPDATE: Confirmation and more details from SPD below.
The 7 PM screening of If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front was only minutes underway when people inside the theater were ushered outside. @HhLodesign was at the theater and tweeted from the scene:
We’re working to get more information on the situation and to find out if the suspicious person was apprehended. When we stopped by the theater, there was no obvious police presence and we were told that the situation was not significant. We’re also told the screening was canceled.
There were a minimum of 5 patrol cars hanging around when I walked by around 7:30. Guess this explains the unusual amount of people milling aimlessly about Deluxe.
Wednesday night is Burger Rama at Deluxe all burgers are 4.99 people start arriving early and usually there’s a line up till 9:30. There isn’t really anywhere to wait inside so people wait on the side walk for there name to be called.
One guy runs into the theater and runs back out, and suddenly it’s some kind of bomb scare? Maybe he just had to pee. How paranoid are we now?
These days? We’re cautious and maybe overly cautious in the case of a crowded movie theater.
Better safe than sorry. We could be reading a very different CHS blog post right now. Kudos to Landmark and SIFF for being proactive and putting patron safety first.
Why does “better safe than sorry” only apply to idiotic circumstances with minuscule chances of anything bad actually happening like this?
Why does better safe than sorry not apply to things that kill people every single day? Lower speed limits would save many many many many lives every single day, why isn’t anyone lobbying for that?
Because it would be inconvenient and our collective time isn’t worth 30,000 lives (NHTSA figure) being saved each year.
So how exactly is evacuating a movie theater for an imaginary threat a good idea?
People have an irrationally disproportionate fear of dying in any manner that would make the 6 o’clock news. Look no further than airports to see what “we” are willing to put up with as a result of this fear.
http://slog.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/mobile/2011/05/25/har
right call, especially with an ELF film.
If every white guy wearing a camo jacket and a backpack and exhibiting “peculiar behavior” in Capitol Hill is going to be viewed as a potential terrorist, we might as well set up a checkpoint at Pike and Boren.
No, wrong call. The War On Terror is making us all way too paranoid about ordinary things.
Totally the right call.
Keep heart and watch for this film to open at the Varsity this July. This story deserves an audience, and it is interesting that everyone got so jumpy about showing it.
Hopefully SIFF will also add dates to replace this showing. Also Everett Performing Arts Center, May 29, 2011 6:00 PM.
-PB
…It is also available for free online. Which I think is a very appropriate choice for those who paid to see it and then got booted from the theater.
I can’t find where the movie is available online for free- can someone post the link?
It’s not online for free yet. Unless you count pirated versions. It’ll be in theaters in June/July. I saw the film at Sundance and remember an interesting factoid: Out of X number of ELF actions there has never been anyone hurt or killed. I’m pretty sure I remember that correctly.
Do you recall how much damage has been done by ELF?
Yeah Von, tell that to the people who had to foot the bill for $7 million in the Echo Lake stunt.
I’m not condoning what they’ve done and I don’t remember the dollar amount in damages. Just saying “physical” violence doesn’t seem to be their bag.
I was there and here’s my account for what it’s worth: After the theater was cleared and complimentary vouchers were handed out to most of the attendees on the street–still unsure of why they were booted out–20 of us were waiting in line for our refund when the police told us to move away from the building to the corner of Roy and Broadway as a safety measure. After the police swept the building and it was determined that there were no suspicious items in the building, the manager came over to tell us that they would be showing the movie to the few of us that stuck around. The best part? After a few of us discussed what the guy looked like, a lady figured out it was her friend–dressed in camo jacket with a black beanie–that left the theater because…wait for it…he was mad at her. She told the theater manager, but from what we gathered, the lady said the theater’s description of the man changed (I witnessed the camo-clad guy leave myself, left aisle of theater, I’m sure I’m not the only one). So instead of a sold-out crowd being able to see the movie, the film was viewed by maybe 20 people. Apparently in film school courses, this particular group skipped the “Screening Controversial Films” class and were off attending “Profiling 101.”SIFF #fail.