Tag Archives: film

Capitol Hill Community Post | 2024 Seattle Queer Film Festival

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PONYBOI

THE ASTRONAUT LOVERS

From Three Dollar Bill Cinema 

Three Dollar Bill Cinema is proud to announce the full lineup of film screenings and special events for the 29th Seattle Queer Film Festival (SQFF), taking place October 10-13 at venues on Capitol Hill and in downtown Seattle and virtual screenings October 14-20. The diverse slate of queer cinema hails from 26 countries across the globe and includes narrative features, documentaries, and short films totaling 46 programs comprised of 101 films.

In-person screenings occur at SIFF Cinema Egyptian and in three theaters concurrently at AMC Pacific Place, and most virtual screenings are available in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. Tickets and passes are on sale now.

The 2024 festival theme is Q-thartic. “In a time when marginalized communities are still fighting for visibility and justice, it’s vital that we uplift queer voices through the transformative power of film,” said Trent Farrington, festival director. “Our theme, Q-thartic, centers on the emotional release that cinema can provide, offering a much-needed space for healing, validation, and connection. Through stories that celebrate intersectionality, we hope to spark empathy, foster inclusivity, and embrace the complexities of queer life in all its forms.”

The Seattle Queer Film Festival will open on Thursday, October 10, at Capitol Hill’s SIFF Cinema Egyptian with PONYBOI. Produced and written by and starring River Gallo (2023 OUT 100 list, winner of GLAAD Rising Star Media Award,) PONYBOI takes place in New Jersey over Valentine’s Day. A young intersex sex worker, Ponyboi (River Gallo,) must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways. With the help of Bruce, a mysterious cowboy played by Murray Bartlett), Ponyboi journeys through the underbelly of New Jersey on a quest for freedom in a gripping 24 hours. Nominated for the 2024 Sundance Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, PONYBOI also stars Dylan O’Brien (star of “The Maze Runner” trilogy and the long-running TV series “Teen Wolf”), Victoria Pedretti (“Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood” and “You”), and Indya Moore (“Pose”). The film will screen at SIFF Cinema Egyptian at 7:00 PM, followed by an Opening Night party at Stoup Brewing. Continue reading →

The Grand Illusion’s search for new Seattle art house home will include partnership with Capitol Hill’s Northwest Film Forum

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(Image: The Grand Illusion)

Classic Seattle art house cinema The Grand Illusion is moving on from its University District home and will be partnering with Capitol Hill’s Northwest Film Forum on pop-ups and more as it searches for a new theater to call home.

The Seattle Times reports the U District theater will close after more than 50 years with a final screening in January.

The Grand Illusion is asking for community fundraising support as it searches for a new space in the city and says 12th Ave’s NWFF will be a partner in pop-up screenings. Continue reading →

Don’t worry — They’re still showing films at the Egyptian despite the ‘speakeasy’ pop-up

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One of the last remaining active art house and indie movie theaters in the city and an important center for film on Capitol Hill is just finishing up a run this week as a “speakeasy” pop-up.

But don’t worry. SIFF says rentals like the $40 a pop Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy don’t cut into silver screen time at Capitol Hill’s historic Egyptian Theatre.

The one-week event from the Fever interactive experience company promises a night “led by the speakeasy’s lead mixologist and Poe historians” — an “immersive evening” that “promises to be a chillingly unforgettable experience.” It wrapped up over the weekend. Continue reading →

Beyond Oppenheimer, nuclear Issues highlighted in International Uranium Film Festival’s stop on Capitol Hill

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By Holland Burris/UW News Lab

Oppenheimer has been a cinema sensation with seven Academy Awards for its depiction of the physicist who helped develop the world’s first nuclear weapons. There are more — and more important — stories to tell. The first-ever film festival about nuclear power will stop in Seattle on April 12-14 at Capitol Hill’s Northwest Film Forum thanks to Jad Baaklini, a native of Beirut now residing in Seattle as director of communication at Epiphany Parish.

Baaklini became fascinated with the Hanford site in eastern Washington, learning about it after immigrating to the United States.

“I think people should just be aware of what’s around them,” Baaklini said. “Seattle can be in a little bubble especially if people are newcomers like me. I only moved here in 2018, and you know, you can live here your whole life not knowing the rest of Washington.”

After hearing about the International Uranium Film Festival, a Brazilian-based festival looking to stop in multiple locations in the U.S., he reached out to IUFF, pitched hosting to Northwest Film Forum, and connected the festival to its main sponsor, Physicians for Social Responsibility.

IUFF will show eight movies at the 12th Ave independent theater that will discuss nuclear issues from around the world, and include some panel discussions after a few of the films. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | Full lineup announced for the 28th annual Seattle Queer Film Festival

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Glitter and Doom

From Three Dollar Bill Cinema

Three Dollar Bill Cinema is proud to announce the full lineup of film screenings and special events for the 28th Seattle Queer Film Festival (SQFF), taking place October 12-22 at venues on Capitol Hill and in Columbia City. The festival will be followed by a week of select films streaming online from October 22-29. The diverse slate of queer cinema hails from across the globe and includes narrative features, documentaries, and short films totaling 53 programs comprised of 119 films.

In-person screenings take place at SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Northwest Film Forum, Broadway Performance Hall, Ark Lodge Cinema, and Queer/Bar, and virtual screenings are available in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. Tickets go on sale September 15, 2023. Passes are on sale now.

The 2023 festival theme is “Queer Joy Is Cinematic.” Festival screenings and events will explore what ‘queer joy’ means to members of the LGBTQ+ community. Continue reading →

Ten years after taking over Capitol Hill’s Egyptian Theatre, 49th Seattle International Film Festival kicks off with announcement SIFF is reopening the Cinerama

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(Image: SIFF)

As its venues including Capitol Hill’s Egyptian Theatre begin hosting the 2023 Seattle International Film Festival, cinema nonprofit SIFF has announced it is adding the city’s grandest silver screen to its family.

“We’ve acquired the Seattle Cinerama Theater from the estate of Paul G. Allen and will be reopening later this year,” the organization announced before Thursday’s opening night of the 49th edition of the festival. “This acquisition adds to our current venue offerings: SIFF Film Center, SIFF Cinema Uptown, and SIFF Cinema Egyptian. We look forward to stewarding this historic venue for magical moviegoing experiences well into the future—with all of you.” Continue reading →

From its new Capitol Hill home, Three Dollar Bill Cinema readies for the 18th year of TRANSlations: Seattle Trans Film Festival with screenings beyond the neighborhood

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A scene from Anhell69

As it prepares for the 18th year of the TRANSlations: Seattle Trans Film Festival, Capitol Hill film nonprofit Three Dollar Bill Cinema has also made a change of address.

The organization has a new Capitol Hill home, moving its offices into the newly formed E Pine complex of Gay City. LGBTQ health and community facility Gay City moved into its new Capitol Hill space last summer on E Pine and took on a new mission as “Seattle’s LGBTQ+ Center.”

Next week, Three Dollar will host the 18th TRANSlations to kick off Seattle’s month of peak film festival activity including the return of the SIFF: Seattle International Film Festival starting May 11th.

TRANSlations gets the festival ball rolling starting Thursday, May 4th with screenings and events both online and in-person. For Capitol Hill film lovers, the 2023 festival will be an excuse for a field trip out of the neighborhood. Continue reading →

CHS /film-on-the-hill/ | Will The Nightmare Emporium Film Festival return from the dead on Capitol Hill?

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/film-on-the-hill/ is a new monthly or so Capitol Hill film column. Have ideas for future editions? Let us know in the comments.

By Kyler Knight

The Make Believe Seattle: A Genre Film Festival just finished its run on Capitol Hill. While the festival is a testament to the city’s pandemic recovery return to an exciting indie film exhibition scene. There will be room for more like The Nightmare Emporium, a collection of horror anthology short films which ran around Halloween for three years in Seattle’s Central District and Capitol Hill. From 2017 to 2019 the festival gave local filmmakers the chance to watch their short films on the big screen with an audience of like-minded horror fanatics and lovers of indie cinema.

How do these kinds of projects experience a resurrection — and come back from the dead?

While participating filmmakers were more or less given free reign to make their short films however they liked, there was one condition in order to tie all the wildly disparate narratives together: each short film had to utilize a specific prop like a baseball, a knife, or a pair of handcuffs. But these weren’t just random props per se. Narratively speaking, these were artifacts hand-picked from a decades-old collection of strange relics by the Nightmare Emporium’s host, a sinister Shopkeeper played by Mark Waldstein. Between each short film the Shopkeeper would set the stage by dusting off one of his oddities and presenting it to the viewer like the Creepshow Creep or the Crypt Keeper in Tales From The Crypt.

Speaking to Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, the festival’s founder Danny Cork said the idea for The Nightmare Emporium snowballed from what was originally a personal project. Continue reading →

New Make Believe Seattle film festival will bring ‘the mysterious and fantastical’ to Capitol Hill screens

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Aliens Abducted My Parents

The long-running SIFF Seattle International Film Festival will return in May with screenings across the city including on Capitol HIll. In the meantime, a brand new film festival will debut this week in the neighborhood.

With screenings at SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Northwest Film Forum, West Hall at Century Ballroom, and Queer/Bar, The Make Believe Seattle Film Festival is a very Capitol Hill event.

“Genre film festivals thrive in highlighting the truly indescribable – telling stories that refuse to be contained within typical cinematic categories like comedy or drama, but that exist in the murky boundaries in-between,” Make Believe Seattle film programmer Kasi Gaarenstroom says about the new festival. “These stories push narratives and beliefs and are a catharsis to many that may not see themselves in mainstream media.” Continue reading →

Casting call: Seattle seeks first members for new Film Commission to bring more movie and TV projects to city

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I’ve never seen Sleepless in Seattle

Last year, the Seattle City Council created a new commission hoped to help attract new film, television, commercial, and streaming projects in the city.

Now the Seattle Film Commission is looking for its first members:

The Seattle Film Commission will be a diverse, 11-member group of film industry professionals representing 11 film-related disciplines. Continue reading →