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Mayor Jenny Durkan Announces 2021 Mayor’s Award for Achievement in Film

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Mayor Jenny Durkan announced Vivian Hua and Northwest Film Forum as the recipient of the 15th Annual Mayor’s Award for Achievement in Film. The Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film recognizes an individual or entity for exceptional work that has significantly contributed to the growth, advancement and reputation of Seattle as a filmmaking city. The award was presented by Mayor Durkan at the Seattle International Film Festival Virtual Opening Night Gala on April 8. 

“I am proud to present the 2021 Mayor’s Award for Achievement in Film to Vivian Hua, for her extraordinary leadership with the Northwest Film Forum,” said Mayor Durkan. “As executive director of Northwest Film Forum, Vivian brings to her role a passion for preserving cultural space, centering work in equity and inclusivity, and finding ways to disrupt oppressive structures. COVID has significantly disrupted our film industry, however, despite an extremely difficult year, the drive, creativity and innovation of the industry has not been stopped.” 

“We are grateful for Vivian’s creativity and investment in the community through her work with the Northwest Film Festival. Our film industry contributes to our culture as a city, creates space for storytelling on an individual and community level, and provides economic opportunity for workers within our creative sectors,” said Pamela Banks, Interim Director of the Seattle Office of Economic Development. 

“The Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film has been given to many folks I respect in the local Seattle filmmaking community, and I am pleased for Northwest Film Forum to be represented among them yet again,” said Hua. “Here’s to a future where the City of Seattle will continue to show their strong support for our film industry, especially with regards to creating a more equitable space, so that filmmakers of all kinds can feel supported in sharing their authentic tales.” 

Vivian Hua (華婷婷) is a writer, filmmaker, organizer, and Executive Director of Northwest Film Forum since October 2018.  She has been the editor-in-chief of the socially conscious arts publication REDEFINE since 2004, and much of her work unifies her interest in the metaphysical with her belief that art can positively transform the self and society. NWFF has been Seattle’s film center since 1995, known previously as Wiggly World Studios. NWFF envisions a world where all people have the power to express themselves and connect with each other through visual storytelling and culture. As a nonprofit film and arts center located on Capitol Hill, NWFF presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events, multidisciplinary performance and public discussions each year.     

NWFF has provided a “clubhouse” of collaborative, funding and resource opportunities and has worked with Seattle directors such as Lynn Shelton, Meghan Griffiths, David Russo, and more. NWFF celebrates and offers a platform to Seattle’s emerging filmmakers with the annual Local Sightings Film Festival. NWFF is a comprehensive member-based visual media organization, offering educational workshops and services for film and media makers at all stages of their development, including access to space, gear, fiscal sponsorship and an edit lab.  

Through Vivian’s leadership, NWFF has developed critical online programs and webinars to expand the organization’s mission of supporting filmmaking and filmmakers this past year. Vivian also led the development of a series of recovery and reopening online panels, webinars and affinity groups prioritizing Black, Indigenous, people of color and LGBTQ filmmakers. Some examples include the BIPOC Filmmaker Happy Hour series, the Collective Power Fund grantmaking through the Warhol Foundation, Remove the Gap productions and the Lynn Shelton Of a Certain Age grant. NWFF supports local film festivals including Seattle Asian American Film Festival, Children’s Film Festival, Seattle Turkish Film Festival, among others, by providing resources and online screening platforms. This January, NWFF brought Seattle’s independent filmmaking to the national level through a partnership with the Sundance Film Festival. 

For over 75 years, Seattle has made its mark on the film scene as the production center for landmark films, compelling television series and successful commercial campaigns. OED offers a low cost, one-stop shop, streamlined service for permitting City of Seattle property for film productions. The office also acts as advocates for the film industry and the positive impacts production has on the local economy. 

Learn more about the award and previous winners.   

Vivian Hua. Credit: Leo Carmona.

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Seattle director Megan Griffiths on the making of ‘Sadie’

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A view of Sadie's setting in a Washington trailer park. Screening at the Seattle International Film Festival this year, Sadie is Seattle director Megan Griffiths’ sixth feature film, and tells the story of a 13-year-old girl living with her mother in a trailer park and struggling with the prolonged absence of her military father. Described in Variety as “equal parts coming-of-age story and slow-burn thriller,” the film’s titular character (played by Sophia Mitri Schloss) is intensely loyal to her dad and willing to go to extreme measures to keep her mother away from a new boyfriend.

Griffiths began working on the script for Sadie in 2009, her theme of inescapable violence in American culture just as relevant then as it is today. “I have been working with my producer Lacey Leavitt for eight years to get Sadie to the screen,” Griffiths says. “We were joined in 2016 by [producer] Jennessa West, who was a true champion of the film as well and pushed us over the finish line. It’s difficult to get any film made, and this was no exception, but ultimately we pulled together an incredible team and made a beautiful film that we’re all very proud of.”

Sophia Mitri Schloss as Sadie.Sadie was filmed in Washington, primarily in an Everett trailer park. “The film was written for Washington and we never considered shooting it anywhere else,” Griffiths explains. “Washington is home for myself and my producers, and we all love and support the industry here whenever we possibly can.” The production hired about 100 crew members and shot for 19 days, mostly in Everett but also at various locations in Burien, Shoreline and Seattle.

Griffiths describes Sadie as a “long labor of love,” and is thankful to its all-local (and 50 percent female) crew for getting it made at last. “I think it represents the best of our city’s film community, and I’m so proud to take it out into the wider world to show what our local industry is capable of.”

You can catch Sadie at SIFF on both May 27 (preceded by an interview with star Melanie Lynskey) and June 6.

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Producer Lacey Leavitt on the making of Outside In

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Edie Falco as Carol and Jay Duplass as Chris in Outside In.

Seattle director Lynn Shelton’s latest film, Outside In, opens at SIFF this Friday, April 6; the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017, and had its U.S. premiere last month at SXSW. It stars Jay Duplass as a convicted felon attempting to reassemble his life after 20 years of wrongful imprisonment and explores his relationship with his former high school teacher, Carol (played by Edie Falco), who was key to securing his freedom.

Critics are praising the performances in the film, particularly Falco’s, as does Outside In producer Lacey Leavitt. “When [Falco] became Carol, she completely transformed, including down to her walk. She’s absolutely captivating on screen and seeing it for the first time on set really took my breath away,” Leavitt says. “All of the actors—Jay, Kaitlyn [Dever], Ben [Schwartz]—they all just completely inhabited the world Lynn and Jay created.”

Leavitt recently started a production company called Electric Dream Factory and has been making films in Seattle for the past decade. She often works closely with Shelton and other local filmmakers, including Megan Griffiths (whose new film Sadie premiered at SXSW as well). Outside In is Shelton’s seventh consecutive feature shot in Washington State.

The film was shot primarily in Granite Falls, a town with a population of about 3,000, shooting for 20 days in October and November of 2016 and totaling over 500 days of work for local crew. Nine out of the film’s fifteen roles were played by Washington actors, and editing and audio post production were completed in Seattle.

Leavitt describes the town of Granite Falls as a character in its own right in Outside In. “Lynn always wanted to make this film in [Washington] state,” says Leavitt. “When she was describing the feel of the script to location manager Dave Drummond, production designer John Lavin, and me, I just knew it was going to end up being Granite Falls. I spent a lot of my childhood there and I just knew that’s what Lynn was describing.”

The small-town, overcast setting helped set the film’s tone, and Leavitt describes a supportive environment on set. This helped the crew get through the strange time in which they were making the film: “Honestly I think the biggest challenge we faced in shooting the film was that the 2016 Presidential Election was going on at the same time. That was a very challenging time to focus on almost anything else but the news, and shooting this film was also one of the best things we could have done.”

“I love living in Seattle and filming in Washington State, as does Lynn,” says Leavitt. “We do it every chance we possibly get.”

Catch Outside In starting this Friday night at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

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Screenings at SIFF: International Cat Day

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A picture of the SIFF theater in Uptown

Seattle has earned its reputation as a city of cat-lovers, so it comes as no surprise that an audience of over a hundred joined the SIFF Uptown Theater for an International Cat Day Celebration on October 29.

While SIFF is best known for its annual Film Festival held every spring (the largest film festival in the United States), it also hosts special screenings, educational events, and regular cinema programming throughout the year. Locally owned and operated since 1976, SIFF offers its patrons a bevy of unique films and events (and reasonably priced snacks) year-round at SIFF’s three classic movie houses. The National Cat Day Celebration featured a special screening of the documentary Kedi and hosted a cat toy-making station, courtesy of Mud Bay.

The screening began with a 50-minute curated selection of the best cat videos the internet has to offer, including an extended collection of the YouTube famous Maru and ending with the quintessential (and local!) keyboard cat. While most of us know what it’s like to watch a cat video at home, the SIFF show was a unique chance to watch along with a crowd of vocal and enthusiastic cat lovers.

The collection was followed by Cats of the Urban Wild, a 10-minute short film from the New Yorker about volunteer efforts to effectively and humanely control the overpopulation of stray cats in New York City.

The feature presentation, Kedi, is a critically-acclaimed documentary on Istanbul’s street feline population, directed by Ceyda Torun. The film is a charming series of vignettes on individual cats across Istanbul and the humans in their lives, all interspersed with beautiful, sweeping shots of the city.

As the audience was reminded at the beginning of the screening, “National Cat Day is not just a day to celebrate cats, but also remember there are lots of cats out there who need homes.”

You can find information about SIFF’s variety of upcoming events here. SIFF also offers year-round educational programming for youth, filmmakers, and the general public. See what they’re up to on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on their very own media page.

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Get Ready for 25 Days of Films

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SIFF 2016 | May 19 - June 12

Seattle International Film Festival is May 19 – June 12, 2016

Encapsulating all the wonder of the 25-day Seattle International Film Festival – the nation’s largest, most highly attended film festival – into a neat and tidy blog post is not the easiest task, especially for a former SIFF staffer. I will do my best.

This year, the Seattle International Film Festival celebrates its 42nd anniversary with 421 films representing 85 countries. Filmmakers and actors will grace the red carpet, popcorn will be a welcome substitute for dinner, and audiences of all sorts will fall in love with film all over again.

There’s so very much to see and do. Make sure you weave in some parties and industry forums to take full advantage of networking and learning opportunities. Support the Northwest Connections program, showcasing films with roots in the Pacific Northwest. I challenge you to break up with Netflix for the next month and get thee to the cinema!

 

New this year: SIFFX  

SIFFX will explore virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360-degree video

SIFFX, a brand new festival-within-a-festival (June 2-5), is an all-out exploration of emerging technologies and immersive storytelling. After SIFFX, “Alice in Wonderland” will never be the same, and if you didn’t grow up in a war zone, you’ll have a better understanding of what it was like for those who did. SIFFX festivalgoers will get to try out both sophisticated virtual reality (VR) headsets and cardboard viewers, and compare solitary viewing to the shared viewing experiences of 360° screenings in the Pacific Science Center’s Laser Dome. My mind cannot WAIT to be blown.

Filmmakers and audiences alike will also learn from the “godmother of virtual reality,” Nonny de la Peña, and other experts who will cover the philosophical, technical, and artistic aspects of these innovations in storytelling.

Seattle is primed to further push the VR/AR/360° envelope – we are so excited to see what Seattle’s tech and creative communities will produce together in this space. Read more about immersive storytelling and how Seattle fits in in Washington Filmworks’ Q&A with SIFFX Director Sandy Cioffi.

 

Other Highlights

  • Two additional Seattle venues will host screenings this year: Ballard’s Majestic Bay (May 20 -26) and Columbia City’s Ark Lodge (June 3-9)
  • SIFFcast, the festival’s new official podcast, has exclusive interviews with filmmakers, composers, actors, writers, and other talent from around the globe
  • June 12, 1:30PM, SIFF Cinema Egyptian: A tribute to the festival’s co-founder Dan Ireland, who passed away this year

 

Get Started

Find your physical copy of the SIFF Free Guide at your nearest Starbucks, or browse online by film program, genre, mood, country, or your favorite letter of the alphabet. Want to start with a narrowed-down list of films? Check out the Programmers’ Picks, a selection of films that the festival’s curators have found particularly captivating.

Don’t miss your chance to score free tickets – keep an eye on SIFF’s social media for contests and giveaways.

Read SIFF’s press release for more information about film programs, competitions, forums and panels, and special presentations.

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REEL NW AWARD

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SIFF

This year, The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) will again work with KCTS 9 to present the Reel NW Award, which is presented to a feature-length film in the Northwest Connections section of SIFF’s films. In 2012, the inaugural Reel NW Award went to Eden, directed by Seattle filmmaker Megan Griffiths.

Selection as a Reel NW Award winner indicates excellence in storytelling as reflected in writing, character development and story structure, story-enhancing production values, and a creative spirit emblematic of independent filmmaking.

The winning film will receive a $2,500 cash prize from KCTS 9 and an offer to be broadcast on KCTS 9’s Reel NW independent film series, contingent on meeting broadcast requirements. To be eligible for consideration, a film must not have a distribution deal in place when reviewed by the Reel NW Award jury. The jury is comprised of Randy Brinson, Executive Director of Programming for KCTS 9; Lyall Bush, Executive Director of Northwest Film Forum; and our very own Chris Swenson, Film and Special Events Program Manager at Seattle Office of Film + Music.

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Join us for the Film + Music + Interactive Happy Hour Next Week!

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Join us for the Film + Music + Interactive Happy Hour Next Week!

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Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is Looking for Interns

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seattle-international-film-festival-siff-2012_400x225If you are someone looking to get some experience in working in Seattle’s film world, SIFF is looking for organized, efficient, resourceful interns in a number of different fields right now. Their internships include experiences in the community outreach, cinema marketing, cinema publicity, graphic design, individual giving & membership, and administrative fields. There are a ton of options for getting experience in the world of Film and Film Events.

Those interested should check out SIFF’s Interns page.

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Mayor McGinn Proclaims June 22 “Grassroots” Day in Seattle

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Seattle has a long and diverse history of grassroots campaigns, and the feature Grassroots, shot right here in town, tells the story of one such campaign. Directed by Stephen Gyllenhall, the film is based on the book Zioncheck for President, a true account of the quirky 2001 Seattle City Council race between Grant Cogswell and Richard McIver. Grassroots played recently at the SIFF closing night gala, but if you didn’t catch it then, you’ll have a chance to see it at the Harvard Exit when it opens on Friday, June 22 – a day Mayor McGinn has proclaimed “Grassroots Day” in Seattle. Stephen Gyllenhall is planning to attend all showings from Friday to Sunday. The production of Grassroots was made possible by the Washington State Film Incentives program.

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FILMMAKERS: DON’T MISS THE TOTALLY STACKED VIDEO CONTEST

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CAPITOL HILL BLOCK PARTY 
Local filmmakers and amateur directors are invited to submit a video between 30 seconds and 2 minutes in length, incorporating the idea of Seattle Culture (bonus points for any use of the Space Needle), to the Totally Stacked! Video Contest. Entries may include all types of videos, but must be submitted by July 2 to be considered. The contest is organized by The Stranger, Capitol Hill Block Party, and SIFF – and participants will be eligible for a number of prizes, including SIFF passes, Capitol Hill Block Party tickets, and more.

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