Growing Pains
The Northwest Film Forum is an organization that, aside from showing movies at the Grand Illusion and the Little Theatre, encourages local film production through WigglyWorld Studios (its current slate of films in production: Buffalo Bill's Defunct, Hedda Gabler, and Cascadia, the film based on Charles Mudede's Police Beat column). The organization's main office is on the backside of Capitol Hill, right next to the Little Theatre. It's a functional space, but so jam-packed with equipment and services that it practically dares you not to use them. Add to this the fact that its current location is not quite in the hub of city activity--the only foot traffic comes courtesy of a couple of restaurants--and you get a place whose success comes courtesy of good ideas. But as the organization grows, so do its needs, and the NWFF has quickly been getting too big for its britches (and offices).
Which is precisely why the organization signed a lease last week for a big new space closer to the heart of Capitol Hill. Located at 1515 12th Avenue, between Pike and Pine, the new space will house not only the Little Theatre but a second 120-seat theater as well. Along with the increased space for presentation and performance are bigger offices for the staff, larger post-production suites, independent artist offices, Wi-Fi, and a film vault. It's a great opportunity for this important local organization, and you are invited to celebrate the move and look at the new digs during NWFF's free champagne open house on Saturday, December 6, between noon and 3 pm.
Here's some more good news for local film: Another local shot-in-Seattle feature has recently finished production, and it will have its premiere right here in the Pacific Northwest. Muffin Man will screen at Bellevue's Regal Galleria theater on Thursday, December 11. I haven't seen this "uncomfortably hilarious look at the obesity epidemic," so I can only gauge it from its press release, but apparently it's a mockumentary about anthropologists from a distant galaxy who are studying the evolution of human beings from Homo Sapiens (Modern Man) to Homo Twinkus (Muffin Man). The film's release describes it as "Discovery Channel gone wild," and hopefully it will live up to such a brazen tag.
Finally, the Museum of Flight is showing movies again, playing Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines on Thursday, December 4. Over at 911 Media Arts, those KOOKtv folks are putting on a show (Fri Dec 5) and the Best of Open Screening will happen on Monday, December 8. Also on Friday, at 7 pm in Kane Hall's Walker-Ames Room, director Agnieszka Holland will give a free talk for the UW's Polish Lecture Series. And it's not too late to book a spot up north at the newish and apparently fabulous Whistler Film Festival (www.whistlerfilmfestival.com).
