Northwest Film Forum laid off nearly half of its employees yesterday.
Executive director Derek Edamura confirmed that management told the small staff about cuts over Zoom calls on Monday. Five people were laid off immediately, and two more will be laid off in the next three months, adding up to about 50% of staff.
In a Tuesday phone call, Edamura told The Stranger that the Forum is not at risk of closing. He said the “hard” decision to cut staff is a short-term strategy to avoid long-term financial deficits and any cuts to programming this year.
Edamura said the layoffs were not performance-based and that they hope to bring back the positions in some form if NWFF’s financial health improves.
“We understand how difficult this is for everybody,” Edamura said. “We don’t do something like this without a lot of care and a lot of thought, but we also need to do what we feel is in the best interest of the organization long-term.”
Affected staff were given severance and short-term benefits. One affected employee who spoke to The Stranger on the condition of anonymity said they held no animosity toward the Forum but felt blindsided by the decision.
Northwest Film Forum, located in Capitol Hill and adored by the Seattle film community, has screened films, produced festivals, and held workshops for filmmakers for nearly 30 years. Compared with your average movieplex, or even your average indie theater, the Forum draws a niche crowd with a diverse international selection of classic to obscure films emphasizing the work of local and marginalized directors.
For nearly two decades, the Forum has hosted the Local Sightings Film Festival, the city’s only festival dedicated to Pacific Northwest film, which has featured big names including Lynn Shelton and Megan Griffiths. In 2022, the Forum’s former executive director Vivian Hua stepped down shortly after it reopened its doors to the public.
Edamura said NWFF faces the same struggles as other arts nonprofits, like the slow return of audiences that still lags far behind pre-COVID crowds, changing media consumption habits, and a decline in available funding. Edamura said the Forum plans to seek additional fiscal sponsors across the state, and potentially out-of-state, over the next two or three years.
“Everything is incredibly competitive for less and less resources,” Edamura said. “We’re seeing a lot of those things changing and we, as an organization, need to be able to adapt and evolve to the systemic changes we’re seeing across the sector.”
This story has been updated since its original publication. NWFF confirmed that five employees were laid off Monday, but originally said four positions had been cut.
Here’s hoping this venerable institution can get back on a stable financial footing (and audiences start supporting the various screenings and programs). A vibrant arts scene needs sustaining audiences.
So what were the positions eliminated?
How does this affect services offered?
Why does no one want to state the elephant in the room? The NWFF still requires masking. No one wants to be required to mask while going to the cinema in 2024. The staff don’t wear masks around each other until the “dirty” public come into the building (this doesn’t go unnoticed by people; they just complain privately and then don’t return). Speaking more generally, the staff treat the institution like their own personal club house and make it very clear that interlopers on their “turf” know they are resented for their trespass into the beloved tree fort. It’s not about the art anymore there. They will have events, which are essentially just parties for a handful of their friends. I called this over a year ago. How is it that a random outsider can see so clearly what those nearest to the institution are blind to? If attitudes aren’t radically shifted, this is the beginning of the end. eyeroll + facepalm = me
@3 Strongly agree on the masking. I love the idea of having multiple thriving film institutions in my neighborhood, but no way am I going to go to watch a movie wearing a mask in 2024… Supporting SIFF will have to be enough.
As a long-time member of SIFF, and many times a guest at NWFF screenings, I doubt very much these two great local institutions will ever return to the prominence of their glory days. Streaming services proliferate, allowing viewers to schedule personal film festivals in their own homes. Even the once-sacred cleft between cinema and television has now been bridged by technology: is a limited series just a very long movie with intermissions? How about a movie series? COVID merely accelerated trends long underway.
There will still be film fanatics, curators, programs; but expect the burdensome cost of brick-and-mortar theatres (which have always sat empty for most hours of their existences) to drive these experiences into homes, and into communal spaces in apartment buildings.
If SIFF and NWFF hold in-person festivals, local museums and Library branches would hold the most likely screening rooms.