LOCAL SIGHTINGS FILM FESTIVAL — PICTURE PREVIEW

A spokesperson describes the film as follows:

"...Presented by Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum, the 25th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival is a virtual-and-in-person showcase of creative communities from throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Local Sightings has been championing emerging and established talent in the region for 25 years! This is a festival that filmmakers trust with their creations, and create specifically for, returning again and again to share their work and engage in critical dialogue.

The 2022 lineup boasts sequels to films from prior festivals, premieres of first features by women of color, several alumni from our fiscal sponsorship program, and 40% of the works are world premieres!...

Sep. 17 at 7pm

Opening Night Shorts: Head Trip [In-Person Only]

Wheels de Amor

(Jana Bolotin, US, 2022, 7 min, in English)

Wheels De Amor is a short documentary featuring Michelle, a young Navy veteran, who discovered the poppin’ skate community of Seattle and in turn found love for herself again.

Reckless Spirits

(Vee Hua 華婷婷, US, 2022, 12 min, in English, Spanish, Korean)

A gender-fluid Latine performance artist and a neurotic Asian American therapist are led by a series of uncanny circumstances into a world of chakras, spirits, and cult leader fanaticism.

Thank you, MS PAM

(Tariqa Chereé Waters & AJ Lenzi, US, 2022, 37 min, in English)

 

Sep. 17 at 4pm

Our Family

Wheels de Amor

(Jana Bolotin, US, 2022, 7 min, in English)

 Wheels De Amor is a short documentary featuring Michelle, a young Navy veteran, who discovered the poppin’ skate community of Seattle and in turn found love for herself again.

Reckless Spirits

(Vee Hua 華婷婷, US, 2022, 12 min, in English, Spanish, Korean)

A gender-fluid Latine performance artist and a neurotic Asian American therapist are led by a series of uncanny circumstances into a world of chakras, spirits, and cult leader fanaticism.

Thank you, MS PAM

(Tariqa Chereé Waters & AJ Lenzi, US, 2022, 37 min, in English)

Full of vibrant whimsy, MS PAM is a cultural hub for fun and quirky comedy sketches, interviews, cooking and art-making segments featuring artists, creatives and local small business owners. The show will also showcase studio visits, restaurants, local boutiques, and recreational indoor and outdoor activities.

Sep. 17 at 4pm

Our Family

Remember your roots with these affectionate, heartstring-pulling shorts about families of all kinds, blemishes and all. Featuring home movies and oral histories, in documentary as well as narrative films.

Short films in this program:

Spotlight

(Peter CS Lee, BC, 2022, 12 min, in English)

Cradling his newborn son in his home, Andrew is confronted by his father, causing him to relive moments of trauma from his upbringing. Revisiting cruel lessons from his teenage years on avoiding cigarettes, respecting elders, and controlling emotions, Andrew questions his ability to raise his own son.

Srikandi

(Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto, BC, 2021, 9 min, in Indonesian)

Seattle Premiere!

A modern retelling of an Indonesian myth of the same name. Following her father’s death that took a toll on the family’s income, teenage Anjani struggles to regain control as her mother tries to sell the house, which doubled as her father’s puppetry studio. Little did she know that he has been teaching her the ways of a shadow puppeteer in private, as women are not allowed to practice it. When she returns to the puppets, Anjani is able to reconvene with her father’s spirit, learning one final lesson through the art-form before she sets out to realize her own future – becoming a modern Srikandi.

the fix

(Emilio Miguel Torres, WA, 2022, 11 min, in English)

West Coast Premiere!

A less than ideal arrangement turns unexpectedly healing when a working, single mother is forced to call her absent father for a last minute babysitting request.

September

(Sarah Sherman, OR, 2021, 8 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

Every September, sisters Alice and Maggie visit the site of their father’s ashes. An old boyfriend’s presence complicates their individual grieving processes.

Moving On

(Kevin Leung, WA, 2022, 5 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

A human story about overcoming loss set in an Asian American backdrop.

Blue Garden

(Natalie Murao, BC, 2022, 5 min, in English, Japanese)

World Premiere!

Through the story of a Japanese-Canadian fisherman’s internment during WW2, Blue Garden explores how unspoken family histories can cause trauma to fester over generations. By the same token, the telling of those histories through the participatory process of documentary filmmaking can be an intergenerational healing process with the power to reconcile deep grief.

The Diaper Cake

(Anastasia Babenko, WA, 2022, 18 min, in Ukrainian with English subtitles)

Seattle Premiere!

Lena and Vitya, two Ukrainian kids in their early 20s, now have a kid of their own. In a tiny hospital room, they have no choice but to grow up.

One Drift and We All Go Home

(Thom Hilton, OR, 2021, 14 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

Kenai, Alaska. July 1998. Commercial fishing has been closed for nine days. Dozens of workers have lost nearly an entire year’s income waiting for regulations to lift… all while a nearby tourist spot teems with joyfully unregulated sportfishermen.

Sep. 17 at 4:30pm

Changer: A Hand Telling

Changer: A Hand Telling is an innovative Deaf-centric and Native-centric filmed performance with Deaf Native storytellers performing the Coast Salish myth of CHANGER in Native and artistic sign language and the next evolution of an original play by Fern Naomi Renville (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) and Roger Fernandes (Lower Elwha S’Klallam, Makah).

Helmed by Deaf director Howie Seago, CODA filmmaker Kyle Seago and Native filmmaker Raven Two Feathers, Changer: A Hand Telling is a cinematic take on Coast Salish origin stories. Filmed on the traditional lands of the Lower Elwha s’Klallam Tribe, the narrative follows mythic characters into a future transformed by tribes exercising sovereign treaty rights.

Sep. 17 at 7pm

Our Block

World Premiere!

When Seattle police abandon their precinct amid BLM protests, activists, artists, and one heavily armed senior occupy 6 blocks where they battle to maintain peace and racial equity.

This 3 part documentary series follows the rise of the CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone), the fall of the CHOP (Capitol Hill Organized Protest) and the impact on Seattle and the surrounding rural communities.

Sep. 17 at 7:30pm

The Disabled List presents Live Comedy + Hard Laughs Short Film Program

Sometimes, tempering chaos with comedy is the only way to cope with a world gone mad. Interspecies feuds, close encounters with cults, and vampires with dietary restrictions populate this collection of darkly humorous shorts.

Short films in this program:

The Talent

At the local talent show, an overeager judge wants to push the golden buzzer.

Past Life

(Rose O’Shea, WA, 2021, 13 min, in English)

World Premiere!

In a world where past lives are remembered, an ambitious academic’s life implodes the night he is recognized by a forgotten enemy…a small dog.

Bad Luck Charm

(Heather S. Alabado, WA, 2022, 7 min, nonverbal with some English)

Seattle Premiere!

A guy’s life unravels after picking up a cursed golden ticket he mistakes as a good luck charm. A metaphorical [near dialogue-less] comedy about the toxic things we hold on to, even if they eventually destroy us.

TWO BEERS

(Zach Robinson, WA, 2021, 6 min, in English)

Two best friends, Graham and Adrian, have secret feelings for each other which are brought boiling to the surface when they are trapped in a room with a bomb.

Reckless Spirits

(Vee Hua, WA, 2022, 12 min, in English, Korean, Spanish)

Northwest Premiere!

A gender-fluid Latine performance artist and a neurotic Asian American therapist are led by a series of uncanny circumstances into a world of chakras, spirits, and a cult leader that’s threatening to tear their friendship apart.

Please Yes Episode 3: “Eat Cake”

(Laura Shelly, WA, 2022, 7 min, in English)

World Premiere!

Please Yes, a present day comedy episodic follows the lives of identical twin sisters Laura and Erika as they navigate life in the Pacific Northwest. “Eat Cake” is Please Yes‘s brightly colored but tonally somber third episode, in which Laura ponders the female existence while Erika devises plans to go viral.

The Vegan Vampire

(Rashi Sethi, BC, 2022, 12 min, in English)

U.S. Premiere!

Jackie, a lonely, immortal, vegan vampire is tired of spending her undeath shunned from society. She starts a support group uniting vegans and vampires of the world.

Sep. 18 at 4pm

And Other Oppressive Dynamics

(Amy L. Piñon, WA, 2022, 84 min, in English)

World Premiere!

Faced with a toxic work culture, burnout, and discrimination, Seattle-based nonprofit workers find a way to heal from the oppressive dynamics that have perpetuated the nonprofit structure for far too long.

Sep. 18 at 4:30pm

Best Self

Self-discovery is never easy, but the search for self can always introduce you to new friends and unexpected sources of empowerment. If you’re in need of a confidence boost, these sweet, humorous shorts are a reminder that our best selves are always inside of us.

Short films in this program:

The Apricots – "You"

(Kanani Koster & Janie Faison, OR, 2022, 5 min, in English)

A surreal, plantastic femme dream.

MASCOT

(Kristine Ponten, WA, 2022, 7 min, in English)

World Premiere!

Convinced it grants him special powers, a lovelorn young man resorts to dressing up as a teddy bear mascot on all of his dates.

The Bench

(Ivy Bona, WA, 2021, 11 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

Three women from different worlds meet unexpectedly at a park bench and share their stories and hardships, connect, and support one another in a brief but influential moment before continuing on their way.

Well Actually

(Vlada Knowlton, WA, 2022, 9 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

A Black woman software engineer deals with workplace microaggressions from her male colleagues.

Holly Go Lightly

(Ryan Cannon, ID, 2021, 17 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

A bookbinder with troubles of her own mistakenly receives a voice message from a woman trying to reach her therapist.

Untwined

(Joshua Kong, WA, 2022, 6 min, in English)

World Premiere!

Untwined is a dance film highlighting the transformative choreography of Bennyroyce Royon alongside four students with no formal dance training, who struggle with daily insecurities until they are transformed by the healing force of a Banyan tree. Individually and collectively weaving through pain, self-doubt, and inner conflicts, they arrive at their own growth and connectivity.

Trill

(Christy Anna Wu, WA, 2021, 5 min, in English & Vietnamese with English subtitles)

A young college student flubs an audition, but finds solace in her solitude.

Wheels de Amor

(Jana Bolotin, US, 2022, 7 min, in English)

 Wheels De Amor is a short documentary featuring Michelle, a young Navy veteran, who discovered the poppin’ skate community of Seattle and in turn found love for herself again.

Sep. 18 at 6:30pm

Keeper

(August Detering, WA, 2021, 90 min, in English)

World Premiere!

After the death of his friend, Cal Hawthorne, Benny embarks on an adventure into the world of spirits and the essential Keepers that guide them.

Sep. 18 at 7pm

The Chinese Tourist

(Nicole Wong, ID, 2022, 85 min, in English & Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles)

Seattle Premiere!

Studying abroad in America and living at a birth tourism house, a rebellious Chinese girl whose education is sponsored by her rich boyfriend decides to cut herself off from the world she comes from.

Sep. 18 at 8:45pm

Thin Veil

With grace and a touch of humor, these films explore the liminal spaces between life and death, consciousness and unconsciousness. From past lives to afterlives, these works invite you to the other side.

Short films in this program:

Past Life

(Rose O’Shea, WA, 2021, 13 min, in English)

World Premiere!

In a world where past lives are remembered, an ambitious academic’s life implodes the night he is recognized by a forgotten enemy…a small dog.

In the Event of My Death

(Brian Scott Steele, CA, 2021, 21 min, in English)

Jeremy. Just. DIED. So, in the event of his death, he leaves behind a series of clever clues and witty video messages for his best friend and bandmate Sam, and his brash sister Mandy, which sends them on an adventure through their shared past. They get to experience one last day with Jeremy after he’s gone, and in the end are compelled to mourn the best way they know how.

On the Other Side

(Ryan E. Torgeson, WA, 2022, 3 min, in English)

World Premiere!

This short poetry film features the visual collage artistry of Kellie Richardson and builds on her original poem “A Sweet Shot in the Arm.” Caught in a static, flat, black and white world, a poet queen discovers a crack, behind which lies a colorful dimension of living collage that’s full of promise, passion, and a life-affirming message from ancestral voices.

Blue Cranes w/ Edna Vazquez – "Tatehuari"

(Sarah Whelden, OR, 2021, 5 min, in Spanish)

Seattle Premiere!

An exploration of what it means to experience the raw heat of life together: excitement, joy and rebirth, tempered by grief, death and pain. Kept company and grounded by the voice of a central character, viewers are guided through this human spectrum and shown how their own existence is clarified by others.

The Hours Before Sunrise

(Daniel H. A. Stewart, BC, 2021, 13 min, in English)

World Premiere!

From holes dug in his pock-marked backyard, an elderly poet struggles to complete his final manuscript and find his final resting place.

Death's Diner

(Ravenna Tran, WA, 2021, 15 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

Stumbling into a diner one foggy night, two patrons gradually realize the truth of their situation: the diner is where they will be served their last meal before leaving this plane of existence.

Thoughts on Time & Lessons Learned

(Victor Anthony Martin, WA, 2022, 9 min, in English)

An experimental audiovisual diary consisting of a group of people discussing their thoughts regarding time, aging, and lessons learned.

Sep. 19 at 6:30pm

Reckless Spirits Workshop: BIPOC-Empowered Narrative Film Productions

Using behind-the-scenes photos, production materials, and film clips, this interactive discussion with the cast and crew of Vee Hua’s Reckless Spirits will serve as a case study of how to run a production with a diverse crew, centering POC actors, and the importance of creating media authentic to one’s own voice. Audiences are invited to bring questions related to their own projects!

Sep. 20 at 7pm

Reciprocity Project – Season 1

Facing a climate crisis, the Reciprocity Project embraces Indigenous value systems that have bolstered communities since the dawn of humanity. To heal, we must recognize that we are in relationship with Earth, a place that was in balance until the modern industrial age.

This short film series and multimedia platform (reciprocity.org) invites learning from time-honored and current Indigenous ways of being. In Season 1 of the Reciprocity Project, storytellers and community partners created films in response to a question: What does “reciprocity” mean to your community?

Sep. 20 at 6:30pm

Open Script Read

Open Script Read provides a nurturing, participatory environment for budding and seasoned filmmakers to support one another in the ongoing practice of screenwriting. Local screenwriters participate in a live table-read, where participants will offer feedback to one another.

Sep. 21 at 7pm

Mountainside

(Mikiech Edwards Nichols, WA, 2022, 121 min, in English)

World Premiere!

In this dialogue-driven, “second coming of age” comedic drama, Felix has all but given up on his pursuit of becoming a filmmaker when he meets Stella, a down to Earth, chain-smoking cinephile, whose unexpected friendship inspires him to start writing again–and falling for her. Never hesitating to take steps outside of reality through the use of movies within movies, found footage and action sequences, Mountainside is also a love letter to film itself.

Sep. 21 at 7:30pm

Living Experiments

To be alive is to try. To take form and dissolve. In Living Experiments, plant matter, tech clutter, bodies, and buildings collide—abstracting movement, sound, space, and time.

Short films in this program:

Garden Glimpses

(Caryn Cline, WA, 2022, 6 min, nonverbal)

World Premiere!

 ** Featuring a live score by drummer Dan Sasaki at the in-person screening! **

Garden Glimpses, inspired by Marie Menken’s “Glimpse of the Garden,” is the second in a series of films about artists of the everyday. Camera double exposures capture the colors and textures of landscape architect Keith Geller’s Seattle garden on an early summer day.

a valley myth

(Corrie Befort, WA, 2022, 6 min, nonverbal)

Seattle Premiere!

Cold work and dark cattle, many things to form a valley..

Bad Neighborhoods

(Webster Crowell, WA, 2021, 2 min, nonverbal)

The architecture of the urban world, while responsive and living in its own right, is not necessarily hospitable.

Safe and Seen on 82nd

(Dawn Jones Redstone, Annie Tonsiengsom, OR, 2021, 4 min, nonverbal)

World Premiere!

As Unit Souzou’s taiko drum tracks pound in the foreground, a pedestrian of Asian descent in Portland, OR struggles to be seen. The struggle is both metaphorical and literal, as their walk traverses Portland’s Jade District, where pedestrian safety suffers from the neglect of infrastructural racism. Growing increasingly frustrated, our character’s anger reaches an internal fever pitch before entering a transformative emotional turning point and joyful release.

Thoughts on Time & Lessons Learned

(Victor Anthony Martin, WA, 2022, 9 min, in English)

World Premiere!

An experimental audio/visual diary consisting of a group of people discussing their thoughts regarding time, aging, and lessons learned.

Animal in Ascension

(Ian Clark, OR, 2022, 5 min, in English)

Northwest Premiere!

An inter-dimensional fever dream about DMT in the margins of human perception.

Untwined

(Joshua Kong, WA, 2022, 6 min, in English)

World Premiere!

Untwined is a dance film highlighting the transformative choreography of Bennyroyce Royon alongside four students with no formal dance training, who struggle with daily insecurities until they are transformed by the healing force of a Banyan tree. Individually and collectively weaving through pain, self-doubt, and inner conflicts, they arrive at their own growth and connectivity.

This is Concrete II

(Kent Colony, WA, 2022, 3 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

Experimental Seattle-based performance and dance company MALACARNE responds to the architecture and history of the decommissioned Georgetown Steam Plant in this excerpt from a five hour durational dance piece exploring relationship to bodies and time.

Made on a Mac

(Sophia Heyman, OR, 2022, 3 min, in English)

World Premiere!

When a library of over 2,000 stock images, thumbnails, and sound bites were inexplicably imported onto the filmmaker’s laptop, what started off as a found footage project on the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement became a piece about being corrupted.

THE CALLING

(Jeff Schick, WA, 2021, 7 min, in English)

Woven with undertones of Greek mythology, this genre-bending screen dance is an allegory for the power struggle between the divine feminine and masculine energies.

Amulet

(Ruth Hayes, WA, 2022, 2 min, nonverbal)

Northwest Premiere!

The bells, or koudounia, that goats and sheep in Crete traditionally wore served as amulets to ward off evil spirits. Still in use, they also help shepherds know where their flocks are and what they are doing. Animated to a track composed of koudounia samples, this film’s abstract imagery originated in cameraless techniques that include stencil and bleach on 16mm color stock, and cyanotype.

Window Circumstance

(Sierra Grove, WA, 2022, 3 min, nonverbal)

Seattle Premiere!

Window Circumstance is an experimental film poem that creates a parallel between windows, vision, and cinema. The viewer is invited to reflect on the act of filmmaking as a rectangular container for one’s experience of reality.

Garden Haiku

(Caryn Cline, WA, 2022, 1 min, nonverbal)

World Premiere!

Handmade 16mm phytography sequences interact with a homegrown haiku inspired by spring in the filmmaker’s garden.

Sep. 22 at 7pm

Skagit

(Nick Thompson, WA, 2021, 104 min, in English)

World Premiere!

Four friends leave Seattle for a weekend in a remote, rain-soaked corner of Washington State’s rustic Skagit Valley. The foreboding October landscape begins to warp their minds, plunging each of them into alternate realities where they must grapple with personal demons, sexual tensions, and a sinister natural world as they claw their way back to sanity.

Sep. 22 at 7:30pm

Best Friends, Right?

Whether old friends or new ones, best friends or frenemies, the protagonists of these relatable-yet-stylized shorts must navigate the tumultuous ups and downs of modern friendship.

Short films in this program:

A Weekend on Foxes Island

(Aiwei Wu, Ray Cao, WA, 2021, 10 min, in English & Chinese with English subtitles)

Seattle Premiere!

A couple win the grand prize for a logo design competition and go for a “free” vacation on a secluded island. When they get off the island, something ominous hangs in the air…

Adrift

(Cathy Huynh, BC, 2022, 11 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

Two distant friends reunite after one of them returns from studying abroad. Throughout the night, they reminisce on nostalgic memories and contemplate the uncertainty of the future.

Chira

(Tela Moss, WA, 2021, 20 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

A short film to question predominant ideas about love, power, and documentaries. In Washington State’s emptiest plains, a young woman works to earn the trust of two wild horses.

Distant Communication

(Alexander Coleman, BC, 2022, 2 min, nonverbal)

World Premiere!

An experimental animated short about sending messages from a long distance.

Superfan

(Karina Lomelin Ripper, Marc Ripper, OR, 2020, 15 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

During an ill-fated sleepover, a tween celebrity obsession tests the boundaries of friendship, privacy, and a young girl’s heart.

Sep. 23 at 7pm

Glitch

In these tech-themed thrillers, characters grapple with the uncertainty of life in the 21st (or possibly 22nd) century. Get ready for secret codes, rogue androids, and AI therapists.

Short films in this program:

Made on a Mac

(Sophia Heyman, OR, 2022, 3 min, in English)

World Premiere!

When a library of over 2,000 stock images, thumbnails, and sound bites were inexplicably imported onto the filmmaker’s laptop, what started off as a found footage project on the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement became a piece about being corrupted.

Camera Catch

(Evan J Hoff, WA, 2021, 4 min, in English)

West Coast Premiere!

When Cole decides to take a casual photography hike, he soon realizes he may be the subject of his own photos.

Therapy

(Chace Biddle, WA, 2021, 12 min, in English)

A man struggling with depression begins a new experimental AI therapy.

Aidan

(Donovan Wilson, WA, 2021, 11 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

A languishing click-bait reporter decides to go on her own and kidnap a strangely malfunctioning android to find the truth of its existence.

Animal in Ascension

(Ian Clark, OR, 2022, 5 min, in English)

Northwest Premiere!

An inter-dimensional fever dream about DMT in the margins of human perception.

Bury Your Fish

(Emma Josephson, OR, 2021, 16 min, in English)

Northwest Premiere!

A dark psychological drama that follows Sonia, an isolated and lost young woman, as she begins taking life directions based on cryptic Morse code from a mysterious flashing light. When her fish suddenly dies, Sonia must face the ominous phantasm searching for the answers when the only question quickly becomes her own mental stability.

Sep. 23 at 9:15pm

After Dark

After dark, comes light…or does it? These shorts illuminate the sinister, supernatural, and simply strange consequences of catering to the shadows of one’s nature.

Short films in this program:

Spring Blood

(Ben Haynes, OR, 2020, 4 min, in English)

After having a thrilling but traumatic experience, a couple struggles with returning to their normal lives.

Deferment

(Lilly Lion, OR, 2021, 9 min, in English)

U.S. Premiere!

In an attempt to repay her student loans, a recent college grad caters to a man with a cow fetish after answering a Craigslist ad.

Death in a Box

(Simeon Gregory, WA, 2022, 12 min, in English)

When Samara and Ava discover an otherworldly box hovering above the ground outside of town, the object quickly reveals itself to be more sinister than mysterious.

Wellness Check

(Andrew Bell, WA, 2022, 5 min, in English)

World Premiere!

A man checks on a reclusive friend and is pulled into his spiraling world.

THE CALLING

(Jeff Schick, WA, 2021, 7 min, in English)

Woven with undertones of Greek mythology, this genre-bending screen dance is an allegory for the power struggle between the divine feminine and masculine energies.

Dance of the Golden Monkey

(Taran Sukert, BC, 2022, 10 min, in English)

World Premiere!

A man on an existential quest for the meaning of life gets literally slapped in the face by a monkey-man who steals his favorite jar of marmalade and chases him through an absurdist world where he learns to live in the moment.

Boy Dad Ben

(Ty Minton-Small, WA, 2021, 14 min, in English)

Northwest Premiere!

The gender of a baby isn’t the only thing revealed at this party.

Sep. 24 at 4pm

Bubble Bubble Bubble Meows

(Matt Orefice, WA, 2022, 89 min, in English)

World Premiere!

A poorly-drawn cat, the end of the world, and chewing gum.

After Bubble Bubble Meows and the Meteor Stomachache (2014), Bubble Bubble Meows and the Lame-O Baby Jib(2015), and Bubble Bubble Meows and the Things That Happen In Movies Like This (2015), the next logical step was to have a shorter title.

Our titular cat reunites with his nephew to campaign against the act of spitting out gum (which is gross, admit it). Said gum, and a reality-warping sock, threaten the very fabric of the universe, while an agreement to distribute pet-eating mollusks fouls a magic dog biscuit statue that could save them all. Along the way are talking trout jerkies, a potato-obsessed shirt grub, grease drippings mistaken for bubble tea, and… gross trucks.

Bubble Bubble Meows is proud to return for his third visit to NWFF! This film is suitable for …most… ages. Co-written, co-animated, co-starring, and co-produced by the producer/director’s children.

Sep. 24 at 4:30pm

Diaspora Diaries

Establishing roots in a new country or community can be frustrating and intimidating. This far-reaching showcase paints the struggles and the rewards of finding your people in a new place while drawing strength from your origins and identity.

Short films in this program:

The Outlanders – from HKG to SEA

(Azure Kwok, WA, 2022, 12 min, in Yue Chinese [Cantonese] with English subtitles)

A young Hongkonger talks about how the choice to leave her hometown and make her way to Seattle marked a pivotal turning point in her life, following the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement in Hong Kong.

Where I Stand

(Daniela Magdalena León, WA, 2022, 3 min, in English & Spanish with English subtitles)

A short auto-biographical film about love across two borders, growing up, and learning to accept and live for yourself.

PRECIOUS

(Sophia Chew, WA, 2022, 7 min, in English)

Three Asian-American teens navigate embracing their cultures when assigned a school project.

Gabby Antonio Smashes the Imperialist, White Supremacist, Capitalist Patriarchy! Episodes 1–4

(Christian Henry, OR, 2021, 22 min, in English)

Gabby Antonio Smashes the Imperialist, White Supremacist, Capitalist Patriarchy! is a comedy web series about the trials and tribulations of a young woman of color who struggles to do good in the whitest city in America–Portland, Oregon. She wants to change the world, but it’s not quite happening–yet.

Sep. 24 at 6:30pm

YOUNG LUV

Fall for these films—some swoon-worthy, some heartbreaking—about romance in all its forms, from love triangles to missed connections.

Short films in this program:

STAY

(Angela DiMarco, WA, 2021, 10 min, in English)

When life forces Caroline and Anthony apart, will their love last? Can memories be enough for Caroline’s heart to hold onto? A first love. A true love. An everlasting love.

The Willow

(Octavian Kelly, CA, 2022, 9 min, in English)

World premiere!

A young couple spends their day under a tree deciding whether or not to carve their names in it.

In the Water

(Drew Highlands, WA, 2021, 10 min, in English)

While hooking up at a party, two high schoolers unearth a dark secret leading to an unexpected catharsis.

BAGBOY

(Nick Roetemeyer, WA, 2021, 5 min, in English)

Through the memories held in an unsent letter, a young man reminisces about his first love for another man, which gave their friendship an unspoken depth.

Rosa

(Bijan Karim, BC, 2022, 15 min, in English)

World premiere!

Rosa has faded away, leaving Adrian and Kyra in a trainwreck.

Elegy

(Parish Sharma, BC, 2021, 12 min, in English)

A sensory, lyrical, and gnomic exploration of memory and loss. Floating poetic fragments and personal reflections map out the tone, texture, and topography of separating lovers as an aching journey: we must betray the memories of the ones we loved to love again. Bound together by the character’s inner monologue, this film defies the specificity of a narrative, becoming a poetic elegy.

Sep. 24 at 7pm

A Taste of Home

Missing the rhythms, tastes and aromas of home? In these documentary portraits, learn about Pacific Northwest creatives and chefs who are blending flavors and building bridges in newfound communities, bringing culture and camaraderie to the people!

Short films in this program:

Cypher

(Mariam Ingrid Barry & Eva Anandi Brownstein, BC, 2021, 22 min, in English)

U.S. Premiere!

Cypher follows three Black artists working to empower youth of African descent in Vancouver, BC – a city known for its historical erasure of Black history and culture. Through urban agriculture, performance, and community conversations, Kor, Dae, and Alisha create spaces for youth to connect, co-inspire, and discuss the complexities of the Black experience.

Pam's Kitchen

(David Gwynn, WA, 2022, 20 min, in English)

West Coast Premiere!

A Trinidadian restaurant owner in Seattle battles mounting anxiety, racial tension, and financial insolvency to try and keep her community-oriented restaurant alive during COVID’s rise.

Diaspora Recipes

(Frances Grace Mortel, WA, 2022, 22 min, in English & Tagalog with English subtitles)

Seattle Premiere!

Diaspora Recipes takes a closer look at the intersections of food and identity. It follows two Asian women immigrants in Spokane, WA – Noreen Hiskey and Joan Pascua – as they talk about their journey into the United States, walk us through their passion for food and cuisines, and navigate the challenges of introducing recipes from their home country while integrating into their new home community.

Sep. 24 at 8:45pm

He Hawaiʻi Au w/ Artist Spotlight: Kanani Koster

(Daymien Nainoa Bunao, WA, 2022, 40 min, in English, Hawaiian)

World Premiere!

Childhood trauma causes a Native Hawaiian woman to leave Hawai’i and reinvent herself in Seattle. Can she come to terms with her identity when past and present start to collide?

He Hawaiʻi Au screens with the following two short films:

Li HiNG MUi

(Kanani Koster, OR, 2021, 9 min, in English, Hawaiian)

World Premiere!

Eric and Chris, Kanaka Maoli brothers raised on the mainland, have always managed to find trouble when together. With their latest scheme and longtime dream of retiring on the Islands, their bond is tested as kāne (men) and keiki (kids).

No Spectators Allowed

(Kanani Koster, OR, 2021, 17 min, in English)

Seattle Premiere!

A true crime podcast host sits down with an Indigenous woman to record her sister’s cold case but their individual intentions for telling this story come to a head as they examine the night in question.