Artistry matters. (Ironically, it’s also good business.)

Holy shit!! This is huge! We co-presented ultra rare 35mm screenings in 2015 at the Grand Illusion Cinema, and never thought this would happen. At the time, WB was still so uptight about THE DEVILS that they wouldn’t even allow BFI to release a blu-ray.

These FREE zoom presentations by SFFP are always fascinating and illuminating. This one promises to be especially so.

My Best Girl (1927) was shot by Charles Rosher, Mary Pickford's favourite cinematographer, who later won an Oscar for his work on Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

It should be your absolute goal to make sure any film/tv/arts/culture book you purchase from now on is directly from mzs.press, “the arts bookstore of the internet.” Matt is the best of the best, human & writing wise, and when he needs some help, we all gotta help! Plus: it’s a fantastic bookstore!!

The great Chester Himes and Griot, his beloved blue point Siamese, named "after the magicians in the courts of West African kings." Himes also said that if he stayed away too long, Griot would wreck his studio and chew up his books. #Caturday

Talkin’ to you, 2026.

Bon voyage, Bela Tarr. youtu.be/fhdh5LeuQ2w

Thanks to @siffnews.bsky.social, @centralcinema.bsky.social, @nwfilmforum.bsky.social, Here-After, and Dirty Couch Brewing for hosting our popup screenings this year!

A good piece about a great, thought provoking movie (suppressed in part by the FBI) that you must see. You must also militate for someone solid to release the new 4K restoration on blu. (The only DVD release was 26 years ago!)

Same

We’re showing IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE for our 55th annual engagement, Dec. 18, 20, 21, 23 & 24 at @nwfilmforum.bsky.social! Mark your calendar or buy tickets right now! grandillusioncinema.org/film/its-a-w...

Pixar designed Toy Story to be printed on physical film. The Disney renaissance movies were the same. Today, it's hard to see them as they were meant to be seen. The versions on streaming and home media aren't quite the same films that ruled the '90s: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/the-toy-st...

Tonight! Me and Seattle treasure Lori Goldston are doing a multi-projector + live cello improv film jam, as part of the 10th anniv celebration of @common-area.bsky.social at their “annex” space Common Objects (2601 1st Ave). Doors at 7pm. It’s free! RSVP now at www.tixtree.com/e/cam-10th-a...

The Engauge Experimental Film Festival returns to Northwest Film Forum NEXT WEEK for its 8th year! The festival celebrates sprocket-driven, artist-made experimental film, presenting six programs of shorts at NWFF’s cinema in Capitol Hill. All work featured in the festival originates on film stock.

Our SECRET VAULT OF TORMENT show tomorrow 10/28 includes a secret feature that alarmed censors at the time. A sign with this “WARNING!” was displayed in some Canadian theaters. Ontario banned it outright b/c it was “Full of fiendish & diabolical doings.” Holland, too, b/c its “degrading effect.”

Our all-16mm SECRET VAULT OF TORMENT is this Tues Oct 28 @ 7pm at NW Film Forum. We’re showing a bonkers secret mid-‘30s horror feature + a bunch of spooky shorts. Our feature’s an orig “SHOCK!” TV print. Here’s some pgs from the series’ 1958 pressbook. Tix & info: sprocketsociety.org/coming-soon/

One week from tonight! 10/28 at NW Film Forum, our all-16mm show SECRET VAULT OF TORMENT w/ a secret 1930s horror feature + spooky shorts, including the “complete” Frankenstein saga via Castle Films digests. Also a 3-D short & more! Info & tix via sprocketsociety.org/coming-soon/

“Will the future ever appear? Should we continue to look upwards? Is the light we can see in the sky one of those which will presently be extinguished? The ideal is terrifying to behold... brilliant but threatened on all sides by the dark forces that surround it…” - Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables”

Speaking of authors at Pordenone, Richard Abel’s new book is available as a free PDF/EPUB download (or HB for purchase). “The Exhibitor as Producer: Stage Prologues in American Movie Theatres, 1917-1926” is heavily illustrated and short (179 pgs + cites & index). link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

The Pordenone silent film festival includes presentations with authors and scholars. These are freely available on the fest’s YouTube channel. Click the “Live” tab to find them. Also check out the shorter chats with program curators. See youtube.com/@giornatecin...

Our next show! Tues. October 28 — a secret 1930s horror feature, Castle Films digests of the “complete” Frankenstein saga, plus more. All on 16mm film! More info + tix via sprocketsociety.org/coming-soon/ Part of ALL MONSTERS ATTACK! from @grandillusioncinema.org

ICYMI the Pordenone silent film festival is underway, and folks like us who can’t teleport there can get in on their streaming edition. Films from day 2 are still online (for a bit), so if you carpe diem you’ll not have missed much. Recommended! www.mymovies.it/ondemand/gio...

Heil, heil right in Der Fuhrer’s face youtu.be/I1583adUqSg

RIP to local cinema legend Randy Finley. Before there was a Seven Gables theater chain in Seattle there was The Movie House at 1403 NE 50th St., also founded by Randy. He ran it until the late 70s when Paul Doyle took over and renamed it The Grand Illusion. www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...

If someone’s not mourning the death of Robert Redford in a manner that’s consistent with your views, make sure you set up a database, call their employer, and get them fired.

For most Americans, the date 1913 means nothing. For Americans on the far right fringes, 1913 has long been a date of great significance. Here’s a piece from the antisemitic rag “American Mercury” in 1957, for example. One of their writers at the time was George Lincoln Rockwell.

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

Groucho Marx and Marlene Dietrich on the Paramount lot, 1932

Super excited to be part of this free outdoor show on Friday 8/22 in Bellingham! Melies, Keaton, Weber, Hazards of Helen, and Felix the Cat — all accompanied live by members of the Bellingham Symphony (incl. 2 new scores). More info at sprocketsociety.org/coming-soon/

The Lubitsch Touch. …er, kinda literally.

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller July 18,1951

Our most recent edition of ONLINE WITH SFFP is now available to view on our YouTube channel! On June 5, SFFP Board President Rob Byrne was joined by Ehsan Khoshbakht to discuss Lewis Milestone’s incredible body of work, including—of course—THE GARDEN OF EDEN, which SFFP restored! #FilmSky 1/2

"It's really hard to fathom that the guy making my pizza for 25 years is a gangster and a terrorist, and the person who shows up in an unmarked car wearing a mask and body armor comes to take him away is somehow the good guy” www.wnep.com/article/news...

Monday morning, when you wake up as a professor who teaches and promotes foreign films:

Join us on May 30th to celebrate our 30th anniversary at our 2025 gala! Turning 30 is major for people and organizations alike–an opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments and consider how we can continue to best serve our community. nwfilmforum.org/events/2025-...

This is utterly amazing, and if I could teleport (or, um, fly) to LA for this screening on Sunday I absolutely would. If you’re anywhere near there, you should go. youtu.be/Q3N6Z86NQJA

We watched a 16mm movie while we were making that very same movie! We unfurled clear 16mm through all the rows of the theater and passed out markers, telling folks to go to town marking-up the film. Then I thread it up and start showing the film while people still have their hands on it!

RIP

A 4K rejuvenation of Zeinabu irene Davis' decades-spanning deaf romance COMPENSATION premieres this Tuesday at our NWFF popup. “…an important achievement, illuminating & captivating, & it deserves the chance to reach the widest audience possible.” LA Times grandillusioncinema.org/film/compens...

COMPENSATION is a groundbreaking story of inclusion and visibility that bears witness to the social forces and prejudices that stand in the way of love. See a brand new restoration at our March 18th popup at @nwfilmforum.bsky.social! grandillusioncinema.org/film/compens...

Egyptian Theater update FYI: the building itself is expected to reopen in April, but SIFF says the theater will not as they still need to do work of their own. They have no ETA, but it will NOT be open for the festival in May. www.capitolhillseattle.com/2025/03/keep...

Farewell to 1403 NE 50th Street, home for 54 years to the Grand Illusion Cinema (née The Movie House), and de facto home venue for us since 2010. Today is the last day of the lease, and the very last of The Things are getting moved out. Watch the GI’s socials and email list for popup screenings!

The Cat & The Canary (main theme) is up on streaming now & available on 6” vinyl soon. 🔜 www.moviejawn.com/shop/spring2...

The TeenTix blog (written and edited by teens) posted this great in-depth review and profile of our Secret Matinee series. Thanks! www.teentix.org/blog/the-ann...

The Zagreb School of Animation was a wild, totally unique movement. And its rare/obscure films keep getting restored and uploaded for free. We've put together a new look at what made this group special, and a guide to the work now available: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/the-animat...

🚨 LOW TICKET ALERT 🚨 If you want to see this buy your tickets soon! See you next Wednesday!

Join us for a 25th anniversary screening of Kinji Fukasaku’s dystopian masterpiece BATTLE ROYALE on March 4th! We're doing this one at Here-After (fmr Big Picture) in Belltown. 21+. grandillusioncinema.org/film/battle-...

Long live the @grandillusioncinema.org!