Good piece, I agree that it seems the NWFF isn't living up to the promise of great programs like the Ozu retrospective. I've been wondering why that second screen has been frequently darkened lately, and why they've seemed to have stopped running their late night programs.

Something Sean does fail to mention however, is that the Grand Illusion, which he does mention as the original home of the Wiggly World, is still alive and kicking, seperate from the NWFF, and is doing some good things. Over the next few weeks, they're presenting (the Seattle debuts of?) some international films that would otherwise not get a local screening outside of the SIFF: OR: MY TREASURE, A STATE OF MIND, MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL MARI, and RED ORCHESTRA. Keep an eye on their website: http://www.grandillusioncinema.org

The "original" little theatre, on the second floor of Scarecrow (where Mr. Axmaker used to write the wonderful program notes), slightly pre-dated the NWFF run but thank goodness Mr. Seiwerath persisted when others (like myself) departed. Further still, the Grand Illusion is doing fine work without much recognition. It's enough to make me miss living in Seattle. Almost.

There are a couple things I (as a representative of NWFF) should point out.
First off, we put production as highly as we do exhibition, most notably having helped to produce five features through the Start-to-Finish grant (through which NWFF aids on all aspects of a production, from fundraising to the actual filming to help with festival placement and distribution), including Rob Devor's POLICE BEAT, which premiered in Competition at Sundance last year. We just announced our latest S2F recipient, David Russo, an internationally-acclaimed short filmmaker who is making his feature debut. We're brought Guy Maddin's latest feature to Seattle and helped countless productions in the city.
Secondly, doing a hugely ambitious retrospective the size and scope of the Ozu series is financially impossible to do more than once every year or two for an independent institution. We do what we can under the circumstances and since Ozu have brought a steady stream of fantastic films and retrospectives to town, some of which (such as Alex Mackenzie's The Exiles, the films of Kira Muratova, Jem Cohen's Chain, etc) will never arrive in the city in any other form. And while there are other venues in town, nobody else has made an effort to bring experimental or non-mainstream film to the city. It's good to hold arts institutions to the highest possible standards, but do keep in mind the practical complications are a little more involved than simply having the desire to show something.

It's hard for a theatre to continue showing non-mainstream stuff when no one comes. My friend and I were the *only* people in the audience for a 7:00 PM Wednesday show of Memories of Murder--arguably the best police procedural ever made. And there were a total of 8 people in the audience for the 2nd half of Star Spangled to Death (down from 12 at the first half), probably the greatest film to play in Seattle this year. Sean, you weren't there.
But Seattle isn't the film town it used to like to think it was. I recently saw Autumn Sonata at the Grand Illusion--maybe a dozen people. When it showed at the Neptune during its revival house, different-double-bill-every-day, days in the 80s, it was so full I had to sit in the balcony.
I think we have to face the fact that people would much rather stay home and watch tv.

Thanks for those comments. I had meant this article to be the beginning of a conversation, not an end to it. I have been a fan and a supporter of the NWFF from the beginning and remain so, and I certainly did not mean to dismiss the programming in the months since Ozu. I applaud the Film Forum for what it has accomplished -- the film series really doesn’t do justice to its legacy, nor could it. I have nothing but respect for those who don’t just curate the programming but keep the very organization alive. And, of course, I count Adam Hart among my friends (as I do Jonathan Marlowe - and BTW, I just came back from a screening at the Grand Illusion, my favorite pocket theater in town). I certainly hope that Adam -- and everyone who reads this-- see this not as an attack upon the organization, but as a starting point for a discussion of the future of non-mainstream film programming in Seattle.

My frustration isn’t with the Film Forum but with the inability of Seattle to create and sustain a real cinemateque on the level that Vancouver and Portland have managed. That the Film Forum has done so much with minimal support from government arts organizations is undeniable. That the City of Seattle is still lacking a true cinemateque, however, is also undeniable.

I think part of the problem is actually Scarecrow Video. Not knocking the place in the slightest, I'm wearing their t-shirt as we speak, but I think that it has undeniably made Seattle film culture even more video-oriented than most other places. It takes occasional reminders of "This isn't available on DVD!" like in all the press surrounding the Aki Kaurismaki retrospective a couple years back to actually drive us out of our living rooms. Speaking of which, I'd love to see Match Factory Girl again if I didn't already have plans for that night. Wonderful film.

Though I guess to respond to ratzkywatzky, I'm not even sure if there were even that many during Star Spangled to Death. But would you care to share your thoughts on the film with me? I couldn't convince any of my friends to come along (something about the words "seven hour experimental film" tends to scare most people off) and I've been dying to discuss it with somebody.

(Originally written for NWFF, although they cut it significantly -- I present it here in the original form...)

Without institutions like SIFF, Scarecrow Video and the Northwest Film Forum (all organizations which I was fortunately, if briefly, involved at one time or another), Hou Hsiao-hsien would largely be an unknown figure in Seattle. This would be a shame, of course, since Hou is among the few contemporary filmmakers that easily falls into the so-called “Master” category – a group that is sadly somewhat limited to Abbas Kiarostami, Claire Denis, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Bela Tarr, Wong Kar-wai, arguably Raúl Ruiz, Julio Medem, Olivier Assayas and a handful of others. It isn’t a coincidence that, if memory serves, the work of each of these directors has screened at one of the NWFF venues in the past decade.

Most directors would be satisfied to have even a moment in their film as lovely as anything to be found in A Time to Live and a Time to Die, City of Sadness, The Puppetmaster, Goodbye South, Goodbye or even Flowers of Shanghai. Where some may fault him for nearly everything produced since this latter feature, even a weaker effort from HHH is superior to the best work of others. Hou grasped the importance early-on of making films that are actually about something. We’ve seemed to have forgotten that sense of purpose in this country.

The citizens of Seattle rarely realize how fortunate they are to have these little treasures grace their scattered screens. Spoiled, really. Happiest of anniversaries to NWFF and the wonderful folks (staff and audiences alike) that keep it thriving.

– Jonathan Marlow (né Robert Graves)