August 4, 2010
Dog Star Man (1961-1964)
Northwest Film Forum (advance tickets available now)

Stan Brakhage’s landmark experimental feature film, shown in its original 16mm format and silently, as intended by the filmmaker.  Screens with Legendary Epics Yarns and Fables. Part 2: Stan Brakhage (1969), a short interview film by Stephen Gebhardt and Robert Fries.

September 23, 2010
First Words: The Birth of Sound Cinema, 1895-1929
Northwest Film Forum

A program of rare short films tracing the evolution of sound from its earliest experiments through its transformation of the entire industry.  Plus, period 78rpm records played on a real Victrola by collectors Robert Millis and Jeffrey Taylor of the bands Climax Golden Twins and AFCGT.

November 11, 2010
Breakaway: Films by Bruce Conner
Northwest Film Forum

A rare opportunity to see a selection of Conner’s outstanding film works in their original format, celebrating what would have been his 77th birthday.

Also: we’re hoping to have another Halloween Spook Show Spectacular — stayed tuned for updates!

Part of the year-long 69 series.

Northwest Film Forum
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
8:00 PM

16mm (original format) / 71 min.

A selection of landmarks in avant film from 1969, featuring classic short works by many of the year’s greatest pioneering artists. Featuring classic “analog” films and examples of the birth of digital cinema, with early video art and even some of the first digital computer animation ever made.

Watch streaming video and more info about the artists and films

Invocation of My Demon Brother
Kenneth Anger, with synthesizer soundtrack by Mick Jagger
His last film for 21 years.

Our Lady of the Sphere
Larry Jordan
Surreal cut-out animation by a master

Moon 1969
Scott Bartlett
Mesmerizing video/film art

Le Labyrinthe
Piotr Kamler, with electronic score by Bernard Parmegiani
created for Pierre Schaeffer’s ORTF in Paris

Binary Bit Patterns
Michael Whitney
Pioneering digital computer animation

Beatles Electronique
Electronic Moon no. 2
Jud Yalkut and Nam June Paik
Visionary video art

Hermann Nitsch: An Introduction to the O.M. Theatre
Stephen Gebhardt
A shocking documentary of the ground-breaking Aktionist performance artist and composer

Part of the year-long 69 Series.

Northwest Film Forum
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
8:00 PM

16mm (original format) / 88 min.

A schizoid sampling of the incredibly diverse underground documentary and newsreel film scenes in 1969. The Black Panthers meet Pentecostal Christians amidst the psychedelic ruins of Chicago’s Democratic Convention Riots. Plus, a rarely-shown early interview with the legendary Kuchar Brothers.

Just added: Fallout Shelter Analysis by Computer Graphics, a Dept. of Defense instructional film for what was then a cutting-edge computer interface using a “light pen” stylus.

Testimony
Brian Patrick
A group of Pentecostal Christians in Athens, Ohio

Mayday!
California Newsreel
A “Free Huey” rally held by the Black Panthers in San Francisco, on the May 1 international labor holiday. Crypto-commie perennial Bob Avakian makes an appearance at the microphone as well.

Legendary Epic Yarns and Fables, Part 4: The Kuchar Brothers
Stephen Gebhardt
A no-holds-barred interview with the legendary underground exploitation filmmakers

Leo Beuerman
Gene Boomer
An Oscar-nominated look at the life of a severely handicapped man in Lawrence, Kansas

Campaign
Tom Palazollo
The 1968 Democratic Convention and its aftermath as seen through a local experimental lens

Just added!
Fallout Shelter Analysis by Computer Graphics
University of Utah Computer Center, for ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency), US Dept. of Defense

Grand Illusion Cinema
Friday, October 30, 2009

Carnivorous Cartoons, Shocking Shorts, Asphyxiating Animation, Terrifying Trailers, Putrescent Previews…and Real Live Mayhem!

Do you dare to witness the ultimate onslaught of MONSTER MAYHEM as the Grand Illusion Cinema is overrun with creeps, spooks, ghouls, and fiends? Join us on our journey into the strange, dark world of the SUPERNATURAL as we try to make contact with the other side and invite the diabolical denizens of the spectral realms into our theater. You will see a GHOST! But you may not SURVIVE! Be there on October 30th and behold as the phantoms take over the screen for a night of the most unbelievably SHOCKING, THRILLING, and AMAZING fright films ever to scream their way into your rapidly melting mind. Can you survive the GRAND ILLUSION SPOOK-SHOW SPECTACULAR? See if you have what it takes!!

They need to raise $70,000 by August 15, or face significant cuts to core programs and their small staff.

They are asking for donations of any size.  You can use this secure online donation form (there’s an “Other Amount” box at the bottom of the membership options), send in a check via snail mail, or drop by the place personally and hand them a 10-spot.

In a July 30 message sent to 10,000 email subscribers and posted online (here, here, and here), NWFF Executive Director Lyall Bush said that income for the year was down by 30%.  “While we remain scrappy and imaginative in tough spots, this time is different,” he wrote.  “We are looking at real changes…programs such as Soul Nite and ByDesign could go. It means fewer masterpieces such as “Silent Light” showing up on our screens. It means maybe no more camera rentals. Jobs and programs are on the line.”

Curator of special programs Peter Lucas was furloughed indefinitely earlier this summer.  Several other key positions are now said to be in immediate risk of furloughing or even elimination.

The Northwest Film Forum is an invaluable part of Seattle’s arts community, providing 2 theaters filled year-round with films and events, financing and production support for regional filmmakers, workshops and training, very inexpensive film and video equipment rentals, editing facilities, a collaborative space for artists of all disciplines, it sponsors the Seattle Children’s Film Festival, rents office space to filmmakers and festivals, does some film distribution, has a film vault and even a lending library.  They have working relationships with other local organizations, colleges and universities, embassies and consulates, PBS, and film institutions around the world.

Any city would be lucky to have an arts organization like that, and precious few do — especially one devoted to film arts.

The NWFF has been very supportive of the Sprocket Society, and many many others.  Please consider supporting them now, when they need it most.  All it’ll take is 3 minutes of your time and two clicks.