The cinema has been offering streaming options during the pandemic, but earlier this month, programmer Dan Hudson welcomed viewers back with the SECS (Seattle Erotica Cinema Society) Festival of sex-positive films, including French, Canadian and British-Pakistani titles.
The beloved Grand Illusion, billed as Seattle’s oldest continuously running movie theater and completely staffed by volunteers, is also preparing for the return of live audiences to its jewel box space. Now we can go back to doing what we did before but incorporating some of these new ways of engaging with audiences and filmmakers.” But the new way shouldn’t exclude the old-school way, she adds: “People still want that feeling of being in a theater, that good sound system, that broad and expansive cinematography…. “The virtual experience we’ve offered has gone incredibly well,” notes Barrett. (SIFF’s twoplex Uptown Theatre facility in the recently renamed “Uptown” neighborhood is undergoing some physical upgrades and is expected to reopen a bit later.) 1, the SIFF Cinema Film Center, nestled in Seattle Center, will also welcome patrons.
30, the Egyptian resumes screenings with DocFest, a brand new 13-film documentary festival (through Oct. But we’re going to explore a hybrid model, for the sake of accommodating everyone.”īeth Barrett, artistic director of the widely respected SIFF Cinema three-theater operation, shares a similar philosophy as she prepares to reopen two of SIFF’s venues. “I’m not against the online realm, because of its great accessibility. “My level of focus and concentration and immersion is so much more significant when I’m sitting in a dark room, watching a movie among strangers,” says Day.
He was glad to recently kick off the “soft opening” of regular programming in his 12th Avenue space with Local Sightings, an in-person series of regionally made shorts and features (through Sept. But Northwest Film Forum Managing Director Chris Day knows that this alone ultimately doesn’t satisfy. Most alt-movie houses, bolstered by government and private pandemic grants, have offered streaming fare since COVID-19 darkened their marquees. Spaces range from the intimate, two-screen Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill and the cozy-quirky Grand Illusion in the University District, to single-screen neighborhood faves like The Beacon in Columbia City and Central Cinema in the Central District, to the historic Egyptian Theatre, the largest venue in SIFF Cinema’s mini-indie-empire. That has meant a longer road when it comes to transitioning back to in-person screenings.īut these cinemas are now starting to reopen their doors to the flick fans who have sorely missed them.
These venues - more invested in art and community than big business - tend to be not for profit, with smaller staffs and fewer resources than the commercial movie chains. Since early 2021, with COVID-19 precautions observed, Seattleites have been able to visit chain cineplexes for a communal experience of viewing the latest Marvel action extravaganzas and other Hollywood releases on a giant screen.īut for the true cinephile willing to brave mingling with strangers in an indoor setting for a couple hours, despite the pandemic surges, something essential to our local movie landscape has been missing: the city’s array of art house options, those noncommercial cinemas specializing in experimental, foreign, local, documentary or curated classic fare, including a bevy of niche and cultural film festivals. And when the film began running through the Queen of Soul’s repertoire, the sensurround sound system - and the buzz of joy in the two-thirds-full theater - was something I could never replicate at home. The seats were cushy. The screen seemed massive. Even the previews delighted me. The snack bar staff seemed almost giddy to take my ticket, and serve me the kind of warm, buttery, overpriced popcorn you get only at a movie house. It was the first time I had gone out to see a movie since the pandemic began.