The Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) is an nonprofit independent art house cinema and film-focused organization in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

's Capitol Hill neighborhood. that hosts screenings, multiple

film festivals A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent date and depe ...

, film workshops, and public events.

History

In late 1994, filmmakers Jamie Hook and Deborah Girdwood received a King County Arts Commission Grant, to form the non-profit WigglyWorld Studios—the organization which Northwest Film Forum originates from. Launching in 1995, WigglyWorld Studios was a filmmaking

artist collective An artist collective or art group or artist group is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything t ...

located on

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

in the Capitol Hill Arts Center, a former

Odd Fellows Odd Fellows (or Oddfellows when referencing the Grand United Order of Oddfellows or some British-based fraternities; also Odd Fellowship or Oddfellowship) is an international fraternity consisting of lodges first documented in 1730 in 18th-cen ...

meeting hall. The organization provided film screenings, filmmaking equipment, post-production suites, and workshops to the public and

independent filmmakers An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

. Initially operating as a nomadic organization, screening films at various venues, in 1997 the Northwest Film Forum bought the

Grand Illusion Cinema The Grand Illusion Cinema is the longest running independent cinema in the city of Seattle, Washington, and has become a landmark of the film community. Opened as The Movie House in 1970, the cinema became the city's first intimate arthouse and sh ...

. "WigglyWorld" was now the name of the educational and outreach wing of the nonprofit. In 1998, NWFF bought a space on 19th and Mercer that became The Little Theatre, opening in 1999 as an 64-seat art house dual cinema and live theater. NWFF began to expand its programming and outreach efforts, with the support of Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer and other donors, and in 2008 moved to a 8,000-square-foot facility. NWFF annually hosts the Local Sightings Film Festival, which programs exclusively films by

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

filmmakers.

References

Buildings and structures in Seattle Cinemas and movie theaters in Washington (state) Repertory cinemas in the United States 1990 establishments in Washington (state) {{Movie theaters in Seattle