The Secret Life of Plants [In-Person Only]
$14 General Admission
$10 Student/Child/Senior
$7 NWFF Member
About
(Walon Green, US, 1979, 97 min, in English & French with English subtitles)
Supported by Stevie Wonder’s exuberant and sometimes haunting soundtrack, this documentary conveys the pain and joy plants experience and how they communicate it.
Ticketing, concessions, cinemas, restrooms, and our public edit lab are located on Northwest Film Forum’s ground floor, which is wheelchair accessible. All doors in Northwest Film Forum are non-motorized, and may require staff assistance to open. Our upstairs workshop room is not wheelchair accessible.
The majority of seats in our main cinema are 21″ wide from armrest to armrest; some seats are 19″ wide. We are working on creating the option of removable armrests!
We have a limited number of assistive listening devices available for programs hosted in our larger theater, Cinema 1. These devices are maintained by the Technical Director, and can be requested at the ticketing and concessions counter. Also available at the front desk is a Sensory Kit you can borrow, which includes a Communication Card, noise-reducing headphones, and fidget toys.
The Forum does NOT have assistive devices for the visually impaired, and is not (yet) a scent-free venue. Our commitment to increasing access for our audiences is ongoing, and we welcome all public input on the subject!
If you have additional specific questions about accessibility at our venue, please contact our Patron Services Manager at suji@nwfilmforum.org. Our phone number (206-329-2629) is voicemail-only, but we check it often.
Made possible due to a grant from Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with Sensory Access, our Sensory Access document presents a visual and descriptive walk-through of the NWFF space. View it in advance of attending an in-person event at bit.ly/nwffsocialnarrativepdf, in order to prepare yourself for the experience.
NWFF patrons will be required to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building. Disposable masks are available at the door for those who need them. We are not currently checking vaccination cards. Recent variants of COVID-19 readily infect and spread between individuals regardless of vaccination status.
Read more about NWFF’s policies regarding cleaning, masks, and capacity limitations here.
From the Portland Museum of Art in Maine:
While we sometimes praise artworks for being muscular and meaty, this New-Age classic reminds us that we shouldn’t food-shame our vegetarian film fare. Such is the zeitgeist of vegetarian films like The Secret Life of Plants. Based on the 1973 book of the same title by Silvin Tompkins, this 1979 documentary zeroes in on the life and mind of plants, drawing on a range of scientific experiments to argue for the sentient life of the flower. From a 21st-century perspective, the film’s argument may feel less novel or scientifically convincing than it did during its time, but it’s an amusing reflection of its historical moment all the same. Even as a cultural curiosity, the plant footage and exclusive Stevie Wonder soundtrack ensure a high entertainment quotient. Perfect for any pod of consciousness-raising cinephiles.
