Going Down [In-Person Only]
$15 General Admission
$10 Student/Child/Senior
$7 NWFF Member
About
(Haydn Keenan, 1983, Australia, 94 min, in English)
Middle-class Karli (Tracy Mann, Hard Knocks), alcoholic Jane (Vera Plevnik, Monkey Grip), unemployed Jackie (Julie Barry, Hell Hole), and square Ellen (Moira MacLaine-Cross, Tender Hooks) are four friends living together and barely scraping by in suburban Sydney. But when Karli’s father offers her a little money and a one-way ticket to New York, she finally sees a way out of her dead-end life—that is, until the money goes missing, kickstarting a final night out on the town that none of them will ever forget.
With a screenplay written by and based on the lives of two of its stars, performances from local Sydney bands Pel Mel and the Dynamic Hepnotics, and supporting appearances by a handful of beloved Ozploitation regulars—including David Argue (BMX Bandits) and Hugh Keays-Byrne (Mad Max)—Haydn Keenan’s debut feature Going Down is an underseen landmark of Australian cinema and a vivid portrait of Sydney in the early 80s. Existing somewhere between Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens and Juliet Berto and Jean-Henri Roger’s Neige in its depictions of the thrills and dangers of urban life, Going Down is a visceral testament to friendship and making it at any cost.
“A strange, loud piece of feministic cinema that women will adore and others will find exuberating.” – Tharunka
“While Going Down has all the wit and inventiveness that tempts a critic to call it the best Australian film in years, its basic strength is a riotous realism that should appeal to youth audiences in droves (if they get to see it).” – Meaghan Morris, Australian Financial Review
Synopsis and quotes courtesy of Muscle Distribution

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 strongly encouraged 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. 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.












