BLACK LIVES MATTER. All June Film Proceeds to Benefit the Cause.
Dear Northwest Film Forum Community,
From the time they were forcibly brought to the Americas hundreds of years ago, Black Americans have expressed – using offerings of art, philosophy, story, song and dance – the struggles they have endured within a society which continues to strip them of their rights and systematically limits their access to resources. Yet not enough has changed.
Over the past week, as protests rose up all over the world in support of justice for Black lives, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie simultaneously hosted an incredible benefit show for NWFF. We are so grateful to our generous anonymous match and supporters, who recognize the need for equitable and empowering media. Now, it is with great conviction that NWFF does our part as a non-Black arts organization, to harness the privilege which has been handed down to us over our past 25 years, and use it to make a difference in this critical moment in time.
ALL PROCEEDS from our June film screenings will benefit Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network, Lavender Rights Project’s WA Black Trans Task Force, and Rainier Valley Community Clinic. In partnership with Three Dollar Bill Cinema and Black Cinema Collective.
In honor of Pride Month, these films include Tangerine, Sean Baker’s groundbreaking comic drama starring Black Trans women, the ScumTrust Pr0n 4 Freakz series, and Thee Debauchery Ball, a documentary celebrating Black lives, sexuality, freedom, and house music. Other must-watches include a Festival Flashback for Travessias: Brazilian Film Festival, and Whose Streets?, a contemporary document of the grassroots organizing efforts that followed the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
We stand in solidarity.
Vivian Hua 華婷婷
Executive Director
w/ support from NWFF Staff & Board
Film screenings co-presented by Three Dollar Bill Cinema and Black Cinema Collective!
While this was an organizational choice, we are still accepting donations. Your direct contributions to Northwest Film Forum will still be valued and appreciated at this time.
Thee Debauchery Ball [Online]
(David Weatherly, US, 2020, 71 min)
A doc on Chicago’s Black BDSM-themed house party, freedom, and sexuality. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and Lavender Rights Project’s WA Black Trans Task Force.
Thee Debauchery Ball celebrates Chicago’s large and thriving Afrocentric house music scene. Awarded Best Film at the Southside Chicago Film Festival, Thee Debauchery Ball tells the story of a bi-annual event that pays reverence to roots of house music culture, while expanding the scope and appreciation with innovative fetish- and BDSM-themed, and body-positive parties within private, protected, spaces in the Black community.
Featuring free livestream afterparties hosted by house DJs from across the globe, every night of the run from 6–8pm Pacific! More info >
Whose Streets? [Online]
(Sabaah Folayan & Damon Davis, US, 2017, 90 min)
Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and Lavender Rights Project’s WA Black Trans Task Force.
Since Michael Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, we have continued to see minorities wrongfully arrested, misrepresented, and subjected to police brutality and murder. Whose Streets? interprets the riots and demonstrations that spread from Ferguson across the nation, catalyzing the organization of the Black Lives Matter Movement, through a lens of community trauma. More info >
Tangerine [Online]
(Sean Baker, US, 2015, 88 min)
Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network
A sex worker and her best friend embark on an odyssey to get to the bottom of a rumor that her boyfriend has been unfaithful while she was in jail. Sean Baker’s iPhone-shot, effervescently stylish and textured storytelling draws viewers through a Christmas Eve like no other. More info >
Travessias Brazilian Film Festival Flashback Screenings
Co-presented with the Center for Brazilian Studies at UW! Sliding scale admission; $0–25; Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network
Jun. 3–14
The City of the Future (A Cidade do Futuro) [Online]
(Marília Hughes & Cláudio Marques, Brazil, 2018, 76 min)
A polyamorous family in Bahia, Brazil prepares for the arrival of their baby, while the surrounding community grapples with the damaging aftermath of the construction of a nearby dam. More info >
Jun. 17–28
Don’t call me son (Mãe só há uma) [Online]
(Anna Muylaert, Brazil, 2018, 82 min)
Pierre is a free-flowing teen whose life is disrupted when his biological ties to his family come into question. As he settles into a new rhythm with relatives who call him Felipe, he is soon forced to defend and embrace his true identity. More info >
Pr0n 4 Freakz 2020 [Online]
This Trans + Queer Smut Film Series features explicit sexual content and is intended for audiences 18+; NWFF’s portion of ticket sales benefit Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network
ScumTrust Productions is a collective of genderqueer and trans creators building mythologies that celebrate queer desire. They embrace the surreal sensuality in kink and BDSM while building collaborative structure to honor the multiply marginalized artists and workers at the center of this process. ScumTrust celebrates the campy, the ritualistic, the grimy, the indulgent, the gritty parts of sex, life and pleasure. More info >
Queerantine: A Throwback to Queer Arab Shorts [Online]
Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network
The Seattle Arab Film Festival (Aug. 29–30, 2020) invites you to a throwback screening of some of their favorite queer Arab shorts in honor of Pride! Join from your living room to celebrate stories that highlight the diversity, resilience, and talent of queer Arab communities around the world. More info >
About Northwest Film Forum
Founded in Seattle in 1995 as an independent film and arts nonprofit, Northwest Film Forum incites public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. Each year the Forum presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events, multidisciplinary performances, and public discussions. As a comprehensive visual media organization, the Forum offers educational workshops and artist services for film and media makers at all stages of their development. nwfilmforum.org
About Three Dollar Bill Cinema
Three Dollar Bill Cinema strengthens, connects, and reflects diverse communities three queer film and media. They provide access to films by, for, and about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people and their families, and a forum for LGBTQ+ filmmakers to share and discuss their work with audiences. Programs include Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival, TDBC Outdoor Cinema, Reel Queer Youth, and Seattle Queer Film Festival. threedollarbillcinema.org
About Black Cinema Collective
Black Cinema Collective is a Seattle based group of artists and scholars who examine and celebrate works of African and African diasporic filmmakers through programmed screenings and community discussions. With both a Black Feminist and Black Global lens, we hold space for the complex existence and storytelling inventions of Diasporans. We consider intersectional histories and topical stories by supporting multiple forms of filmmaking from local and global artists, activists, documentarians, and organizers. Through our focused events on Black film and visual productions, we exercise agency and care as custodians and students of a broader spectrum of Afro-Diasporic cultures. Supported by the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities. On Facebook, Instagram, or support via Venmo to @B-S-M