The actual party begins at 8pm and then they'll be screening their greatest hits from Fri, Sept 23 through Sun, Oct 2. From short films, by the likes of Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) and Mike Mills (Thumbsucker), to documentaries, like Nina Simone: Love Sorceress, to films for kids of all ages, like The Point, there's something for pretty much everyone. If you're a member, you can get a full series pass for only $19.95.
Other highlights include Steven Soderbergh's loopy Schizopolis (they'll be screening his personal print), Hou Hsiao-Hsien's gorgeous Flowers of Shanghai with the great Tony Leung, Aki Kaurismaki's pitch-black comedy Match Factory Girl with the equally great Kati Outinen, and Mel Stuart's Wattstax with the late Isaac Hayes at his cape-and-gold-chain-vest peak.
For the press launch, they screened a couple of "super hits" (followed by programmer Jamie Keeling's homemade cake): Olivier Assayas's 1994 Cold Water and local filmmaker Serge Gregory's 2004 B&W short Foster Island featuring a score by Jeff Greinke. Amazingly, I had never seen Cold Water before, although I've seen most of Assayas's other features, including Clean, which played at this year's SIFF. Over the years, I've also caught many of Virginie Ledoyen's films, which are always worthwhile (with the possible exception of The Beach). The adventurous Irma Vep remains my favorite, but Cold Water, with Ledoyen as a troubled teen in 1970s France, is Assayas at the top of his game. I liked Foster Island, too, which plays like the final moments of Antonioni's L'eclisse; a series of images haunted by absence.
Both films play on Fri, Sept 30: Foster Island with Abbas Kiarostami's great 1990 docufiction Close-Up at 7pm and Cold Water at 9:15pm.
The Northwest Film Forum is located at 1515 12th Ave on Capitol Hill. For more information, please click here. Image from Cineasterna (John Hawkes and Miranda July in Me and You and Everyone We Know).
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