The Grand Illusion

With director / writer Mark Alan Hoffman in-person for an intro and Q&A.

Starring Richard Blackmon in a breakout lead role, A SIMPLE MACHINE is a coming-of-age story following Nick Allander, a recent college grad trying to figure out his life’s direction during the late stages of the pandemic. In a last-ditch attempt to get out of debt, Nick makes a series of radically frugal lifestyle choices without telling his girlfriend (Gabriela Bloomgarden) that he's going off the grid.

Shot in luminous black and white in Portland, Oregon by award-winning cinematographer Kevin Fletcher (It’s What’s Inside) and featuring an original score by Mark Orton (Nebraska, The Holdovers), A SIMPLE MACHINE is a deeply human and timely story about personal freedom and the cost of wanting less in a culture built on more. At a time of economic crisis, housing instability, and digital saturation, it offers something rare: a grounded, thoughtful counterpoint rooted in the deliberate choice towards simplicity and financial freedom. Based on the novel A Simple Machine, Like the Lever by Evan P. Schneider.

“…relevant to almost everyone in America, as affordability becomes one of our biggest worries.” Tim Molloy, MovieMaker

Twenty-eighth encore screening! 🎶 Summer beavs make feel fine 🎶

Our friends at Central Cinema are generously helping us keep the beavers gnawing away while we search for a new home. 60% of ticket sales go to our relocation fund!

In this 19th century, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

“Starts strange, gets stranger, and yet remains resolutely adorable… embraces the defiant glee of art cinema and distills it into something so thoroughly pure and sincere that it is surely hard not to fall in love with it.” Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Alliance of Women Film Journalists

“It’s sure to develop a significant cult following with its unique mix of silent-era slapstick, animation elements, theme-park-style critter costumes, and general air of inspired absurdity.” Dennis Harvey, Variety

“Steroidally swollen with gags and smarts.” Guy Maddin

As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient. Writer-director Georgia Bernstein's debut feature examines caregiving as both vocation and compulsion, and the fine, dangerous line between them.

At the start of her new job in a luxury retirement community, Eleni (Cemre Paksoy) is drawn into a series of scam calls targeting the elderly residents, a pull she can't quite name or resist. As the community's strange rhythms close around her, she grows increasingly intimate with her elusive patient, Douglas (Bruce McKenzie), until the line blurs between care and desire, devotion and delusion.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest neon-drenched vibes fest, featuring a new score by the legendary Pino Donaggio.

When a mysterious mist engulfs a futuristic metropolis, unleashing a deadly and elusive entity, a troubled young woman (Sophie Thatcher) searches for her father. Her quest collides with an American GI (Charles Melton) on a harrowing odyssey to rescue his daughter from Hell.

“Her Private Hell resists interpretation, like so many of Refn’s recent films, but executes a slow dervish swirl of hypnotic strangeness.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“The genius of Her Private Hell is that, like a kind of visual ASMR, it offers nothing really concrete, just a lot of satisfying triggers and sensory associations… Is it pretentious? You bet! But it’s the kind of pretension that’s been missing for far too long in cinema… [it’s] either for you or it isn’t and you’re either for it or you aren’t. Either way, this is a film that demands you pick a side.” Damon Wise, Deadline

SUMMER TOUR is a poetic documentary shot on 16mm that follows Jerry and Annie, a magnetic young couple devoted to the music and community of Dead & Company as they journey across America for the band’s final tour.

Blending intimate portraiture with lyrical road imagery, the film captures the essence of the Deadhead experience: an unconventional family bound together by music, freedom, and the open road.

At once a love story and a celebration of a uniquely American tradition of wandering, SUMMER TOUR reflects on what it means to seek belonging, adventure, and transcendence in a fleeting moment of cultural history.

“A Deadhead himself, [director] Richter’s film is a thoughtful and loving tribute to an often misunderstood group of fans… the structure of the documentary mirrors the wandering soulfulness of the band’s impeccable musicianship and timeless songs… [Richter’s] empathetic eye grants us access to a fascinating subject without ever betraying it… This film is for and about the fans.” Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

25th anniversary of the iconic romantic comedy that helped spark an international breakthrough for Korean cinema.

Ignited by what may be the most hilariously disastrous meet-cute in cinema history, MY SASSY GIRL reinvented the romcom with wild aplomb. An unassuming young man’s whole world is turned upside down when a beautiful and ferocious female force of nature takes his life by storm. Their ensuing tumultuous relationship both scales the heights of blockbuster movie fantasies and descends the poignant depths of heartache in this outrageous and uplifting ode to true love.

Based on a South Korean netizen’s blog of reportedly true stories about his girlfriend, the film proved a massive sleeper hit and one of the most influential Asian films of the 21st century. A must-see contemporary classic, MY SASSY GIRL has been newly restored in 4K from the original negative.

In Korean with English subtitles.

“The mesmerizing allure of the film’s overarching love story and quirky sensibilities make it a timeless entry in the romantic comedy genre.” Wilson Kwong, Film Inquiry

“A wild ride romance that’s by turns lovably goofy, heart-tuggingly sentimental, and stand-up-and-cheer rousing, My Sassy Girl is an unabashed crowd-pleaser that mixes genres with the audacious abandon that makes Korean cinema so much fun.” Film At Lincoln Center

In remembrance of Sam Neill, the highly engaging, underrated maritime thriller co-starring Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. Produced by George Miller (the MAD MAX series).

When a veteran sailor (Neill) and his wife (Kidman) rescue the half-delirious sole survivor of a crippled schooner (a compellingly deranged Zane), the skeptical husband rows to the disabled boat and finds a horrifying sight. Turning back to his own ship, he sees it racing away – with his wife on board – starting a desperate cat-and-mouse game on the high seas.

“Three people, two boats… quite effectively directed, shot, and cast; exceptionally well cast…” Gene Siskel, Siskel & Ebert

“The look, tone and feel of Dead Calm has barely aged a jot, making it an intensely rewarding film to rewatch… Neill and Zane contribute edge-of-your-seat performances… [Kidman] is a hypnotic presence.” Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian

With a lived-in granularity and unmistakable visual style, BOUCHRA, the feature debut from acclaimed visual artists Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki, is a singular portrait effortlessly towing the line between documentary, visual art, and resonant family drama. Deeply felt, surprisingly sexy, and formally adventurous, Bennani and Barki’s distinctive debut forges new ground in queer cinema.

Wrestling with writer’s block for her first film, Bouchra, a queer Moroccan jackal living in NYC, starts having difficult yet overdue phone calls with her mother in Casablanca that begin influencing the project. Balancing the precarity of working as an artist in New York, the rift in her identity between her two homes and an array of friendships and romantic interests, Bouchra’s emotional reckoning with her mother and herself becomes her path to expression.

In English and Moroccan Arabic & French with English subtitles.

“The sheer intimacy with which everything in the film is presented, even with the relative remove of anthropomorphizing all the characters, is what makes it sing; the unrealness emphasizes the real narratives and emotions behind those digital facades.” Juan Barquin, RogerEbert.com

“Despite grappling with intergenerational tension, the film also makes space for the erotic thrill of sexual intimacy, passionate encounters that lighten the weight of emotional turmoil. Far from reiterating tired binaries – tradition versus modernity, elders versus youngsters – the film embraces the beauty of contradictions with open arms.” Phuong Le, The Guardian

The latest from New Queer Cinema pioneer Gregg Araki, I WANT YOUR SEX tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colorful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known.

Among the boldest accomplishments of Hong Kong cinema’s golden age, this uniquely visceral martial-arts movie puts a gritty new spin on the story of the one-armed swordsman, an iconic figure from the moment he was introduced by the Shaw Brothers studio in 1967.

Composed in a whirlwind of immersive close-ups and fractured editing, THE BLADE follows the young sword-maker Ding On (Vincent Zhao), who, after losing an arm in an ambush, transforms himself into a furious avenger. With its intentionally disorienting stylization and starkly brutal tone, THE BLADE was a rare commercial disappointment for Tsui Hark, but it has since been reclaimed as one of the director’s most radical visions—a tour de force of action expressionism, and a scathing reappraisal of the wuxia genre’s code of masculinity, that achieves a feverish intensity.

In Cantonese with English subtitles.

Special live intro from local Hong Kong genre film connoisseur and one of the programmers of the Seattle Film Society, Patrick McFarland.

“The action scenes are some of the most chaotic in Tsui’s canon, with an emphasis on rapid, almost cubist editing that seduces you with swings and strikes caught from multiple angles.” Jake Cole, Slant

“Watching [The Blade] is like sitting in the passenger seat of a feature-length, high-speed car chase sequence. It’s thrilling, it’s confusing, and you’ve never seen anything like it before. And you want to go again and again, like a rollercoaster ride through hell.” Peter Martin, ScreenAnarchy

For its 25th anniversary, GYPSY 83 has been completely reimagined as a brand-new Director’s Cut, restored in 4K from the 35mm camera negative. Now featuring over 40 minutes of never-before-seen footage and containing more legendary goth songs from bands like The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Cocteau Twins, Ministry, and Clan of Xymox, the Director’s Cut is sure to satiate longtime fans and create a generation of new ones.

Sandusky, Ohio is Hell on Earth for goth misfits and Stevie Nicks superfans Gypsy Vale (Sara Rue) and her younger, queer protégée Clive Webb (Birkett Turton). When they discover a New York City club is hosting a “Night of 1000 Stevies”, the pair hit the road with high hopes that Gypsy will be able to perform. Along the way, they encounter other misfits who pave the way to their salvation, all while discovering profound truths about themselves. Co-starring John Doe of the legendary punk band X and the great Karen Black as a has-been lounge singer, Todd Stephens’s cult favorite puts a queer, outsider spin on both the road movie and the coming-of-age journey, with plenty of black eyeliner to spare.

“Deserves to be discovered not only by Goth and gay crowds, but by anyone who runs screaming from all things average.” Peter Debruge, Premiere Magazine

In an effort to get his buddy out of a gambling debt, Gou Fei agrees to join forces with his friend Judge in a weapons heist. The job goes bad and Judge betrays him. Gou Fei plots the ultimate revenge on Judge and his followers and sets forth a plan of violence and deceit. Starring legendary actor Chow Yun-Fat and directed by Ringo Lam (CITY ON FIRE).

In Cantonese with English subtitles.

Special live intro from local Hong Kong genre film connoisseur and one of the programmers of the Seattle Film Society, Patrick McFarland.

“With Full Contact, Lam takes the action genre and proceeds to not merely transcend it but explode it.” Beth Accomando, KPBS.org

Long difficult to find, Tsui Hark's DON'T PLAY WITH FIRE (aka DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS OF THE FIRST KIND) is one of the most controversial and violent crime films from the Hong Kong New Wave of the 1980s. Now newly restored!

After a fatal hit-and-run, three high school friends flee the crime scene. They are witnessed by Pearl, a sadistic young girl who pursues the group and blackmails them into more crimes, with increasingly disastrous consequences.

In Cantonese with English subtitles.

Special live intro from local Hong Kong genre film connoisseur and one of the programmers of the Seattle Film Society, Patrick McFarland.

“No film captures [Tsui Hark’s] early renegade style better.” Stephanie Monohan, Screen Slate

“An unflinching, nihilistic examination of juvenile delinquency in an unstable political climate, [it] still holds up more than three decades on, both as a piece of entertainment and as a cautionary tale about the dangers of a disenfranchised young generation.” James Marsh, ScreenAnarchy