A Tasty March Morsel

+ BIG NEWS

March 10, 2025

MARCH ‘25 NEWSLETTER

Greetings Everyone!

It’s another beautiful day in the SFS neighborhood. Our usual lineup of events continues this month with new Locals Only and Truth to Fiction screenings, as well as Screenwriting Club and Film Discussion over on the Discord. But we’ve also got some long-in-the-works news to share: We’re ~officially~ Fiscally Sponsored!

We’re thrilled to be able to partner with Shun Pike to power this new and exciting chapter in the SFS History Books (maybe more like a novella? A long-read article?). Not only does Shun Pike provide infrastructure support to growing arts organizations like ours, they also extend their 501(c)(3) status to us which enables us to accept tax-exempt donations! 

If you like the work SFS does, we’d love it if you’d consider making a donation. We’re fully volunteer-run at this stage, so every dollar you give goes directly back into our programming. Between numerous sold out events and an array of community initiatives, we’re knitting together the Greater Seattle Filmmaking Community bit by bit. We’d love your support, so if you have the means, please donate any amount that feels right to you.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let's start the party, shall we?

Marcus Baker

SFS Artistic Director

SCREENINGS

Monday, March 17th @ Seattle Open Arts Place (SOAP) | Doors at 7pm

Our “open mic night” for filmmakers continues on Monday, 3/17! Show up with your film on a USB stick, anything under 10 minutes goes up! It’s first come, first screen so be sure to get your tix and get there early! Doors at 7pm, screening from 7:30pm - 9pm.

Thursday, March 27th @ Seattle Open Arts Place (SOAP) | Doors at 7pm

 Our flagship screening event continues with three food-centric shorts that use gathering for a meal as the starting point for their dramas

Doors at 7pm, screening from 7:30pm to 9pm. Afters to follow!

Thursday, April 3rd @ Northwest Film Forum | Doors at 7pm

Our monthly doc screening with SeaDoc and the NWFF continues on April 3rd with SAM NOW. Locally made, the film focuses on Seattle filmmaker Reed Harkness’s 25-year quest to get answers about the sudden disappearance of his mother. A New York Times Critic’s Pick, the film explores themes of intergenerational trauma, and the turning points of family dysfunction and healing.  

EDUCATION

Wednesdays | SFS Discord @ 7pm

This March, our Weekly Film Discussion Group will be tracing the early career arc of modern cinema's foremost female voice. GRETA GERWIG: ACTOR TO DIRECTOR will cover four of Gerwig's early career roles as she transitioned from mumblecore mainstay to burgeoning Writer and Director. Films covered include:

We’ll be meeting on the SFS Discord each Wednesday night from 7-8:30pm.

1st + 3rd Tuesdays | SFS Discord @ 7:30pm

Our Screenwriting Group continues! Meetings are bi-weekly on our Discord channel and we are always looking for new submissions! Scripts can be submitted through our website. Our next meetings are March 18th and April 1st (no fooling!)

SELECTED LOCAL EVENTS

ALUMNI NEWS

CB Shamah | LO #3 (Feb ‘24)

CB Shamah is currently in Post Production for his newest short film LATE FOR THE ORGY. The film is a dark comedy about a group of adult party guests dealing with the unexpected death of their host. The film stars Annette Toutonghi, Obadiah Freeman and Dewa Dorje.

Tommy Heffernan | LO #5 (May ‘24)

Prolific multi-hyphenate Tommy Heffernan’s newest short film BODY BUDDIES will have its West Coast premiere at Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose this March. The film previous premiered at Dances with Films New York, and garnered the AGBO Storytellers Collective Award as a part of the AGBO 48hr Film Competition. Tickets are available now.

THE BUSINESS OF FILM

While most of the industry is busy wringing its hands about the state of film distribution, a surprisingly reliable source of revenue for some independent filmmakers has been Public Library purchasing. Between the realization that you don’t really own the digital media you buy and the difficulty in simply finding the thing you want to watch, Physical Media’s survival has been somewhat buoyed by Public Libraries, who are one of the only remaining major purchasers of DVD’s and Blu-Rays. More interesting still? The majority of DVD and Blu-Ray production is coming from a single source:

“As a result, public library purchases can easily represent the lion’s share of a film’s total DVD sales. For [my film], public libraries accounted for a whopping 75 percent of all DVD sales, according to statements from our distributor, MVD Entertainment. We might be the outlier, but [my film] has been a bona fide hit in the public library world. One big reason is that the film was featured in Midwest Tape’s weekly PDF newsletter as one of five “staff picks” the week it went on sale. Their staff selected the film based largely on our good reviews, recognizable talent, PG-13 rating and subject matter that relates to an event people were familiar with: Watergate. Midwest Tape was able to sell over 830 individual DVDs to libraries in over 500 cities and towns in 46 states and five provinces, from Anchorage to Miami, Newfoundland to Vancouver. Many library systems bought multiple copies to distribute across many branches: 31 in Los Angeles County libraries, 34 throughout the Bay Area, 16 in St. Louis city and county libraries. You know what’s cooler than getting a film into the Toronto International Film Festival? Knowing that your film is in a staggering 34 individual Toronto library branches! (In comparison, only nine Toronto branches have copies of All the President’s Men, and that’s been rereleased on DVD or Blu-ray about five times over the decades.)

The whole article is a fascinating deep dive into a little-discussed corner of film distribution in today’s market. You can read the whole thing over on Filmmaker Magazine.

RESOURCES + TOOLS

Local Resource | UW LUX

UW Lux is a collaborative filmmaking club on the University of Washington campus. Students at the University of Washington can participate in student-led film productions, gaining hands-on experience with other student creatives. Started by Local Filmmaker and VFX Whiz Blake Rizzo nearly a decade ago, the club meets each Wednesday for panels, discussions, and talks around a variety of filmmaking topics, as well as to plan upcoming shoots and events. Contrary to their name, all meetings are open to the public. 

Online Resource | Stephen Follows - Blog

Stephen Follows is a data researcher in the film industry whose work has been featured in the New York Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Mirror, The Evening Standard, Newsweek, The New Statesman, AV Club and Indiewire. His blog offers a data-driven approach to the industry, breaking down large scale ideas such as “How do Berlin Film Festival films differ from Mainstream Film?” into data-forward discussions that can provide a broader understanding of film industry trends, as well as helping filmmaker to get their films funded, shot, and seen.

Free Tool | DCP-O-Matic

With the 2025 festival run upon us, many filmmakers suddenly find themselves needing a DCP file in a pinch. While it’s always advisable to spend money to ensure quality, if you’re looking for a quick way to make your own DCP for free, look no further than DCP-O-Matic. When paired with a neat little youtube tutorial (such as this slightly-dated-but-still-useful one), it takes the worry out of making your DCP file on the fly.

SFS STAFF RECS

This month, we’ve got a recommendation from SFS Program Director:

KALEE QUIÑONES

Book | Bluets by Maggie Nelson

Grabbed this book of poetic prose from the library after reading Pageboy. Elliot Page's friend suggested it after his break up with Kate Mara. The prose is elegant and playful. It's experiential, self aware, and for the sad ones. 240 numbered prose, that was way too easy to fly through, on heartache, sex, disability, God, dreams, and the all-encompassing color blue.

SFS VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES

We added a new page to the website with Volunteering Opportunities. Seattle Film Society is a volunteer-run organization, and we are always open to adding more volunteers. Currently, we are looking for people who can assist in the following:

  • Graphic Design

  • Website Design + Management

  • Social Media

  • Video Editing

  • Events

If you have experience in any of these categories, we’d love to hear from you! Please email us at [email protected] with your resume and/or experience, and the category you’re applying to in the subject line.

If your experience doesn’t fit into any of the above categories, but you feel like you can still contribute to Seattle Film Society, please email us and describe what you’re thinking!

Thanks for reading! See you next month :) 

Got questions, suggestions, or news? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a line at [email protected]