American Dreams, Forged Paintings, and Childhood Longings

Our April programming features the work of local legend SJ Chiro, a 4k restoration of a Labor Doc classic, and a new Steven Soderbergh film!

April 07, 2026

We’re more than a quarter of the way through 2026. Feels crazy to say, doesn’t it?

April brings the first hints of blockbuster season and the first whiff of the Oscar race (the Cannes lineup drops 4/9!). Just as the flowers are starting to sprout, so to are little (hopefully good) signifiers of the year to come.

But before we get into all that- a quick reminder that Locals Only submissions are still open! If you’ve got a short film- new or old, 20 minutes or less- our team would love to consider it for an upcoming Locals Only screening! Click the link above for more details.

As always, thank you for your continued support. Lets get into it.

Marcus Baker

SFS Creative Director

Table of Contents

SFS EVENTS

Thursday, April 16th @ Northwest Film Forum | Doors at 6:30pm

Our IN FOCUS series return this month to highlight the work of renowned Seattle filmmaker SJ Chiro with a screening of her 2017 coming-of-age drama LANE 1974. 

LANE 1974 (2017) is based on Clane Hayward's memoir about a 13-year-old girl living a nomadic life in 70’s Northern California communes alongside her rebellious mother and younger siblings. The film follows Lane (Sophia Mitri Schloss) as she yearns for stability and a "normal" life against the harsh realities of her mother’s off-the-grid existence. The film has been roundly praised for its authentic portrayal of childhood in a counter-culture setting, capturing the beauty and the danger of the era through a child's eye. 

This film will be preceded by a screening of Chiro’s first short film LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (2006). A Q&A between Chiro and film journalist Kathy Fennessy will follow the film. 

Thursday April 16th at the Northwest Film Forum. Doors at 6:30, Film at 7. See you at the movies!

Friday, May 1st @ NW Film Forum | Doors at 6:00pm

This May, we’re proud to screen Barbara Kopple’s 1991 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature American Dream.

American Dream unflinchingly details the explosive 1985–86 labor strike against Hormel Foods in Austin, Minnesota, a city ripped apart in the tumult. Fed up with dangerous plant conditions and drastic wage cuts, Austin’s Local P-9 went against the advice of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and, with the help of labor activist Ray Rogers’s campaign to damage the meatpacking giant’s public reputation, conducted a nearly yearlong walkout. But as the strike dragged on, some workers found themselves desperate to make ends meet and ready to cross the picket line, dividing a community already betrayed by a once progressive company and roiled by blockades, riots, and the intervention of the National Guard. Following up her landmark documentary Harlan County USA with another engrossing report from the trenches of working-class America, Kopple poignantly captures the human and political costs of one of the most significant setbacks to organized labor amid the unchecked corporatism of the Reaganomics era.

SFS newsletter subscribers can receive discounted tickets for this screening by using the code SFSTTF26 at check out.

Friday, May 1st at the Northwest Film Forum. Doors at 6:00, Film at 6:30pm. See you at the movies.

EDUCATION

Wednesdays | Discord | 7pm-8:30pm

Bells are ringing this April! Our Film Discussion Group is talking all things weddings with five discussions on the ups and downs of nuptials on screen. Our Field Trip this month will be to see the new A24 pic THE DRAMA (exact showtimes pending). The remaining schedule includes:

  • TUES. 4/7 - THE DRAMA (Field Trip)

  • TUES. 4/14 - THE GRADUATE (1967)

  • WED. 4/22 - THE WEDDING SINGER (1998)

  • WED. 4/29 - FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1991)

Our meetings take place in person every Wednesday here on the Discord from 7pm - 8:30pm (Field Trip excepted). Hope to see ya there!

April 9th @ TPS Seattle Center | 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Directors Lab is a monthly event for Directors and Actors to practice working together in a friendly, judgement-free environment.

Sign ups are free for Directors and Actors. Participants are selected on a monthly basis. To help offset rental costs, we ask for an optional $10 donation from our participants. Hope to see you there!

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Deadline: May 15th | Three Dollar Bill Cinema Fellowship 2026 (Three Dollar Bill)

Three Dollar Bill Cinema is proud to support queer filmmakers through a $7,500 fellowship for short-form cinematic work. Filmmakers must be WA based. Narrative, documentary, experimental, animation, and hybrid projects are welcome to apply, and projects can be at any stage of the filmmaking process. Click the link to learn more and apply.

April 10th & 11th | The SeaDoc Workshop (Multiple Venues)

Join the region’s leading voices in documentary film and storytelling! Learn from engaging panels and workshops on impact, Production, Sound, and an in-depth exploration of the work of documentary producers. Featured Keynote Speaker this year is Director and Cinematographer Kristin Johnson, Director of legendary films “Dick Johnson is Dead” and “Camera Person”.

April 7th | Preview Screening: NORMAL (AMC Pacific Place, 7pm)

SFS is excited to offer our Newsletter readers free tickets to an upcoming preview screening of NORMAL. If you’re interested in attending, you can RSVP HERE!

In the form, when asked “What club/organization/group/business/website are you attending on behalf of/did you receive the passes from,” just write: "Seattle Film Society.”

April 9th - 11th | Fin de Fest (The Egyptian)

FIN de FEST is an independent Latin American film festival held in Seattle over one weekend, dedicated to showcasing contemporary films created in and about Latin America. The festival creates a space where cinema, identity, community, and intercultural dialogue intersect, bringing Latin American stories to new audiences in Seattle.

As a Seattle Film Society member, you can use the code: seattlefilmfriends to get 25% off your purchase of tickets/passes!

Choose the tier would like, and then apply the discount at the end of the purchase. The discount is good until 4/8 11:59pm. You can use this ticket link to purchase!

April 15th | THE CHRISTOPHERS (SIFF Film Center, 7pm)

Seattle Film Society is proud to partner with NEON to present a Free screening of Steven Soderbergh’s new movie, THE CHRISTOPHERS, followed by a panel discussion about the film, featuring:

  • Chase Hutchinson | President, Seattle Film Critics Society

  • Warren Etheredge | Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, UW + Cornish

RSVP for your free ticket(s) using this link!

FESTIVAL DEADLINES

SELECTED EVENTS

ALUMNI NEWS

Sarey recently completed production on a music video for song “Antivenom” by the band Darkswoon. The video was release online in early March. You can watch the video and learn more about it here. 

Thomas recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for his short Western Horror film Cemetery Hill. The film follows two siblings on the American frontier who must confront a supernatural force feeding on their grief before it claims what remains of their family. You can learn more and support the project here.

Nate Fieldson (LO #10, #26)

Nate recently completed production on the short drama Ellis at Work, which centers on a pest control worker grieving the lost of his best friend. The film was produced by SFS Creative Director Marcus Baker (that’s me), and crewed by previous Locals Only Alums Alex Bulger and Nick Culbert.

Got an alumni update? Send it to us at [email protected]!

RESOURCES + TOOLS

Local Resource | Scarecrow Video

Scarecrow Video is an independently owned, non-profit video sales and rental store. Founded in 1988, the store has houses one of the largest video rental collections in the entire world with a library of over 155,000 titles. It is is the last remaining video store in Seattle.

Brought to you by The Directors Guild of America, The Director's Cut brings you the behind-the-scenes stories of today's most talked about films. Each episode features a new director interviewed by one of their peers, leading to revealing conversations about the grueling but rewarding process of bringing the most interesting stories to life.

Free Tool | Handbrake

HandBrake is a open-source tool, built by volunteers, for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs.

SFS STAFF RECS

This month, we’ve got a Staff Rec from our Programmer Gracen Bayer:

Film/TV - Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy Valentine’s Day Special

Have you been searching for a movie that looks underwhelming by its cover, only for it to become an immediate Letterboxd top four after a first watch? Maybe something so stupid it morphs into something brilliant in only 54 minutes? Look no further.

In Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy Valentine’s Day Special, Bolton gives the performance of a lifetime through hilarious back to back sketches that will have you quoting them relentlessly to the point of extreme annoyance of family and friends. Though featuring Valentine’s Day and a special guest appearance by Santa, this movie is for any season you’re in need of a chuckle. Available to watch on Netflix, this watch is for fans of The Lonely Island, Tim Robinson, and musical numbers about pubic hair. What's not to enjoy?

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].

Don’t forget, we’re a volunteer-run project under the fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (Shun Pike) so you can always: