RELEASE: Seattle Film Critics Society Announces Pacific Northwest Award Film Screenings; Kyle MacLachlan Praises Late Seattle Times Film Critic John Hartl While Accepting Seattle Film Critics Society Spotlight Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Since 2022, the Seattle Film Critics Society (SFCS) has honored Pacific Northwest filmmaking as part of our annual awards. The Pacific Northwest Filmmaking award celebrates the many talented filmmakers who produce work in the region. A nominating committee of SFCS members carefully considered films released throughout the year whose primary production took place in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, or Idaho) and selected five finalists:
- All We Carry (dir. Cady Voge)
- Fish War (dir. Jeff Ostenson, Charles Atkinson, and Skylar Wagner)
- Gasoline Rainbow (dir. Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross)
- Rainier: A Beer Odyssey (dir. Isaac Olsen)
- Strange Darling (dir. JT Mollner)
“Diversity of form and function distinguishes this year’s nominees, which include documentaries, a narrative feature, and a hybrid film that wields non-fiction techniques in a fictional context. Collectively, they tell a story about our multicultural past and present with humor, empathy, and more than a little suspense,” said SFCS President Kathy Fennessy.
In partnership with SIFF, each of the nominated films will screen at SIFF Film Center during the weekend of December 6-8: Rainier: A Beer Odyssey (Friday, December 6); All We Carry and Strange Darling (Saturday, December 7); Fish War and Gasoline Rainbow (Sunday, December 8). Information about screenings and tickets are available at SIFF.net
The winner will be determined by a vote of the full membership and announced alongside SFCS’s annual awards on December 16, 2024.
The nominees were announced at an event Wednesday night at SIFF Cinema Downtown honoring Kyle MacLachlan with SFCS’s John Hartl Pacific Northwest Spotlight award.
MacLachlan, the Yakima-born acclaimed actor of iconic series such as Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks: The Return, and Fallout and beloved films such as Dune and Blue Velvet, accepted the Seattle Film Critics Society John Hartl Pacific Northwest Spotlight Award at the SIFF Cinema Downtown on Wednesday evening before a sold-out screening of his film The Hidden. MacLachlan was introduced by SFCS President Kathy Fennessy before speaking at length about Hartl, the late Seattle Times film critic that is the namesake of the award, and his impact.
“I wish I would have known him, I wish I would have met him,” MacLachlan said. “He wrote film criticism suggesting and helping interpret, for the readers, what the director was trying to do, even if that director wasn’t completely successful or the film wasn’t completely successful. He guided readers through the ever-evolving landscape of cinema with insight, with wit, and a deep, abiding passion for the art. His reviews didn’t just critique, they sparked curiosity in his audience, and he championed both celebrated and less well-known films.”
MacLachlan then spoke further about Hartl, the importance of curiosity in film criticism, and his own wide-ranging career in a post-film Q&A with SFCS Vice President Chase Hutchinson.
ABOUT THE NOMINATED FILMS:
All We Carry (Lo Que Llevamos): Cady Voge’s intimate portrait of a Honduran family’s flight from narcotraffickers to the sanctuary of West Seattle. Blake Peterson (425 Magazine) praised the film as “Distinguished for its intimate access and unwavering compassion.”
Fish War: Jeff Ostenson, Charles Atkinson, and Skylar Wagner’s vital documentary about the wide-ranging implications resulting from a legal fight to preserve indigenous fishing rights in Washington. Following its world premiere at SIFF, Josh Bis (The SunBreak) called the film “an important telling of PNW history … an inspiring reminder that occasionally laws have consequences and words have meaning.”
Gasoline Rainbow: Bill and Turner Ross’s observational travelogue of a group of teenagers traversing the Pacific Northwest on one last road trip before the uncertain responsibilities of adulthood take hold. Interviewing the directors, Chase Hutchinson (Seattle Times) described the film as “a new quintessential American road movie that doubles as a beautifully-shot portrait of modern youth.”
Rainier: A Beer Odyssey: Isaac Olsen’s revelatory deep dive into the archives of a local beer company’s iconic advertising campaigns shows Seattle at a time of creative transformation amid economic devastation. Following its SIFF premiere, Joe Hammerschmidt (Warm 106.9) celebrated the documentary as “a big screen postcard to an equally big city, noisy and astonishing at every corner.”
Strange Darling: JT Mollner’s hypersaturated time-twisted telling of a serial killer spree’s coming to a violent end in the Pacific Northwest. Sara Michelle Fetters (MovieFreak) lauded the “beauteously ruthless toxicity to Mollner’s cruel world that’s honestly glorious … a great deal of malicious fun.”
All We Carry had its world premiere at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January 2024. It also screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, alongside world premieres for fellow nominees Fish War and Rainier: A Beer Odyssey. Gasoline Rainbow premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2023 before reaching area theaters this spring. Strange Darling premiered at Fantastic Fest in 2023 and made a splash in local theaters this summer.