Each year, the Seattle Film Critics Society (SFCS) honors Pacific Northwest filmmaking as part of their annual awards. A nominating committee carefully considered films released throughout the year whose primary production took place in the Pacific Northwest and selected six finalists. This autumn, SFCS will show these nominated films in collaboration with SIFF, bringing the best films the PNW has to offer, some of which will screen for the first time for local audiences.
- Not One Drop of Blood (dir. Jackson Philip Caumiant Devereux, Lachlan Hinton)
- To Kill A Wolf (dir. Kelsey Taylor)
- Train Dreams (dir. Clint Bentley)
- Twinless (dir. James Sweeney)
- Wolf Land (dir. Sarah Hoffman)
- WTO/99 (dir. Ian Bell)
Ranging from incisive documentaries to acclaimed dramas, these locally shot and set works demonstrate in glorious fashion that states like Washington and Oregon are fertile grounds for making compelling cinema. Across a wide range of budgets and institutional support, the filmmaking teams demonstrate the immense potential of a region primed to spotlight many magical movie moments.
SFCS is beyond proud to champion these films, the filmmakers who made them, and the PNW by hosting a series of screenings with Q&As featuring the talent behind each film’s production. In partnership with SIFF, screenings are planned for each of the nominated films beginning with a Seattle Premiere of Train Dreams on October 29 at SIFF Downtown. The remaining films will screen over one weekend at SIFF Film Center: Twinless on Friday November 21; Wolf Land and To Kill a Wolf on Saturday November 22; WTO/99 and Not One Drop of Blood on Sunday November 23.
Tickets and information about the screenings are available at siff.net/sfcs.
The winner will be determined by a vote of the full SFCS membership and announced alongside SFCS’s annual awards on December 15, 2025.
ABOUT THE NOMINATED FILMS
Not One Drop of Blood
Dir. Jackson Devereux, Lachlan Hinton
“Following the investigation of these bizarre events, what takes shape is a portrait not of the evasive killers, but of the fear, superstition and resilience within the American psyche.” – Northwest Film Forum
To Kill a Wolf
Dir. Kelsey Taylor
“What Taylor illustrates in this version of Little Red Riding Hood is a sensitive portrait of guilt, of the difference between people who simply want to bury it and those that are consumed by it. Her sympathy for those caught in its warm, familiar pain is what fills To Kill a Wolf with life.” – Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle
Train Dreams
Dir. Clint Bentley
“The state of Washington has always been one of the most beautiful, if tragically underutilized, places in the world to shoot a film, but rarely has it looked quite as movingly magnificent as it does in Train Dreams. A Western epic of breathtaking visual splendor and formidable lyrical cinematic poetry, it’s a work containing all the wondrous, devastating layers of an entire life, which it explores with a gentle grace without hiding from the agony that comes with it.” – Chase Hutchinson, TheWrap
Dir. James Sweeney
“Poignant yet prickly, the wry gay-straight bromance never settles for quirk or easy sentimentality. Instead, Sweeney’s very clever structure repeatedly recontextualizes, complicates, and darkens the storytelling with each successive act. … With each reinvention, the movie becomes even more electrifying and deeply emotional, introducing a sense of uncomfortable complicity among the audience along the way.” – Josh Bis, The SunBreak
Wolf Land
Dir. Sarah Hoffman
“With empathetic characters and a narrative that is both informative and highly engaging, the documentary does a good job of laying out Curry’s life and his work. One of the strongest aspects of the film is its inviting and gorgeous cinematography, whether it shows the breathtaking Eastern Washington landscape as Curry rides his horse over the hills, or the rare glimpses of a gray wolf crossing a rural road.” – Bailey Josie, Seattle Weekly
WTO/99
Dir. Ian Bell
“Some documentaries just feel like a sock in the jaw. Ian Bell’s fiery and explosive archival picture WTO/99 is that kind of film. … in totality, WTO/99 is nothing short of a galvanizing historical document that tells us exactly how we arrived on the crumbling ground we’re presently standing on.” – Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com
To Kill A Wolf premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August 2024 and was released theatrically in August 2025; Twinless and Train Dreams had world premieres at Sundance in January 2025. WTO/99 premiered at the True/False film festival in February 2025. Not One Drop of Blood premiered at Filmfort at Treefort Music Festival in March 2025 and is a part of Northwest Film Forum’s Local Sightings festival in 2025. Wolf Land had its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival in May 2025, where Twinless also screened.
The Seattle Film Critics Society is an association of professional critics working to facilitate a community that supports local productions and festivals; enhances public education, awareness, and appreciation of cinema; and strengthens the bonds of critical dialogue as it pertains to the cinematic arts.
Further information about the Seattle Film Critics Society’s annual awards can be found at seattlefilmcritics.com/upcoming-awardsContacts:
seattlefilmcritics.com | @seattlecritics | press@seattlefilmcritics.com