Since 2022 the Seattle Film Critics Society (SFCS) has specifically honored Pacific Northwest filmmaking as part of our annual awards. This award, Best Pacific Northwest Film, is meant to celebrate the many talented filmmakers who produce work here.
Beginning in 2025, SFCS will additionally honor short films as part of this effort.
2025 PNW Nominee Screening Series
October 29 at SIFF Downtown
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
November 19 at Northwest Film Forum
Nominated PNW Short Films
- Style: A Seattle Basketball Story (dir. Bryan Tucker)
- A Fateful Weekend (dir. Tony Doupe)
- Shelly’s Leg (dir. Wes Hurley)
- Charlotte, 1994 (dir. Brian Pittala)
- Songs Of Black Folk (dir. Justin Emeka & Haley Watson)
All films screen in one showing, followed by a Q&A session with talent from all nominated films.
Wednesday November 19th at Northwest Film Forum
Q&A with Filmmakers:
November 21 at SIFF Film Center
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
November 22 at SIFF Film Center
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
Saturday November 22 at SIFF Film Center
Q&A with Sarah Hoffman, Bryce Yokio Adolphson, David Wulzen
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
November 23 at SIFF Film Center
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
Sunday November 23 at SIFF Film Center
Q&A with Ian Bell and Gavin Sullivan
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
Sunday November 23 at SIFF Film Center
Q&A with Lachlan Hinton and Tony Castle
Award History
Rainier: A Beer Odyssey Isaac Olsen
OTHER NOMINEES:
- All We Carry – Cady Voge
- Fish War – Jeff Ostenson, Charles Atkinson, and Skylar Wagner
- Gasoline Rainbow – Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
- Strange Darling – J.T. Mollner
Showing Up
Kelly Reichardt
OTHER NOMINEES:
- Dreamin’ Wild — Bill Pohlad
- Even Hell Has Its Heroes — Clyde Petersen
- Fantasy A Gets A Mattress — Noah Zoltan Sofian & David Norman Lewis
- Richland — Irene Lusztig
Sweetheart Deal
Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller
OTHER NOMINEES:
- All Sorts — J. Rick Castañeda
- Kimi — Steven Soderbergh
- Know Your Place — Zia Mohajerjasbi
- Sam Now — Reed Harkness
Previous Events
Eligibility
Full information is available for annual award timeline and eligibility; key details relevant to the PNW award are highlighted below.
The SFCS Board convenes a nominating committee for the award for Best Pacific Northwest Film. All traditionally eligible films are available for consideration, with a focus on those whose primary production was in the Pacific Northwest: specifically in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho (USA). Both feature-length documentary and narrative films are eligible for this award.
Films may additionally qualify for this award via theatrical or streaming presentation at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Local Sightings Film Festival, or others deemed appropriate by the Board.
The nominating committee will present a slate of PNW nominees to the full membership no later than one month prior to the SFCS general nomination deadline. The winner of the Best Pacific Northwest Film award will be decided by a vote of the full SFCS membership.
Submissions
No official submission is required. However, filmmakers, studios, their representatives, or other interested parties wishing to officially bring a film to the attention of the Nominating Committee should fill out the form below with the name of the film, the year of its release, and a digital screener that can be viewed by SFCS members.
To allow a thorough review of all potential films, the PNW Nominating Committee would greatly appreciate digital screeners by October 1.