📅 Friday, Nov. 13-Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026
📍 SIFF Film Center: 167 Republican St., Seattle
The Pacific Northwest is the envy of many, thanks to its lush forests, the smorgasbord of international cuisine and the [mostly] temperate weather. And, of course, there’s our thriving arts community, from the ever-packed packed live music calendar to the robust theater scene to more art galleries and off-the-beaten-path museums than you can count.
And then there’s cinema. Thanks to the boundless imagination of local filmmakers baring their souls and the independent movie houses, film festivals and nonprofit organizations that support, amplify and program that work, there’s something for everybody. For their fourth year, the Seattle Film Critics Society presents the 2026 PNW Awards, honoring the best in feature and short film made in our very backyard.
One film, Laika’s rapturously ambitious stop-motion fantasy epic “Wildwood,” is in theaters now, but the rest you can catch at the SIFF Film Center.
“A Simple Machine”
Friday, Nov. 13 @ 6:30 p.m.
Anyone who’s ever tried to power through one of our chaotic cities on a bicycle will love this Portland-set, Walden-esque tale of living off the grid, as a young Black man scrimps and saves to survive a nation undone by COVID and capitalism. Winner of multiple audience awards the nation over.
✨ Director Mark Alan Hoffman and author Evan P. Schneider scheduled to attend.
Short Film Nominee Showcase
Saturday, Nov. 14 @ 12 p.m.
Low riders, homesick immigrants, fast food marathons, Girl Scout skirmishes and exploding whales. It’s the best deal in town — five films for the price of one — for this SFS-curated bevy of narrative and nonfiction short films, plus a whole heap of guests.
“Powwow People”
Saturday, Nov. 14 @ 3 p.m.
Ferndale-born filmmaker Skye Hopinka (“Malni: Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore”) directs this verité-style Indigenous doc, set over one day at Seattle’s Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, as a Northern Traditional Dance special is built and performed.
✨ Director Sky Hopinka scheduled to attend.
“Again Again”
Saturday, Nov. 14 @ 6:30 p.m.
A philosophically astute and thematically rich spec-fic romantic time-loop drama shot and set in Aberdeen, this stunning work from writer, codirector and star Mia Moore sold out its two world premiere SIFF 2026 screenings so quickly that a third date was added (which also sold out immediately). Don’t miss your chance.
✨ Filmmaker Mia Moore scheduled to attend.
“The Joyless Economy”
Sunday, Nov. 15 @ 3 p.m.
Premiering at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Marjorie Conrad’s experimental, hypnotic, deeply confessional doc that tracks a woman’s media collection and its relation to her infidelity won the Best PNW Feature Award at the 2026 Tacoma Film Festival.
✨ Director Marjorie Conrad and producer John Tuthill scheduled to attend.
“The Life We Leave”
Sunday, Nov. 15 @ 6 p.m.
What do you want to do with your body after you die? Are you perhaps willing to have it composted? A trio attempts to revolutionize post-death care in this ecological and humane nonfiction curiosity, winner of the SIFF 2026 Golden Space Needle Award as well as Best Documentary at NWFF’s Local Sightings.
✨ Director JJ Gerber scheduled to attend.
