Every time fall rolls around, cinephiles in the South Sound perck up their ears and await the arrival of the Tacoma Film Festival. For nearly 20 years, beloved institution the Grand Cinema has held TFF, collecting a wide variety of shorts, features, docs and late-night oddities to present over the course of one jam-packed week.
This time around, TFF has shortened things to just a four-day weekend, running from October 10-13; while there will be fewer movies than a week would provide, this shorter period of time will be absolutely crammed with entertainment, both at the Grand Cinema and at the Blue Mouse Theater.
“We are a festival that aims to cover a lot of ground,” says Wade Neal, Tacoma Film Festival producer. “There are so many niche festivals that I think have a lot going for them because they can pick something particular — like a documentary festival, or a shorts festival, or festivals that reflect Hispanic heritage. Those are fantastic, and focused, but we still aim to be a broad, general festival. … We want film festival favorites that have been touring around, but also a huge focus on Pacific Northwest and local filmmaking, so we have four Pacific Northwest packages of shorts and at least three features that are all made somewhere in the area.”
Perhaps the epitome of the local filmmaking focus is Rainier: A Beer Odyssey, the latest archival deep dive from Tacoma documentarian Isaac Olsen, who previously explored Tacoma legends Girl Trouble in his documentary Strictly Sacred. This time around, the focus is on the infamous Rainier Beer ads, a deliriously creative campaign that was light years ahead of its time. Though its first two showings have sold out, a third has been added for Sunday.
“I’ve really been trying to fulfill what I think is the film audience’s desire to have a celebration,” says Neal. “The films that we’ve picked have been leaning towards something that will make you uplifted as you walk out of the cinema, and yet maintain that artistic integrity of fresh voices, new voices, and diverse voices that speak to everyone.
“The other piece of it is that we look at films that cover serious and important topics worldwide, whether it’s environment, whether it’s social justice,” Neal continues. “We do have elements of those things that we weave into what we’re doing here.”
One film that’s been captivating audiences along the festival circuit is Luther: Never Too Much, a documentary about the life of R&B icon Luther Vandross, which will be the opening night film at TFF. While Vandross’ gorgeously soulful voice is known and loved by so many, his life story may not be as familiar to most. With films centered around John Lewis, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., Lady Bird Johnson, and now Vandross, director Dawn Porter has quickly become one of the strongest portraitists in documentaries today.
TFF closes out with Devo, a documentary chronicling the career of the titular art-rock band, directed by Chris Smith, known for offbeat fare like American Movie, Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond, and Wham!.
Though this is a particularly strong year for documentaries, TFF’s narrative lineup is also full of gems that we’ve got our eyes on. Nosferatu x Radiohead will find the silent horror classic being screened with Radiohead’s Kid A and Amnesiac albums serving as the soundtrack; Bill Plympton, one of animations greatest oddballs, returns to the world of feature length films with Slide, a whacked-out musical Western; and Micro Budget, a mockumentary featuring a cavalcade of comedy all-stars like Maria Bamford, Bobby Moynihan, Chris Parnell, Jon Gabrus, and Mike Mitchell.
All of this is happening smack dab in the middle of the Grand Cinema’s “Save the Grand” campaign, where they are looking to buy the Merlino Arts Center building that houses them, thus cementing the Grand Cinema’s future. At the time of this writing, they are about 75 percent of the way to their goal of $5.5 million. When asked how best to support the Grand Cinema, Wade Neal offers an even more enriching option than just donating.
“The best way to support the Grand is to pick a movie you know nothing about and go to it,” says Neal. “We would love people to get back to that cinematic adventurism, where people just walk in and pick a movie blind, and as a programming staff, we know they’re probably going to like what they see. We just want to support seeing cinema in its natural habitat.”
At the Tacoma Film Festival, you can comfortably throw a dart at the schedule and land on an amazing film. Ticket information, as well as links to donate, can be found at grandcinema.com.
WHAT
Tacoma Film Festival
WHEN
Thursday, October 10 to Sunday, October 13
WHERE
The Grand Cinema
606 S. Fawcett Ave.
Tacoma, WA
The Blue Mouse Theatre
2611 N. Proctor St.
Tacoma, WA
COST
Tickets starting at $10
LEARN MORE
www.grandcinema.com