The Grand Illusion

A landmark of independent cinema, COMPENSATION is Zeinabu irene Davis’s moving, ambitious portrait of the struggles of Deaf African Americans and the complexities of loving relationships at the bookends of the twentieth century. In extraordinary dual performances, Michelle A. Banks and John Earl Jelks play Malindy and Arthur, a couple in 1910 Chicago, as well as Malaika and Nico, a couple living in the same city almost eighty years later. Their stories are deftly interwoven through the creative use of archival photography, an original score featuring ragtime and African percussion, and an editing style both lyrical and tender.

Malindy, an industrious, intelligent dressmaker, falls for Arthur, an illiterate migrant from Mississippi, along the shore of Lake Michigan. On the same beach in the present, Malaika, an inspired and resilient graphic artist, softens before a brash yet endearing children’s librarian, Nico. Each pair faces the obstacles of their time as Black Americans, including structural racism and emerging pandemics.

COMPENSATION remains a groundbreaking story of inclusion and visibility that bears witness to the social forces and prejudices that stand in the way of love.

In English and American Sign Language with English subtitles.

Critic’s Pick! “It is the loves, labors and vulnerabilities two couples in two different eras experience that make this black-and-white film from 1999 such an elegant and presciently inventive work.” Lisa Kennedy, The New York Times

4/4 stars! “[Director] Davis’ visionary approach—which imagines deafness and Black life in infinitely gentle terms—spellbindingly brings us into a soulful world.” Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

“Compensation is an important achievement, illuminating and captivating, and it deserves the chance to reach the widest audience possible.” Kevin Thomas, The Los Angeles Times

Winner of an Honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement, Charles Burnett remains one of our country’s most celebrated independent filmmakers. In his charming and long-unavailable THE ANNIHILATION OF FISH, Lynn Redgrave plays Poinsettia, a former housewife with an imagined lover in the form of 19th-century composer Giacomo Puccini. She moves into a Los Angeles boarding house with an energetic landlady (Margot Kidder). There she meets a Jamaican widower, Fish (James Earl Jones), who has recently been released from a mental institution despite his continued battles against unseen demons. In the face of personal challenges and differences, the couple grows together and begins to discover new things about themselves and the nuances of love and happiness.

“Charles Burnett is one of the finest filmmakers in this country. His pictures speak in a cinematic voice that is uniquely and completely his own. For much too long, The Annihilation of Fish has been in limbo. It took many years and endless persistence to rescue this beautiful, delicate picture and get the original materials properly restored and preserved. It required the combined efforts of multiple organizations — Milestone Films, UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Film Foundation, and the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation — to see this restoration through, and I’m so happy that it’s finally ready for the world to discover.” Martin Scorsese

4/4 stars! “At every turn, The Annihilation of Fish is wonderfully surprising… this film is the essence of what makes Burnett’s hold on the American mythos peerless and exceptional.” Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

Critic’s Pick! “A modest movie modestly told, The Annihilation of Fish sneaks up on you; it’s as stealthy as Fish’s demon and can pack just as powerful a wallop.” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

It’s springtime, so OUT WITH THE COLD, IN WITH THE CHEW! Thirteenth encore screening!

Our friends at Central Cinema are generously helping us keep the beavers gnawing away while we search for a new home. 60% of ticket sales go to our relocation fund!

In this 19th century, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

Created by Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, the duo behind the modern cult hit LAKE MICHIGAN MONSTER (2018).

Named one of the 10 best movies of 2024 by Ty Burr of The Washington Post and Amy Nicholson of The Los Angeles Times.

“Starts strange, gets stranger, and yet remains resolutely adorable… embraces the defiant glee of art cinema and distills it into something so thoroughly pure and sincere that it is surely hard not to fall in love with it.” Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Alliance of Women Film Journalists

“It’s sure to develop a significant cult following with its unique mix of silent-era slapstick, animation elements, theme-park-style critter costumes, and general air of inspired absurdity.” Dennis Harvey, Variety

“Steroidally swollen with gags and smarts.” Guy Maddin

Join us for a very special screening of the brand new documentary about enigmatic singer Q Lazzarus, with director Eva Aridjis Fuentes joining for an in-person Q&A!

GOODBYE HORSES is an intimate journey through the life of Diane Luckey (aka Q Lazzarus), narrated through her own words, lyrics, and music. The exceptionally talented but vastly underappreciated artist, who sang the cult hit “Goodbye Horses”, reveals the reason behind her mysterious 25-year long disappearance and paves the way towards her re-emergence, with stories sad, funny, and moving.

Please note: Here-After is a 21 and over establishment. The entrance is via the alley in back of The Crocodile building. Get there early to order tasty beverages from the bar and delicious food from Tat’s Deli!

“A moving and honest triumph.” Stevie Chick, The Guardian

April 1st marks our 21st anniversary as a volunteer-operated non-profit! Come celebrate with us at Northwest Film Forum as we screen a brand new restoration of an underseen gem from the ‘90s. A contender for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, FEMALE PERVERSIONS marks the feature film debut of director and co-writer Susan Streitfeld as well as the American film debut of Tilda Swinton.

Eve Stephens (Swinton), an ambitious and successful trial lawyer in Los Angeles, is up for appointment as a judge while juggling her proclivity for meaningless sex and her relationship with her kleptomaniac sister Madelyn (Amy Madigan). As she navigates intimate relationships with both male and female partners, including geologist John (Clancy Brown) and psychiatrist Renee (Karen Sillas), Eve finds fantasy and reality converging, leading to a tense climax that will decide her personal and professional fate.

Streitfeld’s film is an inspired amalgamation of erotic drama and psychological thriller set within the cutthroat environs of the Los Angeles justice system and created by a majority-female crew. Newly restored from its original 35mm camera negative!

“Darkly funny… a heady, uncompromising film.” Michele Kort, The Advocate

“One of the most provocative films I’ve seen about the complications of being female in the modern world… This is the kind of movie you can’t stop thinking about.” Roger Ebert

“Female Perversions is the most intelligent, entertaining, provocative, absorbing, and, yes, feminist movie to grace our theatres in quite some time.” Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

45th anniversary! With this poignant second feature, David Lynch brought his atmospheric visual and sonic palette to a notorious true story set in Victorian England. When the London surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) meets the freak-show performer John Merrick (John Hurt), who has severe skeletal and soft-tissue deformities, he assumes that he must be intellectually disabled as well. As the two men spend more time together, though, Merrick reveals the intelligence, gentle nature, and profound sense of dignity that lie beneath his shocking appearance, and he and Treves develop a friendship. Shot in gorgeous black and white and boasting a stellar supporting cast that includes Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, and Wendy Hiller, THE ELEPHANT MAN was nominated for eight Academy Awards, cementing Lynch’s reputation as one of American cinema’s most visionary talents.

Part of To Live Is To Dream: A Northwest Tribute to David Lynch.

“I sometimes think that John Hurt’s performance in the title role of David Lynch’s sublime biography of Joseph Merrick (renamed John in the script) is the greatest piece of film acting I’ve ever seen… From the proto–Laura Palmer locket photo of Merrick’s mother that opens the film to its droning sound design and morbidly transcendent ending, [The Elephant Man] is like a template for three decades’ worth of brilliant variations.” Adam Nayman, The Ringer

“The Elephant Man is a very pleasurable surprise.” Pauline Kael

“This is a tale of redemption and transcendence, of the hunchback of London Hospital, of the noble phantom who wanted to go to the opera, of Beauty and the Beast. In Treves’ account, though, the Beast was a Beauty. In Lynch’s hands, so is this film.” Richard Corliss, TIME