The Grand Illusion

25th anniversary!

Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley. Featuring a star-studded ensemble that includes Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Phillip Baker Hall, William H. Macy and John C. Reilly, MAGNOLIA offers a bold and empathetic look at the strange connections that bind us together.

Part of our 20th Anniversary Celebration Series!

“One of the most enthralling and exhilarating American movies in ages.” Geoff Andrew, Time Out

“Magnolia is operatic in its ambition… one of those rare films that works in two entirely different ways. In one sense, it tells absorbing stories, filled with detail, told with precision and not a little humor. On another sense, it is a parable. The message of the parable, as with all good parables, is expressed not in words but in emotions.” Roger Ebert

In this animated neo-noir sci-fi thriller set in the year 2200, private detective Aline Ruby and her android partner Carlos Rivera are hired by a wealthy businessman to track down a notorious hacker. On Mars, they descend deep into the underbelly of the planet's capital city where they uncover a darker story of brain farms, corruption, and a missing girl who holds a secret about the robots that threatens to change the face of the universe.

“Ultra-cool and dazzlingly animated.” David Ehrlich, indieWire

“Mars Express at once feels rich in its design, and complex in its stories, but at its heart it’s asking the question that most works of art ask: what does it mean to be human?” Shelagh Rowan-Legg, ScreenAnarchy

A found-footage horror movie 20 years in the making. Never to be released online. Can only be seen in theaters. Featuring a live Zoom Q&A with the filmmakers following the movie!

When two scary movie fanatics buy an abandoned duplex to shoot their next indie horror film in, they are delighted to find the dilapidated property is even creepier than it appears. Putting their years of horror filmmaking and amateur ghost hunting to use, they team up with an old friend to document the cult of random strangers who gather outside the building in a zombie-like trance. As the three friends gleefully chase their obsession with the supernatural, their investigation becomes an increasingly ecstatic quest to see just how scary their real-life horror movie can get.

“An increasingly uncomfortable descent into the weird, guaranteed to have you leaving the theater chilled.” Matt Konopka, Dread Central

“From its first unflinching moments to the unanswered questions of its conclusion, [this] is the kind of horror that leaves you feeling immersed, unsafe, and afraid to be left in the dark.” Grace Detwiler, Rue Morgue

Vanishing Seattle, in association with Scarecrow Video, presents VIVA VIDEO! - a free screening event in celebration of physical media and the local film community that keeps it alive.

Join us for screenings of two shorts produced by Vanishing Seattle. The first, WE ARE RECKLESS, intimately documents the bittersweet final month of the last family-owned video store in Seattle, Reckless Video. Through poignant interviews with the former owner, employees, and loyal customers, the documentary captures the deep love and appreciation for the store, physical media, and the vibrant sense of community it fostered. The second short, produced in collaboration with Converge Media, focuses on Seattle's last remaining video store, a pillar of the local film community, and home to one of the largest and most diverse video collections in the world, Scarecrow Video.

The shorts will be followed by a screening of ADJUST YOUR TRACKING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE VHS COLLECTOR, the feature-length documentary that shows a vibrant world of collectors and movie fans who are keeping the VHS format, and the movies, alive. Over 100 collectors, filmmakers, producers and video store owners express how VHS changed their lives. Travel back to the days of video rental stores with those who still buy, sell, rent and trade the format that will not die — VHS.

The filmmakers of WE ARE RECKLESS, along with Cynthia Brothers of Vanishing Seattle, will be present for a live Q&A.

Reserve advanced tickets online or in-person the day-of show. There will be a $5-or-more suggested donation at the door with proceeds going to Scarecrow Video. You may also donate at any time online to Scarecrow’s Spring Fundraising Campaign.

“Adjust Your Tracking is an honest and brutally entertaining look at the VHS revival and how it’s helped fuel the film community. It’s obviously a work of love, and is highly suggested for any self respecting cineaste.” Felix Vasquez, Cinema Crazed

TIME TO GET PUMPED!

Roger’s gym is facing financial ruin and their hottest aerobics instructors keep getting poached by rival health club, The Rejuvinarium. In an attempt to save the gym, Roger decides to rebrand: now it’s a fitness-based single’s club, catering to the young and sexy…or those who aspire to be, anyways. This movie has it all… We got chumps to hunks, sweaty sexercize on the weight machines, a co-ed basement jacuzzi and an Aerobathon competition between the two rival gyms! Who will win? Who will lose? Who cares? When you hear the bangin’ finale song, we’ll pump up the volume and you’ll pump your fist in the air because FITNESS RULES!!

“Packed with sweaty exercise montages and ’80s trappings — from its polyester fashions, to the neon-eyesore set decoration — [This movie] is so deliriously disjointed that I often wondered if the reels were out of order. That’s a sure sign of exploitation greatness.” – Shock Cinema Magazine

“This film is f***ing amazing! First, it has more montages than any movie I’ve ever seen before. Second, if you’re into aerobics, buff bodies and outrageous eighties work out attire, then this is your movie. Third, if you like your 80’s soundtracks filled with mindless synth-pop songs from artists you’ve never heard of before, this movie has quite a list. Finally, there’s the nudity. There’s so much of it I don’t know where to begin, but the best thing about it is, it’s completely unnecessary. You have about as much chance of spotting a unicorn than seeing this movie, but if you get the opportunity, DO IT!” – Michael Monterastelli: Collecting VHS, CHUD.com

NEVER RELEASED ON DVD! ONLY ON VHS! ONLY $3!

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).

Second encore screening added – June 1st!

“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