Fall Film Fests to Fit into Your Travel Plans
It’s lucky if you live here around the Puget Sound because you do not have to go far to experience great cinema. There are vast possibilities here that will have destinations like Port Townsend, Tacoma, and Orcas Island on your mind. Here are a few highlights of local film festivals and archival series coming this fall.
Hardware Electronic Artists Connect Communities in Seattle’s Live Music Scene
At 10 p.m., Seattle music project monocot.zip, composed of longtime friends Ryan Tucker and Luke Pendergrass, took to the stage and began their set. When their first notes hit the speakers, the crowd drew closer, because what was happening on stage was something you wanted to watch just as much as dance to.
Trans* Talk: Current Events
This week, I wanted to provide an update on current and relevant Trans* and Queer news from the past month. Legislation is moving quickly, and it can be difficult to keep track of important Trans* rulings that can keep you and/or your loved ones safe.
Letter from The Editor
I joined The Echo because I see the same spark and desire in everyone who creates with us. When one of our writers interviews someone with important, silly, or beautiful things to say about their work or life, we all shine. When another writer pours their thoughts and emotions into a piece of narrative or poetry, someone’s cup is filled for the day. Or when still another Creative captures a salient scene with their camera, Truth regains a beacon.
Pongo Poetry Project Provides Creative Therapy to Struggling Youth
What would the world be without poetry today? Poetry, a quintessential art form, always needs more attention, affection, and appreciation. The Pongo Poety Project, a nonprofit organization based in Seattle, is just one of many that continues to keep this art form alive while fostering new writers into its environment.
Federal Cuts to Public Media May Bring Devastating Consequences
The true value in community media is in the way it forges local connection and identity, providing spaces for diverse voices—something that is often lost in conglomerate media, who tend to cite the same sources (often one another), parrot the same talking points, and create an overwhelming agenda on behalf of their owners or investors.
Evergreen Style: PNW Climate Week
From July 16 to 25, PNW Climate Week hosted various community-led events across the region to inspire climate action. Cheryl Scheiderhan is a member of the small but mighty team who worked hard to make this year the most impactful one yet.
As a fashion professional, Cheryl is focused on the complex relationships between climate, clothes, and consumption. Being in a city like Seattle, which thrives on technical solutions, it’s proving difficult to convey the relevance of fashion.
Boba Fest Revitalizes Summer in U District
On July 19, the U District, which boasts over 20 boba-centric establishments, hosted Boba Fest. It was a celebration of this delicious drink and the avid fan base around it. To wander between the shops was to hear deep discussions of what kind of boba is best with what tea and what savory snack pairs well with the sweetness.
Trans* Talk: Pride and History
On my way to the station, several people complimented my shirt or my hair, others smiled as I walked past, and even more strutted by in intricate outfits, displaying various Pride flags in all manners of ways. In a sea of rainbows and smiles, I made my way home, thinking about those who had come before me, the Queer and Trans* elders I would never get to meet. What would they think of the current state of the movement? Would they think we were “loud” enough?
Pride Continues: Seattle Queer + Trans Film Fest Celebrates 30 Years
For their 30th Queer and Trans Film Festival, Three Dollar Bill Cinema is taking us back to 1996 when it all began. This event will be a mix of throwback favorites and some new shorts in the TRANSlations Shorts program. The festival will open with Beautiful Thing, which was the film that kicked it all off 30 years ago.
Friday Afternoon Tea an Inclusive Respite for All Communities
I closed out Pride Month by attending the fabulous and charming Queer Talent Show at Friday Afternoon Tea in Wallingford. This Queer and woman-owned business is a wonderful location with kind and knowledgeable staff, and their get-together for the end of Pride was cozy, loving, and all-around magical. Owned by the amazing Friday Elliott, Friday Afternoon Tea is quite simply the place to be.
Dark and Tender: Healing Black Men with The CUT Project
Aaron Johnson (he/him) is on a mission, the type of undertaking that comes to you through lived experiences. Ben Wilson (he/him), the producer of and participant in the short film Dark and Tender, invited me to attend the film’s screening at the Seattle Black Film Festival. The film, which aims to be a larger documentary, tells the story of the CUT Project.
SAAFF Highlights Deeply Human Experiences with Excellent PNW Filmmaking
The Seattle Asian American Film Festival returned for its 13th year this month. The festival was composed of several programs, including an opening night centered on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, a Native Hawaiian Showcase, and a Queer AF Shorts collection. Another highlight of the festival was the Bring it Home: Pacific Northwest Shorts program, held on June 21 at the Broadway Performance Hall. Featuring 11 films, the program was a celebration of the diversity of AAPI experiences in the Pacific Northwest.
SAAFF Opening Night Welcomes Community, Calls to Action
The 2025 Seattle Asian American Film Festival (SAAFF) kicked off its two days of in-person screenings on June 20 and continues virtually through June 29. The opening night screened Reflections & Legacies, a feature-length compilation of films focused on stories of refugees and immigrants of Southeast Asian communities into the United States. While only a few hours of programming in a shorter-than-usual SAAFF, the evening captured a deeper sense of meaning and community than its schedule would suggest.
Ruby Mimosa’s Sound of Strip Lights Up Burlesque with Live Music
For the uninitiated, the Triple Door is a longtime dinner-and-a-show venue in Seattle’s downtown that seats some 300, The Sound of Strip is an improv burlesque show set to the music of a live cover of The Cure, and Ruby Mimosa (aka The Effervescent EnterTEASER) is a local star noted as one of the most influential performers in the world by 21st Century Burlesque and the genius mind behind BurlesKaraoke.
SAAFF Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Vietnam War’s End and More AAPI Stories
It’s opening night! Today marks the start of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival—a two-day affair held in Seattle at the Wing Luke Museum (International District) and Broadway Performance Hall (Capitol Hill), and followed by a week of virtual screenings for those who can’t attend in person. This year commemorates 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War (or “The American War” as it is known in Vietnam).
Here & Their a Necessarily Hilarious Addition to Pride Month’s Queer Stories
Jasmine Joshua and Heather Ragusa’s musical Here & Their, starring Chloe Payne and Meg McLynn, is shaping up to be a new Queer musical classic! With top-tier vocals, witty lines, and songs that are sometimes hilarious and sometimes heart-wrenching, Here & Their brings a fresh perspective on Queer stories that many of us can relate to as well as creates levity during these dark times. This musical is joyous, hopeful, and feels like finally taking a deep breath after a tense and stressful start to 2025.
Evergreen Style: Juneteenth with Maria Brown
Descendants continue to confront parallel systems of oppression in every aspect of life. This often manifests in resistance by way of creative expressions that support sustainability and showcase ingenuity. Every year on this date, many descendants pause to reflect on the resilience of their ancestors and celebrate their legacy. The Threads of Freedom exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum is one such example in the Puget Sound.
Trans* Talk: Resources and Pride Month
On June 15, millions of Americans took part in the No Kings protest. In Seattle, around 70,000 protestors marched from Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill to Seattle Center. Whether you were among them or not, the ripples of the protest could be felt all over the city. For weeks, I have seen people with signs and heard chanting from around my block in the University District, and on my usual weekend commute, I have watched protestors stand together around Seattle Center. This is the first truly hopeful week I have had in a long time, and in the middle of Pride Month, knowing there are so many people willing to fight against this administration has been inspiring.
Queer Joy, Activism, Resilience Revealed in Scarecrow Video’s Vast Library
Sometimes, to see yourself reflected back at you can be a radical experience.
This was how it felt at Moving History – The Queercrow Archive, Volume 3 on June 8 at Northwest Film Forum. The event was the third annual installment of a collaborative project between two Seattle nonprofits devoted to preserving history through video: Scarecrow Video and MIPoPS (Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound).
