Sound Cinema: SIFF Downtown (Cinerama)
Iconic mural covering SIFF Cinema, formerly Seattle’s Cinerama.
The Evergreen Echo
Before the brilliance of IMAX or the new immersive theater gimmicks of today, there was Cinerama. The technique was to use three synchronized projectors to run a film on a staggeringly large, curved, widescreen. It was a way to mimic how the human eye sees. The format began in 1952 and quickly spread in the 1960s. Seattle obtained its own Cinerama theater in 1963. Though, soon after, the format fell out of fashion and the suburban multiplexes kept people closer to home and away from these one-screen wonders. Seattle's theater languished and was ready to close for good when Microsoft co-founder and all around pop culture philanthropist Paul Allen saved and revamped our Cinerama.
After Allen's death in 2018, the theater continued with its premium seats, chocolate popcorn, and awe-inspiring views. With the looming threat of COVID-19 and dwindling profits, however, Cinerama's owners decided to shutter the business in February of 2020. Sadly this was a similar fate to the other surviving theater of the format, the Cinerama Dome of Los Angeles. Its parent company was unable to continue operations and shuttered it for good in 2021. The Seattle theater remained closed until 2023, where after negotiations, grants, and donations, the Seattle International Film Festival group (SIFF) was able to purchase the theater and reopen it as SIFF Downtown with a new marquee, but of course keeping the same delicious popcorn and extraordinary screen.
The theater retains its mid-century charm to this day. The way it is situated, you enter the door from a sloped street and while in the lobby you can look up to see people walking above you. The lobby is a marvelous light blue with darker shades on the stairs and carpet up to the auditorium. The concession stand is bright and welcoming with a display case on either side, which houses movie props on loan from one of Paul Allen's other culture ventures, the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP).
Walking up to the auditorium, you feel almost like a penitent walking into the sanctuary of a cathedral. Once through the doors, the screen is so large and bright it takes your breath away. The lush, red comfy seats beckon once you’re able to tear your eyes from the screen. The seats offer ample leg room and recline. Unfortunately the seats often have a mind of their own and want to recline much more than some of us would prefer, but once the seat is settled it is one of the best any theater could offer.
The famous screen: the envy of most other movie houses.
The Evergreen Echo
I was at SIFF Downtown for SIFF's co-production of Ani-Marathon, which they did in conjunction with the Sea Slug Animation Festival. It was a celebration of anime both classic and modern. I saw the recently restored film Angel's Egg, which is quite a trip. I told my friend Max, who was at the same screening, that I was not entirely sure I understood what the film was about. He replied that the great thing about it is even after you see it, you still don't know what it’s about. He was right, but more in the way that the film leaves much of itself to interpretation, and—as Max and I discussed afterwards—your interpretation will vary based on the state of your mind when you sit down to watch it. The film has a staggering soundscape as well as gorgeous aesthetics. It is a film I will be thinking about for a long time.
For most of its life up until SIFF bought it, the SIFF Downtown (which may always be “Cinerama” to locals) functioned as a first run blockbuster movie house. While that is still the case most of the time, SIFF has realized that the slate of mega-budget films is precarious. Studios make demands on theaters when it comes to the length of runs. This can become unsustainable if just one of these films falls short of audience expectations.
Popcorn-painted utility box near SIFF Downtown.
The Evergreen Echo
Instead of relying too heavily on this blockbuster system, SIFF has begun to use the Downtown as a hybrid. This allows the people wanting the premium blockbusters to mix well with those clamoring for more restorations, retrospectives, and retro programming. The balance has its upsides and downsides, but the fact is that an esoteric anime film from 1985 absolutely packed the house. The same goes for last year's screenings of newly restored films by Akira Kurosawa and this year's screenings of master Wong Kar-Wai's oeuvre. Between Ani-Marathon and the start of the festival from which SIFF takes its name, they screened the extended cuts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a way to get ticket sales while not having to juggle a blockbuster and the impressive festival slate.
SIFF Downtown is one of four venues for the festival this year. While it may show some more quiet, contemplative movies than it typically shows, the sheer size of the screen makes the humanity of the film projected there all the more impactful. This screen truly demands attention. It arrests focus and transports us far from our seat to a place we may never have been before and are unlikely to visit ever again. Having SIFF Downtown as both a place to see the latest blockbusters as well as classic cinema is such an exciting way to enjoy film. It reminds us why, in spite of all the conveniences of home viewing, a theater is the best way to experience this incredible art form.
