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Gray Harrison 10/20/26 Gray Harrison 10/20/26

20th Tacoma Film Festival Celebrates Best of Indie PNW

The Grand Cinema is gearing up to host the 20th annual Tacoma Film Festival, which will run October 22-25. This year’s iteration, which celebrates independent filmmaking from the Pacific Northwest and beyond, includes a selection of feature films, a festival centerpiece on the art of music video, and a variety of short film programs.

Parker Dean 10/16/26 Parker Dean 10/16/26

Parker’s Pages: A Psalm for the Wild Built

In preparation for Becky Chambers’ upcoming Town Hall with Caitlin Starling, I took some time to reread A Psalm for the Wild Built, a solarpunk novella following a tea monk named Dex and a curious robot named Mosscap. The book is wonderfully optimistic and introspective, having us question what is most important to us as people and as a society.

Zach Youngs 10/13/26 Zach Youngs 10/13/26

Sound Cinema: Tasveer Film Center

There is a deep importance to a theater that creates a community out of the films that they show. I was the first to arrive at my screening, but as the theater filled up around me, there were many people who did not fit the art house mold. Theaters like Tasveer encourage patrons who are after some magic and a story they can engage with on more than an entertainment level.

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich 9/18/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich 9/18/26

Black Nerd Magic Shines at Langston

Some notable moments included: A screening of Captain Zero: Into the Abyss Part 2; an original animation featuring Black heroes and depicting a Black male lead going through mental health struggles, followed by a Q&A with the Cutting Edge Animations; and Boots Riley with a fashionably and absurdly large hat swooped in for a screening of I Love Boosters.

Calista Robbins 9/10/26 Calista Robbins 9/10/26

The Divided Line: Selah [Part 2]

Memory was a ruthless thing. It festered and enraged and filled the soul with longing, the grief of it capable of stealing his breath away, of leaving him gasping for air and clutching his chest in agony.

It was proof, too. Proof of joy and hope and the existence of good in all the places it was absent now.

Zach Youngs 9/8/26 Zach Youngs 9/8/26

Sound Cinema: Roxy Theatre

The Roxy is in an unassuming part of the building landscape, but as you turn onto 4th St. you can see the neon blade at the top of the building cutting into the sky and marking the theater's place like a beacon calling all movie lovers to it.

Parker Dean 8/27/26 Parker Dean 8/27/26

Trans* Talk: It’s Never Too Late

Trans folks have existed throughout history, but so many of us were forced into hiding due to societal pressure, laws that threatened to eliminate us, and fear. But we existed, we exist now, and we will exist forever. And it is never too late to become who you are.

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich 8/18/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich 8/18/26

Your Weekend Plan: What the Funk?! BIPOC Burlesque at Triple Door

Puckduction, in association with The Stay Up Late Show and powered by Shunpike, proudly announces the return of What the Funk?! An All BIPOC Burlesque Festival. Celebrating its milestone 7th anniversary, the three-night spectacular will take over the historic mainstage of The Triple Door from August 20 to August 22, 2026.

Zach Youngs 8/11/26 Zach Youngs 8/11/26

Sound Cinema: Pickford Film Center

The Pickford Film Center at Grand Ave. was an effort by the Center's board of directors to further meet the demand for the cinematic experience in downtown Bellingham. They had found a space not very far from their home location on Bay St. and in August 2021, the work began to bring the space to life. In August 2025, the Grand location opened. This makes the Grand the youngest theater, by nearly a decade, covered so far here in Sound Cinema.

Parker Dean 8/6/26 Parker Dean 8/6/26

Parker’s Pages: Hollow Kingdom

There’s one thing you should know about me: I LOVE birds. Can’t get enough of ‘em. Which you can tell by my many articles that I’ve written and shared here at the Echo. So when I found this lovely little gem, narrated by a self-assured little crow named Shit Turd (S.T. for short), I was all in.

Maxwell Meier 8/5/26 Maxwell Meier 8/5/26

Carkeek Park: The Psychic

The captain called her to the parking lot of Carkeek Park Beach around noon. An open field, cradled by a crescent of evergreens, had people sprinkled throughout. The grass quivered in the summer breeze as the sun bore down on everyone bobbing through the barricades and the towering trees.

“Missing child,” Captain Long stated.

Parker Dean 8/4/26 Parker Dean 8/4/26

Genesee Park: Wasp Nest

Buzzing around an unattended bottle of soda, Wasp #134—a.k.a Zippy—plotted for the domination of one such place known by the Humans as “S Bradford St Trl.” Though Zippy was not well versed in the ways of the Humans, he assumed these strange words to have a hidden message.

Zach Youngs 7/31/26 Zach Youngs 7/31/26

Movies by the Tower: A Super Year 5

There are many summer events that draw crowds—maybe from out of town, or even out of state—but sometimes the sweetest summer event is the one from your own community.

Gray Harrison 7/22/26 Gray Harrison 7/22/26

Spooky Tales Traverse Seattle with ‘KAIDAN: Japanese Ghost Stories’

Japanese ghost stories are coming to Seattle in August. Za Trans-Pacific Productions and director Mimi Katano will present KAIDAN: Japanese Ghost Stories in August at locations around the city. Ghost stories go way back in Japan’s history. Kaidan, or traditional ghost stories of yūrei (ghosts) and yokai (supernatural beings) are steeped in literary and theatrical tradition.

Zach Youngs 7/14/26 Zach Youngs 7/14/26

Sound Cinema: Edmonds Theater

On this particular summer Tuesday at the Edmonds I saw the latest from Pixar, Toy Story 5. As with all franchises that have made it into their third decade, this one has quite a few diminishing returns. This feels like a rehash of Toy Story 2, mixed with the identity crises of Toy Story, and the dread of being left behind from Toy Story 3.

Calista Robbins 7/2/26 Calista Robbins 7/2/26

The Divided Line: Selah [Part 1]

Those enemies, Selah and his colleagues had learned of late, included them too. They’d hauled fifty workers off the grounds a week or so ago, shoved them in the back of black armored vans, and shipped them off to that prison across the sound. It’d been such a grand spectacle. A warning, really, to any others who thought to question the corpocratic reign.

Maxwell Meier 6/30/26 Maxwell Meier 6/30/26

A Queer Reflection on PNW Wedding Planning

Wedding planning during Pride month brings forth newfound realizations, opportunities for self-reflection, and chances to make amends with past traumas, which makes June all the more special.

Parker Dean 6/23/26 Parker Dean 6/23/26

Museum of Illusions Tickles Brains of All Ages

The Museum of Illusions has been open in Seattle for just around two years now, and each visit promises something unique, engaging, and absolutely mind blowing. During my visit to the MOI, I experienced a tilted room, a room with endless mirrors, and got a few silly snapshots that played with perspective.

Zach Youngs 6/9/26 Zach Youngs 6/9/26

Sound Cinema: Anacortes Cinemas

Anacortes Cinemas is their fourth cinema to be covered by Sound Cinema (Bainbridge Cinemas, the Historic Admiral, and the gone, but not forgotten Varsity). It’s one of their youngest theaters, but it retains a certain nostalgic charm.

Parker Dean 6/7/26 Parker Dean 6/7/26

Parker’s Pages: Dungeon Crawler Carl

Like clockwork, whenever I share what I do here at the Echo, specifically with this column, I am told that I must read and review Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, a Puget Sound native and fantasy and sci-fi novelist. I must admit, it was the title that most intrigued me. I’d certainly played my own dungeon crawler once or twice, and I liked that there seemed to be humor and absurdism baked right into the title. So, after a long wait, I’m happy to announce I have finally cracked open the first book of this 8-book series (with two more on the way), and I am obsessed.