Sound Cinema: SIFF Downtown (Cinerama)
Columns Zach Youngs Columns Zach Youngs

Sound Cinema: SIFF Downtown (Cinerama)

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.

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SIFF 2026 Roundup: Zach’s Don’t-Sleep-on-These Picks
Reviews Zach Youngs Reviews Zach Youngs

SIFF 2026 Roundup: Zach’s Don’t-Sleep-on-These Picks

I anticipated many films this year whose descriptions piqued my interest. These films satisfied me for the most part, but there were a handful of films I did not really expect to knock me back in my seat. It’s rare to capture a film's essence in a descriptive paragraph or even a trailer. It is in the mind of the watcher that a film becomes a more than pleasant surprise or, even better, truly great. The following films surprised and delighted me.

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3 SIFF Films Challenge Perceptions of Bureaucracy
Reviews, Points of View Zach Youngs Reviews, Points of View Zach Youngs

3 SIFF Films Challenge Perceptions of Bureaucracy

At this year's Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) there are a number of films that show us the depth and dehumanizing nature of bureaucratic systems, from the idealistic investigations of police officers accused of wrongdoing down to a cloistered community attempting to figure out if an outsider is who he says he is. We even get a look at what is the first taste many of us have of the strange beast of bureaucracy: high school.

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Sound Cinema: Bainbridge Cinemas
Columns Zach Youngs Columns Zach Youngs

Sound Cinema: Bainbridge Cinemas

Bainbridge Cinemas caters to a wide demographic. It is meant to be a theater that offers broad audience fare so that those that live on Bainbridge Island do not have to make a trek to the mainland if they want to see the latest releases on the big screen. Like most theaters, the theatrical window can be a bit tricky to manage, but in the old sense of the theater experience, if it plays, it stays.

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