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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.

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.

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.

Zach Youngs 5/12/26 Zach Youngs 5/12/26

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.

Zach Youngs 5/11/26 Zach Youngs 5/11/26

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.

Zach Youngs 5/8/26 Zach Youngs 5/8/26

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.

Gray Harrison 4/27/26 Gray Harrison 4/27/26

Cadence Video Poetry Fest Inspires Interdependence with Blended Media

It was a warm and springlike day in Capitol Hill, but not even the good weather could deter the creative community from showing up for the Cadence Video Poetry Festival, which has been running yearly in Seattle during National Poetry Month since 2018. This was Day 3 of in-person screenings, and the event, titled proof that we were here, was about to begin.

Zach Youngs 4/14/26 Zach Youngs 4/14/26

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.

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26

‘Sinners’ in the LGBTQIA+ Lens, Part 2: Protection of Youth

With Sammie, one of the most notable themes in Sinners—the protection of youth—is carried through the film.