Northwest Film Forum Film Collection, approximately 1950s-1970s

Northwest Film Forum is a nonprofit film and arts center and comprehensive visual media organization located in Seattle; presents films, festivals, community events, multidisciplinary performances, and public discussions; offers educational workshops and artist services for film and media makers at all stages of their development.

The beginnings of Northwest Film Forum can be traced back to the inspiration of founders Jamie Hook and Deborah Girdwood in 1995. Filmmakers themselves, they formed a collective to help fellow artists through the post-production process in Seattle. Originally founded as WigglyWorld Studios in a tiny Capitol Hill storefront, the collective’s activity soon expanded to film exhibition, as they became the operators of Seattle’s longest-continuously running movie theater: the Grand Illusion Cinema. The name Northwest Film Forum was adopted in 1996 to encompass the new film arts organization’s programs in both production and exhibition.