South King County film festivals look to grow the PNW industry

By Joshua Solorzano • September 8, 2024 7:30 am
The cast and crew of the short “CHAT” pose after their film’s The Summit screening in Renton. Photo by Bailey Jo Josie/Sound Publishing.
The cast and crew of the short “CHAT” pose after their film’s The Summit screening in Renton. Photo by Bailey Jo Josie/Sound Publishing.

Outside of Seattle, filmmakers and producers look to enrich the Pacific Northwest film industry, offering festivals and collaborative projects throughout south King County.

Two of these local festivals include the Vashon Film Festival on Vashon Island which takes place each year in the late summer, and The Summit (formerly the Seattle Film Summit), in Renton which returns each year in September.

The Summit

The Summit founder is Ben Andrews, who said he started the festival because he wanted to bring independent filmmakers together.

“Well, it’s pretty known that the film industry in Seattle has struggled for probably about 20 years. I wouldn’t say there was not enough events, I would say not enough collaboration between all the organizations that are there to support film,” Andrews said. “That’s why I used the word ‘summit’ in the name, because I felt there was too much competition amongst such few constituents. So, I thought the word summit would be the perfect excuse to bring all those organizations together to build more collaborative bridges.”

Andrews says The Summit is all about bringing creatives together, watching their content, and then collaborating. He said he wants to give creators a moment to celebrate a small victory as they move forward.

He said that many of the films he picks to be screened are great, but he does it to celebrate the creativity and effort of creatives who want to learn more. Additionally, he said he partly does the film festival to grow the Seattle industry.

“Yeah, matter of fact, I mean, if you were to talk to other people in the film industry in Seattle who knew me, that’s like 100% what I stand for, giving opportunities to Northwest content creators to take their content and go global with it, go mainstream,” said Andrews.

Vashon Film Festival

Mark Sayre founded the Vashon Film Institute (VFI) in 2020, which then birthed the Vashon Island Film Festival (VIFF).

He said he founded the VFI to support and celebrate independent film in the Pacific Northwest, which he believes VIFF does the best job of showcasing.

However, in addition to showing local independent films, Sayre said they also show independent films that are shown at the largest festivals in the country, such as Sundance. He said this gives people the opportunity to enjoy the small film festival but still watch the most well-known independent films.

Additionally, he said VIFF has a few other perks that come from being smaller, like no overlapping screening so people can watch every single film, or the perk of VIFF is the location, creating a unique experience that people can’t have in a big city.

“The other big reason is the island. This festival, even though it mirrors quality wise what the major festivals are doing, it has got an island vacation vibe. It’s sort of anti-corporate. You’re abandoning your black attire for comfortable clothes like sweatpants and shorts, and t-shirts,” said Sayre. “I mean, you could show up in your pajamas, and you’d be fine, but you get to do it on this beautiful island that has incredible shops, restaurants, and people.”

For more information on a local film festival outside of Seattle, visit washingtonfilmworks.org/faq/film-festivals-in-washington-state.