In the powerful new documentary, Since I Been Down, a swastika-tattooed man named Chad Walton explains that Taking Education and Creating History (T.E.A.C.H.) -- an initiative of the Black Prisoners' Caucus -- is best described as "prisoners lifting up prisoners." Officially founded in 1972, the Black Prisoners' Caucus is an...
When Moroni Benally signs the paperwork to run for Navajo Nation president, he giggles. Moroni For President, a charming documentary profile of his 2014 campaign, captures the high stakes of the race to become the leader of the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American territory by landmass and population. Moroni,...
Two months following the tragic and unexpected passing of independent filmmaker Lynn Shelton -- known for such films as Sword of Trust (2019), Laggies (2014), and Humpday (2009) -- Duplass Brothers Productions and Seattle's Northwest Film Forum announced the Lynn Shelton Of a Certain Age Grant in July 2020. In...
John Lewis gets stopped in airports. A lot. In John Lewis: Good Trouble, a new documentary by director Dawn Porter, there’s a scene where we follow Lewis through an airport terminal as strangers approach him to call him a hero and an inspiration. His son says, with a rueful laugh,...
When filmmaker Matt Wolf (Recorder, Wild Combination) first saw photos of eight scientists dressed in red jumpsuits and standing beside a glass pyramid in the Arizona desert, he assumed they were characters from a sci-fi movie. He soon discovered that between 1991 and 1993, the scientists lived in a gleaming,...
Despite Kadazia Allen-Perry's youth, her cystic fibrosis has forced her to confront her own mortality. In her autobiographical documentary, Chronic Means Forever, the African-American first-time filmmaker provides an intimate exploration into the feelings of alienation and frustration which accompany her life-long diagnosis. Allen-Perry is faced daily with the perpetual struggle to...
Oh, North Korea. The mechanics of filmmaking are lost upon you, are they not? You may have read about it -- which is why you probably attempted to control the script of Under The Sun and escorted the filmmakers to a number of pre-determined filming locations -- but what you...
Another year has come and gone for the Seattle International Film Festival, and this year, our top selections include a lot of black comedies and films that capture the power of human emotion, in all of its positive and negative facets. Here are some favorites from 2016. BURN BURN BURN (United...
All May, posters have abounded in Seattle's historically gay-friendly neighborhood of Capitol Hill, advertising Transgender Arts Month. Lumped within that was Translations, a five-day Transgender Film Festival, now on its eleventh year. In smaller cities with a less prominent LGBTQ crowd, a Transgender Arts Month might be relegated to only having...
As per usual, we here at REDEFINE have done the hard work of going through SIFF 2016 (Seattle International Film Festival)'s extensive three weeks of programming to bring you a carefully curated short-list of films you should actually go out and see. Additionally, this year's SIFF boasts some new and exciting...