Children's Film Festival

Kids get to do the coolest stuff: recess, shamelessly wearing bright pink backpacks, and now, a film festival. The Northwest Film Forum just finished up hosting the eighth annual Children’s Film Festival, screening over 100 films from 35 countries. Creature has joined the fun by producing five original trailers, designing posters, creating an interactive app, and helping articulate the festival’s honorable mission, “Inspiring joyful neurons.”

The festival went above-and-beyond with special events like a junior film critics workshop for aspiring Eberts, a pancake breakfast movie party, and for the budding Surrealists, a viewing of the Chinese version of Fantasia. Check out the trailers we made below…

Children's Film Festival - NWFF - Paint from Creature on Vimeo.

Children's Film Festival - NWFF - Color from Creature on Vimeo.

Children's Film Festival - NWFF - Light from Creature on Vimeo.

Children's Film Festival - NWFF - Levitation from Creature on Vimeo.

Private screening party for The Time Being film

Last Friday evening, Creature partnered with our neighbors at the Northwest Film Forum for a private screening of The Time Being. The night kicked off sensibly with pizza and multiple glasses of wine at our office.  

In attendance was a winning battalion of film enthusiasts, including local independent filmmaker Johan Liedgren and James Keblas, director of Seattle’s Office of Film + Music.

The guest of honor was the producer of the film, Richard Gladstein, a Hollywood force of nature and longtime friend of the agency. His impressive production credits include Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and The Bourne Identity.

He generously allowed us to show the film, exhibited enviable mingling skills, and gave an entertaining post-screening Q&A. Gladstein’s biggest excitement around the project was the opportunity to work with up-and-coming director Nenad Cicin-Sain, a Tahitian pearl farmer turned filmmaker.

The Time Being tells the story of a struggling painter named Daniel (Wes Bentley), trying to balance being a dad with his artistic dedication. He makes black-and-white paintings that rarely find a buyer, but everything changes when he meets an eccentric millionaire (Frank Langella). The reclusive, aging benefactor lives in a creepy mansion and tasks Daniel with a string of bizarre commissions. Their relationship depicts the struggle of being devoted to an artistic craft, yet living in a world of family commitments and as Destiny’s Child once said, “Bills bills bills.”

The Time Being circles larger themes of the all-consuming nature of art and its toll on the artist. The dying millionaire gives the audience a perspective on whether creativity might be worth the struggle.

As any film focused on visual art should be, it’s an aesthetic marvel. The Time Being is beautifully shot and features original oil paintings by Stephen Wright and Eric Zener throughout the film. 

Be sure to check it out as it hits theatres and festival circuits later this year. Our investigative research shows it pairs well with wine and creative friends.

Local Sightings Film Festival

The Northwest Film Forum is an organization dedicated to discovering, championing and sharing transformative film. Films that have or will change the way we think about story telling. From cult classics like The Graduate, to the most progressive directors such as Harmony Korine. 

Local Sightings Film Festival is the purest statement of this mission. A two week, jam–packed film festival celebrating only original works only from Pacific Northwest directors. For audiences, it’s chance to see impeccably crafted stories and outrageously fresh visual experiences before, literally, the rest of the world. 

In the festival’s promotional films, the eye comes to life through a series of classic cliché film moments presented with a twist. In each situation, two eyes collide, unexpectedly seeing each other in a way that clearly changes them forever, and changes the way we think of these beloved scenes forever.