Executive Director of the Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) Vivian Hua 華婷婷 (she/they interchangeably) is someone who doesn’t have the stereotypical background of an executive director, but during a year marked by disruptive change caused by a pandemic, that turned out to be a good thing. Throughout last year, the NWFF streamed 25 online film festivals and continued to increase access to resources for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ filmmakers. The creative solutions Hua and the NWFF brought to Seattle’s film communities garnered the 2021 Mayor’s Award for Achievement in Film earlier this month.
A 1960s beat poet, a 12-year-old auntie, and an army of activists walk into a room. That’s not the start of a riddle set in 2020 but a sneak peek of films and panels hosted by the Northwest Film Forum (NWFF), a satellite venue for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival (Jan. 28–Feb. 3). NWFF is one of 30 venues hosting hyperlocal film screenings and panels as part of this year’s Sundance Festival.
In eight minutes, Vivian Hua — writer, filmmaker, and executive director of Northwest Film Forum — unwraps Islamophobia in her crowdfunded short film “Searching Skies.” A Christian family has invited a Syrian refugee family to share Christmas dinner. The couple’s college-age nephew does not welcome the guests. The refugee father, Hamza (Kal Maleh), and his wife Amira (Nour Bitar) — both real-life Syrian refugees — suffer the hostility of the young man.
