Pacific Northwest Takes Center Stage in February Film Series, Alongside Bold Indie Visions
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February offers a diverse cinematic landscape, from the rugged beauty of the Pacific Northwest in Westerns to boundary-pushing independent films and a uniquely provocative festival experience. Film enthusiasts will find a rich tapestry of stories unfolding on screens across the region, challenging conventions and sparking conversation.
Reimagining the Western Landscape
The traditional image of the American West – vast deserts and dusty plains – is undergoing a compelling revision. Despite the genre’s association with those iconic landscapes, a surprising number of Western films have been set in the lush Pacific Northwest. The SIFF’s Pacific Northwestern series is highlighting this often-overlooked facet of the genre, bringing these “gorgeous movies” to the big screen.
The series, which began last month, continues with notable screenings including the 1959 classic The Hanging Tree, starring Gary Cooper as a doctor in a Montana gold rush town – remarkably filmed entirely in Yakima. Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow offers a unique perspective, following a cook and a Chinese immigrant as they navigate Oregon Country and engage in an unlikely partnership. One critic personally recommends Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, a snowbound Western starring Warren Beatty and featuring a haunting soundtrack by Leonard Cohen. Screenings for the SIFF series are scheduled at the SIFF Film Center with showings at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays through February 24.
A Surreal Western Tackles Prejudice in Chile
From February 5th through 8th, the Northwest Film Forum will host screenings of a striking debut feature set in the Chilean desert in the early 1980s. Director Diego Céspedes’s film centers on Lidia, an 11-year-old abandoned as a baby and raised by a “fiercely loving queer found family.” This unconventional clan faces ostracism from their community, wrongly blamed for a mysterious plague believed to spread through eye contact between those in love.
Lidia’s journey to defend her loved ones and uncover the truth forms the core of this “surreal Western.” The film fearlessly explores complex themes including AIDS panic, transphobia, violence, revenge, marginalization, and prejudice, blending elements of folktale with the intimate realism reminiscent of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters. Showtimes vary.
HUMP! Festival Returns with Unconventional Visions
Prepare for the unexpected. The indie porn festival HUMP! returns from February 26th through April 30th, promising a lineup that defies categorization. Described as unlike typical online pornography, HUMP! showcases creative, often silly, and deeply personal works that feel like “a friend is sharing their new, naked, art project.”
This year’s trailer hints at an especially inventive program, featuring stop-motion praying mantises, pottery, a “sexy Bop It,” and the enigmatic “Starfish Sex Beetle.” Submissions also demonstrate a surprising range of social commentary, with one filmmaker weaving in themes of sanitation workers and labor solidarity, and another using the medium to reimagine the experience of bombing on stage as a stand-up comedian. The festival will take place at various locations.
Additional February Film Highlights
Beyond these featured events, a diverse range of films will be screened throughout the month:
- More Truth to Fiction: Black Is… Black Ain’t – February 5, Northwest Film Forum, 7 pm
- Fools’ Paradise (lost?) – February 6–7, SIFF Film Center, 7 pm
- Resurrection – February 6–8, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
- A Void in the Cosmos and From There You Sing: Early Pasolini – February 8–March 5, Beacon, times vary
- Friday the 13th – February 13, Beacon, 10 pm
- The Bridges of Madison County – February 14, Beacon, 7 pm
- In the Mood for Love – February 14, Beacon, 10 pm
- 2026 Sakinah Film Festival – February 14–15, Northwest Film Forum, 3 pm
- Daisies (with Velocity Dance Center) – February 18–19, Northwest Film Forum, 7:30 pm
- Star 80 – February 22 & 25, Beacon, times vary
- Martin Scorsese: Maestro of Cinema Wednesdays – February 25–April 29, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 7:30 pm
February promises a compelling month for film lovers, offering a spectrum of experiences that challenge, provoke, and ultimately celebrate the power of storytelling.
