This morning, the Seattle Film Critics Association (a few of your friendly neighborhood SunBreakers are members) announced nominations for a new annual awards category: Achievement in Pacific Northwest Filmmaking.

Although SFCS has been highlighting the best in film with annual awards for several years, this is the first time they (we) have a category to specifically honor Pacific Northwest filmmaking. The award is meant to celebrate the many talented filmmakers who call our region home and who produce work here. After carefully considering a wide variety of feature films with significant connections to the area, a nominating committee chose a shortlist of five nominees:

• All Sorts  
  J. Rick Castañeda’s absurdist office comedy set in the secret world of underground filing.
• Kimi 
  Steven Soderbergh’s Seattle-set thriller starring Zoë Kravitz as an agoraphobic computer programmer enmeshed in a corporate scandal.
• Know Your Place
  Zia Mohajerjasbi’s slice of life drama about two teens traversing present-day Seattle. 
• Sam Now 
  Reed Harkness’s 25-years in the making story of brothers on a 2,000-mile road trip to solve a family mystery.
• Sweetheart Deal 
  Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller’s deeply moving portrait of sex workers on Seattle’s Aurora Avenue seeking salvation from the spiral of addiction.

Notably, three of these films – All Sorts, Know Your Place, and Sweetheart Deal – had their world premieres at the Seattle International Film Festival; Sam Now launched at Toronto’s Hot Docs Film Festival; Kimi premiered directly on HBO Max. If you’re looking to catch up on local films it makes for a diverse and engaging starting point.

SFCS’s video reel gives a great feel for each of the nominated films:

Or catch up with our previous coverage of All Sorts, Know Your Place, Kimi, and Sweetheart Deal.

The winner will be determined by a vote of the full SFCS membership and announced alongside the other awards on January 17, 2023.