Want more? Here’s everything we recommend this month: Music, Visual Art, Literature, Theater & Performance, Film, Food & Drink, This & That.
SECS Fest 2026
Nov 6–8
I am obsessed with vintage erotica, and not for the reason you probably think. Back in the 1960s and ’70s, directors of pornographic films had an equal dedication to erotic visuals as to artistic integrity. The result is a movement of psychedelic softcore porn films with some of the most beautiful costumes, soundtracks, and cinematography I’ve ever seen (see: Just Jaeckin’s The Story of O, Radley Metzger’s The Lickerish Quartet, and Walerian Borowczyk’s Immoral Tales). Seattle Erotica Cinema Society is dedicated to preserving this movement of artistic blue movies with their annual film festival, SECS Fest, screening both old and new artsy, innovative, and often queer erotic films that range from straight-up porn to softcore, sexploitation, art films, and sexy experimental works. Highlights from this year’s program include the 1981 campy feminist erotic film, Outlaw Ladies, the 2025 documentary The Story of James Bidgood (and the Making of Pink Narcissus), and plenty of saucy short films. (Beacon Cinema, times vary) AUDREY VANN
Auntie Mame
Nov 15
As a teen, I learned about the classic 1958 comedy Auntie Mame through the writing of fabulous former Barneys New York creative director Simon Doonan and rented the DVD from Scarecrow Video, and it changed my life. Though I didn’t yet know I was queer, the film showed me a window into a world I longed for, one that was whimsical, glamorous, sophisticated, cozy, and thorougly unconventional, and it’s been a balm for my soul ever since. No wonder so many gay people adore it. In the film, a young orphan boy named Patrick Dennis is placed in the care of his aunt Mame (played by a radiant Rosalind Russell), a free-spirited, glittery, eccentric party girl with a coterie of like-minded bohemian friends—today, one might call her “mother.” Dressed in a series of flamboyant outfits, Mame affectionately raises Patrick to reject conformity and embrace beauty. Trust me—seeing this in theaters will be as healing as a bowl of chicken noodle soup, especially in such a joy-deprived time as now. As Mame herself famously proclaims, “Life’s a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!” (SIFF Cinema Downtown, 11 am) JULIANNE BELL
My Night at Maud’s
Nov 17
Even as a die-hard Eric Rohmer lover, who believes he’s the second greatest French director of all time (Agnès Varda is obviously first), My Night at Maud’s was initially a hard sell for me. Firstly, because it’s about a Catholic engineer’s struggle with faith (snooze), and secondly, because it’s filmed in black and white, which is uncharacteristic for Rohmer’s typically color-drenched films. Little did I know, this film is far from a snooze, and even further from visually uninteresting. My Night at Maud’s is an unsung Christmas classic that takes place in the days leading up to Midnight Mass. There are glittering lights. There is a decorated tree. There are beautiful French people sulking about the holidays. What more could you ask for? (SIFF Uptown, 7:30 pm) AUDREY VANN
The Witch
Nov 19
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously? Robert Eggers’s feature directorial debut The Witch, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of its wide release this year, is exactly what I want to watch when there’s a cool chill in the air and mornings turn misty and eerie. The film tells the story of a family who is banished from a Puritan settlement in 1630s New England and put to the test by a mysterious malevolent force. Teenager Thomasin—Anya Taylor-Joy in her breakthrough first role in a full-length film—is blamed and accused of being a witch, which she denies. Meanwhile, her twin siblings claim that the family’s billy goat Black Phillip talks to them. Just your usual family drama! With Eggers’s trademark blend of historically accurate detail and unsettling gothic folk horror, it’s not hard to see why The Witch has become a modern classic. (Northwest Film Forum, 6:30 pm) JULIANNE BELL
Late Autumn
Nov 28–29
There is this idea that the mid-century Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu was very Japanese—even more Japanese than Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi, all three of whom are identified with the golden age of Japanese cinema. But Ozu only made one jidaigeki (period film), Sword of Penitence (1927), whereas the other two made tons of them. Indeed, their careers and fame, particularly in the West, were defined by films set in feudal Japan. But Ozu was in essence the voice of pre-war and post-war Japanese modernity. True, his characters did deal with traditional subjects, such as the patriarchal family, marriage, ceremonies, and birth and death. But, as with Late Autumn (1960), consumer society—bars, refrigerators, new fashions, markets, industrial work, and so on—is front and center of the plot. Yes, there is the famous tatami shot, the shot that has no equal in Western cinema. But the rest of Ozu is a Japan that’s not feudal but profoundly capitalist. (Northwest Film Forum, 4 pm and 7 pm) CHARLES MUDEDE
More
Castration Movie Chapter iii. Junior Ghosts—Premorphic Drift Through Nov 8, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
Grand Illusion Presents: The Last Temptation of Becky Nov 4, SIFF Film Center, 7:30 pm
Engauge Experimental Film Festival 2026 Nov 4–7, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
The VelociPastor and The VelociPastor 2 Double Feature Nov 5, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 7 pm
Truth to Fiction: Cameraperson Nov 5, Northwest Film Forum, 7:30 pm
?????? Cinema Nov 5, Beacon Cinema, 7:30 pm
The Room Nov 5, Central Cinema, 8 pm
True Stories Nov 6–11, Central Cinema, times vary
Tampopo Nov 6–11, Central Cinema, times vary
Seattle Turkish Film Festival 2026 Nov 7–8, SIFF Cinema Uptown, times vary
Black Punk Brunch: Afro-Punk Nov 8, Black & Tan Hall, 10 am
Vagabond Nov 8–10, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
SIFF Movie Club: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Nov 9, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 6:30 pm
Nouvelles Femmes: Pierrot le Fou (35mm) Nov 10, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 7:30 pm
Members Only Mystery Movie Nov 11, Northwest Film Forum, 7:30 pm
The Parallax View Nov 12, Northwest Film Forum, 7 pm
Baron von Terror Presents: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 Nov 12, Central Cinema, 8 pm
Zi Nov 12–18, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
VHS Über Alles Presents Nov 13, Beacon Cinema, 10 pm
Romanian Film Festival Seattle Nov 13–15, SIFF Cinema Uptown, times vary
Seattle Film Critics Society PNW Awards 2026 Nov 13–15, SIFF Film Center, times vary
Delicatessen Nov 13–17, Central Cinema, times vary
My Neighbor Totoro Nov 13–17, Central Cinema, times vary
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Nov 13–19, Beacon Cinema, times vary
The Heart of the Game Nov 15, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 2 pm
You Sorta Know It’s Gonna End Nov 15–16, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Nov 15–16, Beacon Cinema, times vary
Nouvelles Femmes: My Night at Maud’s Nov 17, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 7:30 pm
WTF with STUFF: Kokomo City Nov 18, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
Breathless Nov 18–19, Beacon Cinema, 7:30 pm
Cinema Italian Style 2026 Nov 18–22, SIFF Cinema Uptown, times vary
SFCS at 10: The Witch Nov 19, Northwest Film Forum, 6:30 pm
Unstreamable: Love Streams Nov 20–22, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
My Brother’s Wedding (4K Restoration) Nov 20–24, Northwest Film Forum, times vary
Pretty Poison Nov 21, Beacon Cinema, 10 pm
Clash By Night Nov 22–23, Beacon Cinema, times vary
Beware! The Devil’s Wrath: Special Screening and Q&A Nov 24, SIFF Film Center, 7:30 pm
Buffalo ’66 Nov 24–25, Beacon Cinema, times vary
Five Minutes to Live! Nov 27, Beacon Cinema, 7 pm
The Burning of Moses Seattle and Unrecognized Nov 28, Beacon Cinema, 7 pm
Perdita Durango Nov 18, Beacon Cinema, 10 pm
WTO/99 Nov 30–Dec 1, Northwest Film Forum, 7 pm
Find all these listings and more on our sister site, EverOut Seattle! EverOut.com/Seattle
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