Pickford Film Center

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Pickford Film Center (PFC) is a non-profit 501(c)3 independent arthouse cinema in Bellingham, WA. Pickford Film Center has 5,000 dues-paying members as of 2025,and it has received grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Pickford Film Center is governed by a board of directors and operated by staff and volunteers. The cinema was named after silent film actress Mary Pickford.

History

In 1997, a small independent movie theater named The Grand Bellingham Cinema began in the Allied Arts building on 1416 Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham, WA. It closed its doors not long after its opening, but led to the formation of The Grand Bellingham Cine Club in March of 1998, which was renamed The Whatcom Film Association (WFA) in August of the same year. During that time, the WFA raised funds to reopen the theater through various membership drives and fundraiser film screenings, some of which took place at the Mount Baker Theatre, a major performing arts venue in Bellingham. On November 20th,1998, WFA re-opened the theater and christened it the Pickford Cinema. The first films shown after this re-opening were My Best Girl and Sparrows starring Mary Pickford, the cinema’s namesake. The Pickford Cinema featured an approximate 90-seat capacity in a single auditorium.

In 2001, founding board member Alice Clark became the first executive director of the organization. After a successful membership drive in the same year, the Pickford Cinema gained over 1,000 new members.

Later that year, sights were set on expanding the Pickford and moving its operations to a significantly larger facility in a portion of a century-old retail space at 1318 Bay Street. Eventually, this retail space was purchased in early 2005 and dubbed the Dream Space. The new space featured two screens and was later re-named Pickford Film Center (PFC), which had its grand opening on August 12, 2011. Pickford Film Center would later be officially opened in spring of 2012. Its christening film was The Little Princess—which once again featured Mary Pickford—with a live score, alongside a midnight screening of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2. Around this time, the Whatcom Film Association merged with Pickford Film Center.

Although the original facility on Cornwall Avenue was initially slated to be shut down when the new location on Bay St. opened, PFC leadership decided to maintain the original facility on Cornwall Avenue. At this point, they renamed this original Cornwall facility the Limelight Cinema and replaced its aging film projector with a digital projector.The Limelight’s christening films were Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Hobo with a Shotgun.

At the end of 2013, Alice Clark stepped down as executive director and was replaced—after a nation-wide search—by Susie Purves, who had experience working with several art-based non-profit facilities in the Seattle area.

Today, Pickford Film Center features two auditoriums, with 75 seats and 132 seats between them. It switched from film to digital projectors in March of 2013.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the temporary closure of PFC’s Bay Street location, as well as the permanent closure of the Limelight Cinema due to its inability to be refurbished to the safety standards of the new COVID era. In May 2021, Pickford Film Center on Bay Street reopened.

The Pickford on Grand

In August 2021, a new space on Grand Avenue was purchased for construction of an expanded facility in lieu of the closed Limelight Cinema. Construction began in June 2024., with the new facility being dubbed Pickford on Grand because of its location at 105 Grand Avenue. After its opening ceremony on August 1st, 2025, Pickford on Grand began showing films the next day, including repertory screenings of The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca.

Pickford on Grand features three screens: two with 61 seats, which are named the Saturna Capital Theater and Joy Cinema, and a smaller 19-seat theater which is named The Loober Jewelbox. The Saturna Capital Theater and Joy Cinema use 4K projectors, while the Loober Jewelbox uses the original 2K digital projector that was used at the Limelight Cinema.

Programming

Films

Pickford has played a variety of independent, commercial, and Oscar-winning films throughout its history. Its highest grossing title of all time is 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire, followed by 2023’s Barbie as the runner-up. Other notable titles during its run include:

The 1990s:

Pi, Run Lola Run, Tea with Mussolini, Gods & Monsters

The 2000s:

The Endurance, Memento, Bowling for Columbine, American Splendor, Napoleon Dynamite, Sideways, March of the Penguins, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, The Queen, Pan’s Labyrinth

The 2010s:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original), The Artist, Moonrise Kingdom, Nebraska, The Dallas Buyer’s Club, The Imitation Game, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman, Where to Invade Next, Spotlight, Moonlight, Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, BlackKklansman, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Green Book, Fantastic Fungi, Parasite

The 2020s:

Everything Everywhere All at Once, Avatar: The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, Oppenheimer, The Zone of Interest, I Saw the TV Glow, Anora, Superman (2025)

Series and Special Events

Throughout the years Pickford has been a host to various film festivals such as the True/False Film Fest (2006 only), HUMP! Film Festival, the Bellingham Human Rights Festival, Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival, The Guerrilla Film Project, Bleedingham (2012- ) and Trailer Wars (2009-2019).

Pickford Film Center also has special yearly programming such as Cinema East (formally known as Masters of Japanese Cinema); the Pride series (presented in June of each year); Science on Screen; Indie Lens Pop-Up; Kid Pickford, which features family-friendly repertory films with discounted tickets; Third Eye Cinema, a monthly showing of repertory cult films chosen by staff and volunteers which also features discounted tickets; and Rooftop Cinema, a series of free outdoor film screenings throughout the summer months.

Doctober

In 2008, Pickford Film Center created Doctober, a yearly month-long documentary film festival in October, which is generally considered a slow time for box offices. Doctober is the largest documentary film festival in the Pacific Northwest.

Doc-Ed

In 2014, Pickford Film Center created Doc-Ed, which is a program that allows middle school students to come to Pickford Film Center and watch documentaries. Pickford Film Center funds the transportation of the students from their schools, which is made possible by donations from individuals and organizations. Doc-Ed serves approximately 3,000 students a year.

Guest Presenters

Pickford Film Center has also been a host to many guest presenters, including Holocaust survivor Noémi Ban in 1999 for a screening of The Last Days (1999).

The cinema has also had been host to many creative figures in the the entertainment industry, such as writer/director Alex Cox in 2007 for a screening of Searchers 2.0 and in 2010 for Straight to Hell Revisited; animator Don Hertzfeldt for a 2009 screening of I Am So Proud of You; actor Cheech Marin for a 2013 screening of Born in East L.A.; author Peter S. Beagle in both 2012 and 2014, with the latter appearance being for a screening of The Last Unicorn; writer/director Craig Johnson for a 2014 screening of The Skeleton Twins; animator Bill Plympton for a 2015 screening of Cheatin’; composer Bear McCreary for a 2016 screening of Score!: A Film Music Documentary; writer/director Joss Whedon and local musician Shawnee Kilgore for a screening of a music video directed by Whedon and based on a song by Kilgore; actor Ted Neeley for a 2017 screening of Jesus Christ Superstar; writer/director Catherine Hardwicke for a 2024 screening of Twilight; and actors Tom Skerritt and Veronica Cartwright for a 2025 screening of Alien

Filmmaker Michael Moore appeared in a live Zoom feed in the PFC auditoriums in 2016 coinciding with his film Michael Moore in Trump Land and the 2016 election.

NOTABLE EVENTS

Sundance Institute Art Project (2006)

In 2006, the 25th anniversary of Sundance Film Festival, the Pickford Cinema was chosen along with only thirteen other theaters in the United States to show films for the Sundance Institute Art House Project. Accordingly, the Pickford Cinema presented films from Sundance’s past including Blood Simple, Crumb, Memento, Donnie Darko, and many others.

“The Interview” (2015)

Pickford Film Center was one of approximately 300 theaters to show the controversial 2015 Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy, The Interview, after apparent threats of violence from North Korea. Major theater chains refused to screen the comedy, leaving small independent theaters to take the risk. Before the premiere, PFC was informed by the FBI that there was no legitimate threat, so the film was ultimately screened there,bringing in new viewers who had never visited PFC before. Executive Director Susie Purves stated that she believed that Pickford Film Center was taking a stand for freedom of expression.

Back to the Future Day Block Party (October 21st, 2015)

At the beginning of 2015, a Bellingham citizen began to organize a viewing party of Back to the Future Part II to be held on October 21st, 2015—the future date that the main characters would time travel to in the film’s story. The idea became viral after the citizen’s Facebook event posting got around 800 requests to come to the watch party.Subsequently, Pickford Film Center took notice, and a large event was held at PFC featuring a block party with a band, a real life DeLorean, and a screening of the film, with proceeds going to a local Parkinson’s dance studio which was tied to the Michael J.Fox Foundation. The event was also recorded and presented live via a video crew from Facebook. The live online video presentation got over a million views.

Film is Truth at the Pickford

In April of 2022, Film is Truth (24 Times a Second), the last remaining local independent video rental store in Whatcom County, shuttered. It donated its entire catalog of approximately 23,000 video titles to Pickford Film Center. In 2024, Pickford Film Center fashioned a system for the donated videos to be rented to members and the general public from a catalog in the kiosk in the lobby. Video rental accounts can be created and videos rented for a posted fee.

External Links

• Official website
• YouTube videos showing the Pickford:
  • Pickford Film Center: A History

References

This article "Pickford Film Center" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Pickford Film Center. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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