The Quality Film Club: Capitol Hill’s newest movie theater is in an abandoned grocery store

(Image: Quality Film Club)

By Brenna Gauchat

The Quality Film Club is bringing a little of the neighborhood moviegoing experience to 15th Ave E by building on the power of Seattle’s existing film community. Every first and third Thursday of the month, attendees can purchase a ticket for a 7 PM screening at the Quality Flea Center, the repurposed grocery store home to events including the Punk Rock Flea Market while the block awaits eventual demolition and redevelopment.

Flyers decorating utility poles for a recent screening of the 1999 camp classic But I’m a Cheerleader drew crowds to the makeshift theater.

“The truth is, it’s really just a community movie house,” PRFM’s Josh Okrent said.

With big-time summer releases like The Odyssey arriving with waves of hype and marketing, Most attendees find Quality Film Club through local flyers or social media, with word-of-mouth driving the rest. Okrent and co-organizer Todd Hewitt started the club after getting their hands on a projector and screen. Alongside filmmaker Robert Zverina, they began hosting movie nights when the venue was free of its regular schedule of events and markets.

“We were showing films just for ourselves, just running some funny little films, and it struck us that we had a venue with a good movie projector and a good screen and good sound,” Okrent said.

Don’t expect massive screens and fancy sound. The emphasis at Quality Film Club is the moviegoing experience, friends, and neighbors. It’s a little like watching a movie back in school only this time you get to finish the film — and you’re inside an old grocery store.

The club hosted its first event in January, screening the 1966 Czechoslovak comedy Daisies. The club’s flyer described it as “2 hours of cute, chaotic feminist destruction!”

Okrent calls the film selection process “democratic.” Showings have ranged from John Carpenter’s They Live to the family-friendly Wolfwalkers.

“The film club really is a club,” Okrent said, throwing out upcoming plans inspired by audience suggestions to show The Brother from Another Planet and a few Peter Greenaway directed films. “We kind of poll the crowd, what people want to see next. We see some pretty fun movies that way.”

While Capitol Hill still has local theaters like the Northwest Film Forum, closures and streaming have reduced overall theater attendance.

“I think what a universal experience is that people miss going out to movies,” Okrent said. “Even if you’re a movie buff, you’re at home watching movies by yourself or with your partner. And the experience of actually going out to the cinema with a room full of strangers and seeing a film together is a vanishing experience.”

It’s a fun time of year for communal movie watching around the Hill. Movies in the park are happening over the next weeks in Cal Anderson and then Freeway Park.

To add even more to the community, QFC hosts post-film discussions. A March screening of Dr. Strangelove sparked a lively debate among attendees comparing the film’s satire to modern politics.

“Those are the best movies,” Okrent said. “The ones that are fun, entertaining, but then they give you a ton to think about.”

On Thursday, July 16th, Quality Film Club will host the Seattle premiere of Sticker Movie, a documentary exploring global sticker culture, in tandem with the Toys Not Included art show tat Slip Belltown. To join, sign up for the Quality Film Club newsletter at gogoweb.com/QFC/

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