Named one of the "Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World" by MovieMaker Magazine in 2018, the Olympia Film Society has hosted the annual Olympia Film Festival since 1983. The gathering is a ten-day, around-the-clock extravaganza of films, filmmakers and film-related guests, special performances, discussion panels, and educational workshops. The festival attracts between 5,000 and 7,000 attendees each year.
The festival is well known and respected throughout the film world and is hosted around the Olympia, Washington downtown area, mainly inside the Capitol Theater, a 1924 concert and movie palace owned and operated by the Olympia Film Society. This organization supports a small staff and board of directors along with over 125 dedicated volunteers who select films, organize events, and run the Capitol Theater.
Recent guests of the festival include: Todd Haynes, Whit Stillman, Crispin Glover, Chantel Akerman, Elliott Gould, Les Blank, Fred Willard, Megan Griffiths, Philip Kaufman, Ian Svenonius, Mary Woronov, Hari Kondabolu, SJ Chiro, Denise Crosby, Carl Gottlieb, The Julie Ruin (with Kathleen Hanna), Sophy Romvari, Avery Trufelman, William Nolan, Wendy Jo Carlton, Vanessa Renwick, Jolie Holland, Richard Elfman, Sophia Mitri Schloss, Kevin Nolting, Kristen Yoonsoo Kim, Gillian Wallace Horvat, and many more!
Best Entries will be screened during the 36th Annual Olympia Film Festival at the Capitol Theater April 17 - 25, 2020.
Special audience award laurels will be given for documentary, narrative, and short films.