The Grand Illusion Cinema is the longest running independent cinema in the city of Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, Washington in the United States of America, and has become a landmark of the film community. Opened in 1968 by Randy Findley in a converted dentist’s office the cinema became the city’s first arthouse and showcased foreign and revival films. The cinema was a success and lead to Randy opening the Seven Gables Cinema and eventually starting the local Seven Gables Theatre Chain, which inevitably got swallowed by the national Landmark Cinema Corporation. The Grand Illusion was never part of the Seven Gables Chain and remained a popular independent venue. Non-profit film arts organization, the Northwest Film Forum, saved the theater from closure in 1997, remodeled it, and revitalized interest in the institution.

In 2004 the cinema was sold to a group of investors including several staff members. It exists today as a completely volunteer-run, non-profit organization. The Grand Illusion shows a wide variety of films ranging from new independent and foreign films, repertory classics, documentaries, and a consistent supply of "late nights" on the weekend which feature all manner of horror, sci-fi, and exploitation trash. Over the years the cinema has been host to such people as Quentin Tarantino, Takeshi Miike, Alex Cox, Eddie Izzard, Stuart Gordon, Don Hertzfeldt, the cast of Troll 2 and many others.

In 2008, along with such seminal theatres as the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin and the Film Forum in New York, The Grand Illusion Cinema was named one of the best movie houses in America by Paste Magazine.