The Vashon Island Film Festival: Hollywood on an Island for a Weekend
There are a few things I genuinely look forward to every year. Naked and painted-up bike riders rolling through Seattle. Blue Angels flying overhead. And Hollywood taking over an island for a weekend. That last one is the Vashon Island Film Festival. Tomorrow, I’ll make the ferry crossing again for my third year covering the festival, which returns August 13–16 for its fifth year. Somehow, over those three years, Vashon has become one of those things on my calendar that signals summer to me.
And yes, I call it Hollywood on an island. Not because Vashon suddenly becomes Los Angeles. God forbid. It’s because for a few days this wonderfully weird island in Puget Sound fills up with filmmakers, actors, producers, writers and people who simply really love movies. They all descend on the same small community, orbit the same historic movie theater and inevitably keep running into one another.
That’s part of what I’ve come to love about it. There isn’t much separation here. You watch someone introduce a movie, and later you might be standing next to them waiting for something to eat. A conversation that starts outside the theater can continue somewhere else on the island. Filmmakers actually get to see people react to their work. Audiences get to meet the humans behind what they just watched. For a few days, movies become the center of this tiny universe.
And then there’s the actual lineup. This year’s narrative competition includes Adult Children, Crooks, Hold On to Me, Labrador — Autopsy of Silence and Silent Rebellion. On the documentary side, there is Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild], Everybody to Kenmure Street and The Life We Leave.
That last one is already on my radar. The Life We Leave, directed by J.J. Gerber, looks at an environmentally conscious deathcare facility here in Washington and arrives on Vashon after winning the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Documentary at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival. But one thing I’ve learned covering film festivals is not to assume that the movie with the most momentum going in will be the movie I’m thinking about when I leave. Sometimes it’s the thing I knew almost nothing about.
That is especially true with shorts. There are 17 of them in competition this year — six narrative, five documentary and six animated — with films that have already made stops at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Slamdance and elsewhere on the festival circuit. Every year I find myself reminded that a filmmaker doesn’t necessarily need two hours to wreck you, make you laugh or leave you sitting there wondering what the hell you just watched.
Vashon is also leaning into something I think is increasingly important to its identity: the island itself. The Local Spotlight includes Dad Genes, about Vashon resident Aaron Long and the unusual family that emerged after the former sperm donor connected with several of his biological children; Radioheart: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole, directed by Vashon-raised Andrew Franks with Peter Hilgendorf; and Theater is Dead, which was filmed entirely on the island.
Opening night brings Tony, Matt Johnson’s narrative feature about a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain stumbling into the chaotic world of a Provincetown restaurant kitchen — an experience that would help shape the course of his life. The film stars Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Dominczyk, Rich Sommers, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall and Antonio Banderas.
The screening also carries a deeper connection to Vashon. Tony was the final film credit of Stuart Gordon Tribble, a beloved member of the Vashon Island community and the broader film world who died last year. Tribble served as the film’s hair department head, and Tony will headline Opening Night in his memory.
This year, VIFF is also introducing the S. Gordon Tribble “Superstar” Award in his honor. Presented with a $1,000 cash prize, the annual award recognizes a notable LGBTQIA+-made or -focused film programmed at the festival. The inaugural award will be presented on Closing Night to Labrador — Autopsy of Silence, creating a tribute to Tribble that bookends the festival.
And then there’s Ben McKenzie’s Everyone is Lying to You for Money, a documentary digging into the lies, hype and harm surrounding cryptocurrency’s rise — and who ultimately pays the price. Yeah. I’m curious about that one. The third Special Presentation is the first episode of Chris Smith’s HBO Max documentary series Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult, which follows Hoyt Richards’ experience after encountering an enigmatic Manhattan socialite at age 16 and being drawn into his spiritual group, Eternal Values.
There is plenty more on the schedule, but I’m deliberately not trying to turn this into a checklist. Because the schedule isn’t really the story yet. I can tell you what’s playing. I can tell you which films already have awards behind them. I can look at filmmakers, synopses and festival pedigrees and make some educated guesses about what I should see.
But I don’t know which film I’m going to love yet. I don’t know which one I’m going to hate. I don’t know what I’ll stumble into completely by accident. And I definitely don’t know which movie is going to have me standing outside the Vashon Theatre afterward talking about it far longer than I intended.
That’s the fun part. For the next few days, I’ll be watching, writing, talking with filmmakers and reporting back from the island. Then, almost as quickly as it started, everyone will get back on a ferry and Hollywood will disappear. Until next summer.
Tomorrow, I head to Vashon. Let’s watch some movies.
– Alan Motley (@alanmotley)
Vashon Island Film Festival 2026
When: August 13–16, 2026
Where: Vashon Theatre, Vashon Island, Washington
Tickets: General admission is available through Single Tickets or Festival Passes. Single Tickets provide admission to one individual screening and are subject to availability. Festival Passes provide access to VIFF screenings throughout the festival. Vashon Film Institute memberships are also available for $119.99 per year and include a Festival Pass along with additional member benefits.
VIFF notes that a ticket or Festival Pass does not guarantee entry if a screening exceeds the theater’s capacity. Festivalgoers are encouraged to arrive at least 15 minutes before showtime.
Tickets and passes: https://www.vashonislandfilmfestival.com/tickets
