Get your ticket, grab your seat, and experience films exploring themes connected to the art on view in SAMâs galleries. SAM Films features a changing roster of exciting guest film curators who bring the ideas from the museumâs exhibitions and collections to the big screen.
SAM Films returns in fall 2024 with a series related to Meot: Korean Art from the Frank Bayley Collection, on view at the Seattle Asian Art Museum through March 2, 2025. The exhibition features over 60 ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, and more from seven internationally recognized contemporary Korean artists, examining how they innovate while being inspired by past forms. Independent film curator Hannah Baek has curated a slate of genre-hopping contemporary Korean films echoing this idea within cinema.
For over five decades, SAM has offered dynamic and nationally recognized film programming. From 1972 to 2020, noted film curator Greg Olson led SAM Films, showcasing a comprehensive and genre-bending exploration of artists and stories associated with this important medium of the moving image arts. He presented visiting filmmakers including Andy Warhol, Werner Herzog, Matt Groening, Michael Powell, and David Lynch. The programâs celebrated film noir series was a Seattle institution that ran for 43 yearsâonce the worldâs longest-running series of that genre.
SAM Films are generously supported by the Bagley and Virginia Wright Endowment and The Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Film and Education Endowment.