• Helps women directors pursue their goals, by offering educational forums, panel discussions, and
  director Q&As, designed to encourage information-sharing and networking.
• Educates audiences and the community, by partnering with businesses, Western Washington
  University, arts, and other organizations to sponsor forums, workshops, special film showings and
  events.
• Promotes Bellingham, Whatcom County, and the surrounding area as a destination for filmmakers
  and festival goers to spend time and enjoy the city’s and region’s many restaurants,
  microbreweries, shops, and hotels.

• CASCADIA’s festival occurs in Bellingham over several days in the spring. The 2026 festival  is scheduled to be April 30 – May 3 in person with an online festival May 7-17. Approximately 35 films will be accepted for the 2026 festival. 

• In April 2017 CASCADIA premiered its first multi-day film festival in Bellingham, WA. Directors who attended the festival, including five from other countries, participated in Q&A sessions, press interviews, workshops, and panel discussions.
• CASCADIA  has presented women-directed documentary films at the Pickford Film Center’s annual “Doctober” Documentary Film Festival in Bellingham since October, 2015. 
•  In April 2017 CASCADIA premiered its first multi-day film festival in Bellingham, WA. Directors who attend the festival, including five from other countries, participate in Q&A sessions, press interviews, workshops, and panel discussions. 
• Throughout the year, CASCADIA presents special screenings including for Native American Heritage, PRIDE and Black History months, and International Women’s History Day. It also partners with other organizations such as the Fairhaven Merchants Association, the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and the Bellingham Queer Collective and other film festivals to showcase women-directed films. 
• CASCADIA selects an honored guest to recognize during the festival who is chosen for their career achievements, contributions made to the film industry and the art, and their advocacy for women in the industry. CASCADIA’s honored guests have included:

• • Cheryl Boone Isaacs, immediate past president of the Academy of MotionPicture Arts and Sciences was Honored Guest at the 2018 festival. 

• • The 2019 Honored Guest was Freida Lee Mock, Academy Award-winning documentary director whose film, “Anita Hill: Speaking Truth to Power” was presented.

• • In 2020, CASCADIA celebrated the centennial of the 19th Amendment and  recognized the American suffragists with a special screening and online discussion of the film, “Iron Jawed Angels” directed by Katja von Garnier. 

• The 2022 Honored Guest was director Martha Coolidge, first woman president of the Directors’ Guild of America.  Best known for her now classic, “Valley Girl.”
• Honored Guest at the 2023 Festival was legendary documentary director Barbara Kopple, the only woman to have received two Oscars for Best Direction of a documentary film. 

• • CASCADIA’s 2024 Honored Guest was Catherine Hardwicke,  best known for her film, “Twilight” that shattered box office records for women-directed films when released in 2008.   
  • Award-winning producer-director Yvonne Russo was CASCADIA’s 2025 Honored Guest. Russo, a proud member of the Sicangu Lakota Tribal Nation and a trailblazing director, producer, and writer whose work elevates diverse and underrepresented voices.

• A woman’s perspective is too rarely seen in film. An art form that teaches, informs, inspires, and motivates, is missing an essential perspective on humanity when women’s voices are not heard. This problem exists internationally, but especially in Hollywood.
• Numerous studies document the persistent, ongoing failure of Hollywood studios to fund and support the work of women directors. In 2024, women accounted for only 16% of directors working on the top 250 films and only 11% on the top 100 films.
• Stories of sexual harassment and sexual violence against women in the entertainment business frequently point to one principal factor driving this bullying, and predatory behavior toward women: the lack of women in decision-making roles.
• CASCADIA is committed to changing this culture, by offering a venue, and a support system, for women to tell their stories through the medium of film.
• A film festival dedicated to showcasing quality work by women is an important and welcome extension of new technology-driving opportunities, by creating a new forum for the work of women directors to seen and their voices heard.
• In short, CASCADIA fills a much-needed niche, by providing a platform to showcase the best of women-directed films.

CASCADIA presents a curated selection of women-directed films. Short films are submitted through www.FilmFreeway.com. Suggestions are welcome from filmmakers who wish to have CASCADIA consider their feature, but the festival is not currently open to feature submissions.

Short film submissions open annually in August for the following year’s festival. Each short film is assigned to three of our 50 first-round reviewers located all over the globe. Films scoring the highest are forwarded to the program selection committee for the final decision.

• CASCADIA stages a Script Studio during the spring festival with up to four short film scripts by women writers  selected from submissions. The event is open to the public and free of charge. 
• At the spring festival, CASCADIA sponsors multiple networking and educational opportunities for working and aspiring filmmakers. It offers these in partnership with numerous local and regional organizations, including Western Washington University (WWU), the non-profit organization Bellingham Film, and other organizations.  
• In 2024, CASCADIA introduced a curated art exhibition that showcased the work of women artists from throughout the area.  In an exhibit titled: “Women Rising: Expanding Visions, Diverse Perspectives” at the Dakota Art Gallery in Bellingham.   Submissions for the 2026 exhibition will open in December.
• CASCADIA presents an online version of the festival after the in person festival. The online version of the festival provides accessibility to those unable to physically attend the theatre as well as to those located elsewhere in the country.  

CASCADIA is a diverse group of people with a love of film, and a commitment to opportunity and diversity in art and all walks of life. They have had or currently enjoy successful careers  in film or other art forms, business, education, recreation, community development and government. 

CASCADIA’s Program Director, Claudia Puig, is responsible for curating the festival’s feature films. The Los Angeles-based Puig is also program director for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival,  former President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and is heard on NPR’s Film Week.

All share a vision of building a unique international event to showcase the work of women directors and create extraordinary opportunities for filmmakers to work in Bellingham, Whatcom County, and the surrounding area. (See cascadiafilmfest.org for information on our board of directors and advisory panels.)

You should support CASCADIA if:

• You understand the power of film to engage, inform, inspire and empower change in both
  individuals and society.
• You see that the absence of women’s perspectives in this powerful art form results in a. dangerous imbalance, affecting the way we see and seek solutions to concerns among individuals and communities.
• You want to support the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County, by encouraging people from outside this area to come here for a festival, vacation, and to support local businesses.
• You have a business that offers goods or services that interests those who attend the CASCADIA Festival.
• You’re committed to diversity, in art as in other walks of life and community.
• You just love film and want to support quality work.

We are always looking for more volunteers and would love to start a conversation with you! Email us at info@cascadiafilmfest.org