If you've seen a movie in Seattle in the past eleven years, your life has been bettered by Josh Wakeland. From an early age, Josh developed a deep love of movies. At 16 he began his first job as an usher in a local theater in his hometown of Milwaukee. His passion and dedication carried him to the Denver Film Festival, and then in 2014 he landed at SIFF where he remained for the rest of his career. Josh worked his way through the ranks of SIFF from a Festival Print Traffic Manager to the Lead Projectionist at the SIFF Egyptian, eventually becoming the Associate Director of Cinema Technology.
Josh's knowledge of cinema and theatrical operations was not just incredibly vast but wonderfully funny and personal.
Ever chuckled in recognition at a particularly apt song playing before a film at a SIFF theater? That was Josh! Ever enjoyed an insane movie preshow, like a stacked playlist of old video game commercials before Super Mario Bros? Josh scoured the internet to put those together just to make a screening extra special.
Josh stewarded the Seattle film scene at all scales. He taught us how to make DCPs so local audiences could discover the smallest of independent shorts at our film festivals. He mentored countless projectionists who make the 35mm and 4K restoration screenings you love possible. He helped reboot the Egyptian in 2014 after Landmark left and he helped ready SIFF Cinema Downtown in 2023 to be your cathedral once more.
Our friend Josh passed away this fall. His impact on our community is still felt deeply.
Josh's love not just for movies, but for the physical places, people, and objects that make movies something we love was incredible. In recognition for his vast passion for cinema, we wanted to gift to Josh and gift to Seattle from Josh a way for his film community to share that with him.
We hope you enjoy this curated section of films from his Letterboxd list "Favorite Film from Every Year Since I Was Born" Rate them yourself, and love, debate, or hate them Josh would be tickled by all of the above.
In loving memory from all his friends and family.
