Trailer Wars: Wednesday Jan. 27 @ The Pickford Film Center
It’s no secret that the community of Bellingham loves to be entertained. From stand-up comedy to punk rock shows and everything in between, there’s nothing quite like a night out in downtown Bellingham. For over five years now, the community-driven event known as Trailer Wars has graced local movie screens in Bellingham with faux trailers for movies that do not actually exist.
This Wednesday, Jan. 27th, the 48th Trailer Wars event in the theme of “Golden Age of Cinema” will take place at the Pickford Film Center. As always, local cinema lovers will pack into the theater to watch the entries for this round of fake trailers, vote on their favorite and the winners will pick the next event’s theme. All of this will be business as usual for Trailer Wars fans and participants alike with one looming exception – the quickly approaching 50th installment of Trailer Wars will be it’s last official event, ever. Tickets for Trailer Wars XLVIII are available online – click here.
The first edition of Trailer Wars took place on April 4th, 2009 when several friends made fake zombie movie trailers, set up a projector in a living room, and coerced a handful of people into attending. The theme of “Action Movies” was chosen by the voted upon winner and the following screening saw an uptick in entries and attendance. As the events continued to grow, participation with little film experience, no money and the lowest level of equipment was encouraged.
Emphasizing the fun and creativity of guerrilla film by holding events that were open to all, without any submission obstacles or fees, Trailer Wars began to draw in a community of creative minds and audience members intrigued by the unfiltered nature of the events. By the fifth edition, the following had grown enough that it was no longer feasible to house the Trailer Wars experience in the living rooms of Bellingham.
The Pickford Cinema allowed Trailer Wars into its hallowed walls for its sixth installment themed Scary Movies. It was the first public edition of Trailer Wars and the theater was packed beyond capacity. This remained the singular home of TW for some time, including special screenings as part of the NW Projections film festival in 2010 and 2011. Events have also been held at the Old Foundry and the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention as well.
Now inhabiting the Pickford Film Center, Trailer Wars continues to showcase a variety of locally made fare every two months. Entries range from the intentionally to unintentionally hilarious, from polished pieces to thrown together oddities made by a combination of Trailer Wars-lifers and one time entrants. The event remains designed to be a casual, fun opportunity for all creative types to assemble their idea for a movie in trailer form and show it to a live audience.
Don’t forget! There are only two more chances left to enter your trailer into the archives of Trailer War history. For more information on the event or how to enter, visit the Trailer Wars FAQ and How to Enter pages. To catch up on previous entries, check out the Past Entries page.
