North Sound Voices Film Festival

The North Sound Voices Film Festival is the first of its kind in our region – a compelling event to educate, inspire, and motivate advocacy about the most crucial issues of our time. In summer 2025, at several locations and virtually, we will showcase multiple documentary-style films that were produced, filmed by, and featuring people living and working in the North Sound – these films feature organizations and individuals, documenting their work in food sovereignty, LGBTQ+ rights, transformative justice, grassroots community supports, and the joys and challenges of black, indigenous, and people of color.

West Shore follows the Westshore Canoe Family as they journey through their ancestral waters on the 2023 Paddle to Muckleshoot. The film celebrates Coast Salish culture and highlights how Tribal Journeys strengthens identity, community, and the ongoing cultural resurgence of Indigenous peoples across the region.

Produced by Children of the Setting Sun Productions.

Ceremony of Awareness

My name is Remy Styrkowicz and I happen to be a Black bisexual, trans man adopted into a white family. I’ve survived years of drug addiction, OCD, anxiety and depression, racism, suicidal thoughts, transphobia, the death of my mom, a pandemic, sexual assault. Yet, none of that defines me. It’s shaped me, but it’s not me. I think about who I am, and I feel my hands being held. I feel my fingers intertwine, generating a warmth just before the point of fire – an ecosystem of expression, acceptance, and unconditional love. Somehow all balanced. I think about who I am and the words “I made it Mom” wrap their eternal arms around me. Remember, we are so free to think that we choose bondage.

Directed by Remy Styrkowicz

Love Me To Life

A look into the wind and wings of people of color – storytelling. To look at the autonomy and anatomy of movements and change, we find ourselves screaming into the bowels of everything, arriving at the idiom of innovation; a language in which we all have different dialects.
Featuring Northwest Youth Services.

Directed by Remy Styrkowicz

Fascia is a look into love so deep and ingrained that shapes, angles, and all point of views disappear. Symmetrically, a look into the source of that love, centering and illuminating who Quaniqua is.
Featuring Quaniqua Williams.

Directed by Remy Styrkowicz

Born in Kabul, Ahmad Abid’s earliest childhood memories include the sounds of bombs and his family’s mourning cries over lost relatives. 

Ahmad comes from a family of community leaders and at an early age followed in the footsteps of his elders as a youth leader at school. After arriving in America, he continued his community volunteer work, and met many Afghan refugee families who faced far more challenges than his own, recognizing one of the greatest challenges was learning English. So, he started teaching others.

Ahmad founded The House of Wisdom in 2020 – now with a team of more than 30 volunteers serving international students from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Central/South America to bridge the gap in education and opportunity. The House of Wisdom also serves as a center for cultural events celebrating diversity, pride in cultural identity and raising awareness to address discrimination and racism.

Directed by John Riber

Storypole is a documentary that follows the remarkable story of Jason LaClair, a Native American artist from the Pacific Northwest, as he restores a story pole started by an elder from his community. The film is a reflection on his life as he recovers from drug addiction, and finds healing in his art and community. His journey leads him into the public school district, where he teaches young people about his people’s history, art and healing.

Produced by Children of the Setting Sun Productions

An open letter to a beautiful brown boy – a profile on coming home through radical religion, self roots, and a revealing of the civic netherworld of reentry.
Featuring Alex Sanchez.

Directed by Remy Styrkowicz

P’al Corazon – For the Heart – is a short documentary film about the Cultural Alimentos Project with Bellingham Food Bank and Northwest Agricultural Business Center. This is cross-cultural story recognizing that we are in a changing landscape, and how we approach, recognize, understand, appreciate, and respond appropriately to the needs of all communities when it comes to culturally-appropriate, nutritious food and a thriving food system.

Directed by Burn the Box.