The King County Council on Tuesday approved $1 million in funding to the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) to help the nonprofit reopen the Cinerama, the historic Belltown movie theater it purchased in May.
- The grant comes from existing federal and state funds received during the pandemic, the Seattle Times previously reported.
- SIFF purchased the Cinerama for an undisclosed price from the estate of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The high-tech theater closed in February 2020 just before the pandemic and has been shuttered ever since.
- SIFF has not set an opening date yet for the theater, or a revealed a new name. The organization lost the rights to the Cinerama name with the purchase.
- The Seattle City Council approved nearly $1 million last week for the theater.
