The Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) is an nonprofit independent art house cinema and film-focused organization in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

[1][2] In late 1994, filmmakers Jamie Hook and Deborah Girdwood received a King County Arts Commission Grant, to form the non-profit WigglyWorld Studios—the organization which Northwest Film Forum originates from.

[3][4] Launching in 1995, WigglyWorld Studios was a filmmaking artist collective located on Capitol Hill in the Capitol Hill Arts Center, a former Odd Fellows meeting hall.

In 1998, NWFF bought a space on 19th and Mercer that became The Little Theatre, opening in 1999 as an 64-seat art house dual cinema and live theater.

[8][9] NWFF began to expand its programming and outreach efforts, with the support of Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer and other donors, and in 2008 moved to a 8,000-square-foot facility.