A Cinematic Moment

Imagine you are an emerging filmmaker and you get an opportunity to see your short film projected onto a 40-foot screen under the Space Needle and before a large audience.

For students in the Film and Media program at Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University, this is a reality thanks to an enduring partnership with Seattle Center.

Since 2016, Cornish and Seattle Center have provided this opportunity each summer, where short films are screened before feature films as part of Seattle Center Movies at the Mural, presented by Prime Video. 

Movies at the Mural has become one of Seattle Center’s signature summer programs over the past two decades, offering free outdoor films. The series features popular films spanning genres and generations, with up to 2,000 people seated at each screening. 

As summer starts to wind down so, too, does the Movies at the Mural series and Friday, August 21 marks the final screening of the season. Two short films—Frog Guy by Hunter Hasselbom and Vampuppet by Cornish student K. Moylan—will screen before the main feature, Masters of the Universe.

Seattle Center’s partnership with Cornish began after the college became a center resident organization and began operating the Cornish Playhouse. Seattle Center approached the college about contributing student films to its movie series, creating an ongoing opportunity for emerging filmmakers to have their work shown in a professional setting. 

“Seattle Center has a long-term commitment to uplifting our resident organizations,” says Pete Rush, Arts Program Specialist for Seattle Center Programs and Events. “When Cornish moved in, it felt like, ‘How can we support Cornish?’” 

Each year, Rush works with Cornish’s film department to review several student films and selects one or two for each Movies at the Mural screening. The short films are typically five to seven minutes long and may or may not relate directly to the feature film. In 2026, five Cornish films are included in the series alongside works by UW Professional & Continuing Education Film & Video Production alumni. 

For Seattle Center, the screenings are part of a broader commitment to supporting emerging artists. 

“We want to give them a chance to showcase their talents in a way that has high production values and give them access to an audience that they might not normally get,” Rush says. “It felt important to help these students maybe get their first large public screening of a film that they create.” 

The opportunity connects Cornish’s educational mission with Seattle’s larger arts community. Students gain experience presenting their work to audiences outside the classroom, while Seattle Center audiences encounter work from artists at an early stage of their careers. 

That exchange reflects the lasting value of partnerships between cultural and educational institutions. Seattle Center’s support of resident organizations, combined with Cornish’s focus on developing artists, creates opportunities for students to participate in the cultural life of the region while building professional experience. 

The setting also makes Movies at the Mural distinctly communal. Audiences arrive early with blankets and picnics, participate in pre-show trivia and hang with friends and neighbors before the screening. For Rush, that atmosphere is an important part of the experience. 

“It becomes a really social experience,” he says. “People are sitting really, really close to each other and we start to see neighbors start talking to each other and meeting new people.”