‘Mayor of Ballard’ to screen at upcoming film festival

If you haven’t heard, there’s a new mayor in town: his name is Odin, and he and his human David Tuthill have been featured in a short documentary made by local filmmaker Titus Richard.

Tuthill, the human featured in the film, is a tried-and-true old-school Ballardite who works as a blacksmith. As the film depicts, Tuthill’s canine overlord Odin stole his crown over the years, becoming a solid fixture and friendly face for this fishing village.

“Ballard has such an amazing history. And also, Ballard breaks my heart,” Tuthill says in the short film, referencing the changing landscape of the neighborhood.

Richard, the filmmaker, is a long-time Ballard admirer, and met David and Odin in David’s metal shop, where he did much of the filming. “I felt like in many ways David (and Odin) epitomized what Ballard once was and what we were losing,” Richard said in an email about the film. “David at the time was talking about how expensive the area was becoming and how it was going to be hard for him to stay in Ballard even though he had been such a part of the community for so long.” It’s the story heard all too often in our neighborhood as of late, with longtime residents being pushed out of the area as housing and rental prices are higher than they’ve ever been.

“At that time I felt it was a story that had to be told, and I felt like David had the voice to tell it. He wasn’t angry or bitter, he was just heartbroken to see something that he once cherished slowly fading away,” Richard writes.

The short film will be playing in the opening night program of this year’s Local Sightings Film Festival at the Northwest Film Forum on September 24 at 1515 12th Ave on Capitol Hill. Tickets can be purchased here.