Winner Announced For #OregonMade Screenwriter’s Residency Award

Playa in the spring.August 6th, 2018: The OregonMade Creative Foundation, Northwest Film Center and Playa Summer Lake announce the winner for the 2nd annual Playa residency award.

The Screenwriter’s Residency program, now in its second year, received over 30 pitches, proposals and outlines from screenwriters, filmmakers and related creators focusing on a new take on an old genre – The Western. Projects needed to be set in the Northwest but not necessarily all in Oregon, while writers needed to be current Oregon residents. Stories reflecting “unique, diverse and insightful” points of view and ideas and settings “embracing new communities” were encouraged. All submitted projects were vying for a $1,000 stipend and the opportunity to work on a script, story, pitch or narrative project during an up to 4-week residency at PLAYA in Summer Lake, Oregon. Local Oregon screenwriters Jon Raymond (“Wendy & Lucy,” “Mildred Pierce”) and Randall Jahnson (“The Doors”) will provide feedback on the finished script.
The winner of this year’s award is Janelle Lassalle with her project, “There will be Fury.” Lassalle is a writer and aspiring filmmaker based in Portland, OR.  After graduating with a BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley, Lassalle decided to venture into the world of travel writing, a vehicle which has allowed her to explore race and gender relations across the globe. Her journeys have inspired works in a variety of mediums including short stories, paintings, poetry and screenplays. She’s passionate about themes pertaining to racial inequality, in particular focusing on social justice and the nature of prejudice in America today, and enjoys bringing tales to life in a grand, hyperbolic style infused with dark humor.
“There will be Fury” tells the incredible story of a Syrian family that sets out to get their young daughter back from America. It is an unconventional tale of revenge, a tale strung together by violent episodes as our heroes discover the wild, wild West through an exploration of gender roles and inequality, racial tension, the need for law and order; alienation, fear, madness, justice.

Lassalle states, “according to Robert Wood, at its heart, every Western is about ‘confrontations between systems of belief.’ This occurs when a native group struggles to deal with change brought on by a foreign character that threatens to undermine their existence. Our heroes pursue their young daughter, now in the custody of her erstwhile father, across the PNW while their attempts to seek justice are consistently thwarted due to the fact that they are illegal immigrants.”

Lassalle is currently working to set her dates to travel to Summer Lake.

About OregonMade Creative Foundation:
The OMCF is a program of The Charitable Partnership Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. It was founded through the efforts of Oregon Film (a/k/a the Governor’s Office of Film and Video) as a stand alone non-profit foundation focused on providing opportunity and grants for #OregonMade creators through strategic partnerships and creative connections. www.oregonmade.org

About Northwest Film Center:
The Northwest Film Center is a regional media arts organization founded in 1971 to encourage the study, appreciation, and utilization of the moving image arts, foster their artistic and professional excellence, and help create a climate in which they may flourish.

The oldest media arts organization in the Northwest, the Center’s activities include year- round exhibition programs, classes and workshops for adults and youth, community-based media artist residency programs, and artist services including low-cost equipment access and the Oregon Media Arts Fellowship. In all, the Center serves 80,000 people annually.

The Center provides a creative space for individuals to cultivate their voices and for audiences to explore the region, the world, and the art of film. Through mutually supportive relationships, regional filmmakers are supported as artists, educators, mentors, and community leaders, strengthening cinema’s place in the creative, social, and economic sectors of the community.

About Playa:
PLAYA, in south central Oregon, is a retreat for creative individuals who are committed and passionate about their work and who will benefit from time spent in a remote location. PLAYA offers seclusion and quiet in a natural environment and the opportunity for interaction, if desired, with a cohort of residents and the local rural community. A residency provides the time and space to create substantive work or to research and reflect upon one’s creative or scientific processes.

Playa is taking applications for residencies in January to June 2019.

PLAYA’s residencies are open to scientists, naturalists, biologists, designers, sustainability leaders, social practice artists, musicians, visual artists, writers, performing artists, and collaborations and individuals engaged in interdisciplinary work or other forms of creative work. PLAYA welcomes a range of applicants – from emerging scientists and artists to those with an established history of accomplishment. Please visit our website for more information. The deadline to apply is September 1, 2018.

Website: playasummerlake.org
Instagram: @playasummerlake
Facebook: /playasummerlake.org

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