The Confluence

Help BendFilm fund the production of a local, women-led short film to be shot in Central Oregon. They only need $2,500 from this campaign to match a $2,500 grant from the Roundhouse Foundation. “The gender disparity in our industry is embarrassingly low and we need to be the spark that creates change!”

Here’s how the film production process will work:

– With your help, raise $2,500 through July 18th via this Seed&Spark Campaign.

– Issue a request for proposal from local female filmmakers about their film on July 19th.

– Begin film project evaluations on August 20th.

– Award the full $5,000 short film production fund on September 3rd.*

– Film completion deadline by August 1, 2019.

– World Premiere of film October 10-13, 2019.

BendFilm believes film has a unique power to unite communities and inspire action. And the film industry itself is in desperate need of change-especially in regard to celebrating the work of emerging female artists. Through a matching $2,500 grant from Oregon’s Roundhouse Foundation, we are inviting you to join us in creating the change that is needed. Together, we can give one deserving, local woman filmmaker an incredible opportunity to produce a short film that will also screen at the 16th Annual BendFilm Festival in October 2019. By eliminating the financial burden of making a short film, this talented and promising emerging filmmaker will be able to focus on the production and artistic content. The film will be shot in Central Oregon as a way to celebrate the natural beauty of our region while supporting talented local crew and businesses. We need your help in fostering the career of the next disrupter in this artform!

A new show for Netflix from Matt Groening – “Disenchantment,”  an animated series  that “follows the misadventures of a hard-drinking princess, her feisty elf companion and her personal demon.”  Get ready – August 17th.

I thought one could only make film in Hollywood. Then, I made a short in Portland and it changed my life.

Our stars Mindy Machen and Leonard Roberts in the cockpit of the Blackstar built by production designer Jubal Nance and art director Rob Taylor.

Los Angeles was the place I flew down to for meetings between long walks on beaches that felt hotter than the surface of the sun. Everything about L.A. felt like the polar opposite of Portland, the place where I had lived and worked as a comic book artist for years, first for Dark Horse and then for Marvel & DC, all the while coming up with ideas for film and television, ideas that made me feel excited not just as a creator but as a viewer. As a lifelong science fiction nut, I longed for the early days of the genre, with shows and movies that were inclusive, spanning unknown universes, representing all walks of life, aliens of every stripe and humans of every color.  Read More »

Pickathon Camera Crew
June 26, 2018 — August 5, 2018
Tuesdays, June 26-July 17, 6:30pm-9:30pm;
plus practice shoot;
plus Pickathon Festival August 2-5.
$765 – includes pass to festival (over $400 value)

Learn to shoot live events as a trained cameraperson for the Pickathon Music Festival, one of the largest outdoor music festivals in the US (August 2-5).  Read More »

Here’s How It’ll Work:
– Issue a request for proposal from female filmmakers on July 1st.
– With your help, raise $2,500 through July 18th via this Seed&Spark Campaign.
– Begin project evaluations on August 1st.
– Award the full $5,000 short film production fund on August 15th.*
– Film completion deadline by July 1, 2019.
– World Premiere of film October 10-13, 2019.

*This $2,500 Seed&Spark Campaign needs to be successful to fully fund the project!

#OregonMade “Leave No Trace” – is out this week!  Oregon looks fantastic and the film has collected some very positive reviews. Manohla Dargis of the @NewYorkTimes raves it’s “a deeply affecting story about a veteran and his teenage daughter – movingly played by Ben Foster and Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie.” See it in select theaters June 29!  You won’t want to miss this movie, it is getting great reviews, including “100% fresh” on Rotten Tomotoes!

Director, Debra Granik’s #OregonMade “Leave No Trace” is one of 50 films that has been selected to screen during the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Fetsival this year.  “Leave No Trace”  already premiered at Sundance and received rave reviews there.  Sony Pictures Worldwide was quick to acquire international rights, and Bleecker Sreet has aquired North Americn rights. “Leave No Trace,” set in Portland’s Forest Park, tells the tale of  Will and his teenage daughter, Tom, who “have lived off the grid, blissfully undetected by authorities in a vast nature reserve on the edge of Portland. When a chance encounter blows their cover, they’re  removed from their camp and put into the charge of social services. Struggling to adapt to their new surroundings, Will and Tom set off on a perilous journey back to the wilderness, where they are finally forced to confront conflicting desires—a longing for community versus a fierce need to live apart.”

Starring Ben Foster as Will, and Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie as Tom, written and directed by Debra Granik.

#LeaveNoTrace  #OregonMade

The Portland Tribune  covered the latest on the goings on of Netflix’s “The OA” shooting in Oregon.

“The OA” is written and produced by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij.  Marling stars as Prairie Johnson, a young blind woman who “returns to her hometown after an unexplained seven-year absence with her eyesight restored and now calling herself “The OA.””

It’s been over a year (!) since our last job mixer, held as Grimm came to a close.  Let’s do it up again as an equally large group finishes – this time out at LAIKA on their current production, Missing Link.  This puts some serious top tier stop motion animation and CG/VFX artistic talent out on the streets and available for hire.  Our goal is connect you all with other studios/companies/productions on the rise – ladies and gentlemen, I give you Job Mixer 2 – the sequel!

Confirmed studios/companies attending:

HouseSpecial, ShadowMachine, Nike, Bent Image Lab, Hinge, Deep Sky/Giant Astronaut, Sockeye, Sprocketship, Refuge VFX, Mode Adjust, Joint Editorial, Kamp Grizzly, Funnelbox, TrapDoor Creative

and more TBA…

Update that resume and dust off the ol’ demo reel, because this event is coming fast!  The details:

Monday, July 9th
Mixer from 5-7pm, private interviews after
Art Institute of Portland
1122 NW Davis St
3rd Floor/Student Commons loft

LAIKA may be the catalyst, but this event is open to all – from student to supervisor.  *Important note:  After the public event, individual companies can opt to schedule private interviews with candidates that they’d like to go a bit more in-depth with.  These interviews will happen in offices down the hall from the main event from 7-9pm later that night, so you might want keep that time available in case you’re contacted or tagged for one (or more) private interviews.

Help us track attendance – RSVP by picking up a (free) ticket at Eventbrite now:   https://bit.ly/2xFiqQR

We’ll see you at the event!  Special thanks to the Art Institute for the space.  Let’s make Portland work!

Note – if you are a studio/agency/production company who would like to participate, get in touch here.

More details at VFX/PDX and OMPA.

Kristi Turnquist (Oregonian/Oregon Live) is looking back at our shared film history here in Oregon and will be writing about and “taking note of memorable – and notorious – moments” in coming weeks.  Firstly, Turnquist took a look at 50 actors, all of whom have worked here in the state, and who have “helped turn their Oregon-filmed projects into fan favorites.”

Read it here.  #OregonMade

This time last year we tried to give some context and background to the work of our office in a post we shared called, “Who We Are & What We Do.” This year, we’d like to add to that.

So, first things first.

In the last year we have been lucky enough to find dedicated and invested partners to tackle a whole new series of grants and workforce development opportunities through the #OregonMade Creative Foundation. Founded as a program of The Charitable Partnership Fund, a 501(C)(3) non-profit corporation, the OMCF, along with Travel Oregon, Danner Boots, the Portland Film Office at Prosper Portland and an amazing group of in-kind contributors, has now awarded the $18,500 “Outdoor Adventure Film Grant.” The OMCF also placed two talented young animators in the production studio for ShadowMachine’s upcoming Adult Swim series “The Shivering Truth” as well as worked closely with OMPA and Open Signal to place two more apprentices on the set of IFC’s third season of “Documentary Now!” And we are about to award the second “Playa Screenwriter’s Residency Award” to an Oregon based writer looking to explore and expand the Western genre. Coming next – a unique partnership with The Northwest Film Center, The Hollywood Theatre, The Clinton Street Theatre and Cinema 21 called “The Portland Circuit,” a local film distribution scheme, and a soon-to-be-announced program focused on post-production.

In addition, we’ve also launched a very special exhibit at PDX airport that shows off more than 50 years of Oregon Film production history on a 160’ long mural. It’s a wonderful exhibit and we challenge everyone not to be surprised at least one of those 21 films that  in some way called Oregon home. And there’s much more to come on this front, with new projects coming in Astoria and near Lincoln City.   Read More »