Oregon Filmmaker’s Residency Award Winner Announced

Northwest Film Center, The Governor’s  Office of Film & Video (a/k/a/ Oregon Film), and PLAYA announce the winner of a unique residency opportunity for screenwriters, filmmakers and creative teams.

The program called for proposals from filmmakers and related creators to work on a script/film/visual narrative project during a 4-week residency at PLAYA in Summer Lake, Oregon.

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The Oregon Filmmaker’s Residency Award was open to Oregon Resident filmmakers, screenwriters and other creative teams to propose a narrative project focusing on an environmental issue or under-represented community here in the Northwest region.

Award winners will receive a $1,000 stipend for travel and expenses and a 4 week residency at PLAYA to develop and work on their project in the south central Oregon Outback.

The goal of the program was to focus on directly supporting the creative process by encouraging ideas, writing and steps to production in the early stages of development that would directly benefit from the support and setting of PLAYA (in Summer Lake). Submissions ranged from a genre-bending look at policing to a thriller throwing light on labor inequalities; from a documentary about a son uncovering his father through a lost screenplay to a near-future series imagining the ramifications of our next presidential election.

The inaugural Oregon Filmmaker’s Residency Award for 2016 was awarded to Cambria Matlow to write a feature length narrative script for a feminist environmental fable set in the desert during the Rogue River War (1855-56) in Southern Oregon. The story will focus on the perspectives of Mexican women, using Spanish language, an emphasis on character, social critique, contemplative pacing, and cinematic style.

Matlow’s project embraces the uniqueness of her voice as an experienced filmmaker and the depth and diversity of the stories emanating from the Northwest.

This partnership embraces the Northwest Film Center’s long history of filmmaking education and exhibition, along with the space and inspirational platform to work provided by PLAYA combined with the statewide efforts of Oregon Film to develop and strengthen the creative media industry in Oregon. The Oregon Filmmakers Residency Award seeks to expand the depth and breadth of storytelling while finding its characters, setting and source in the Northwest.

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