The Portland Events and Film Office, in partnership with Travel Portland, is proud to announce the recipients of the 2024 Post Production Grant to five feature films. The funding is designed to encourage the completion of a local feature-length film and position local producers to build toward larger, more resourced productions. Past recipients of the Post-Production Grant have included “Nora” by Anna Campbell and Dawn Redstone Jones’ “Mother of Color,” the latter picked up by Amazon Prime Studios for worldwide streaming distribution.
Five films, selected from a pool of over 23 applicants will be awarded $8,000 each. Grant funds must be applied towards Portland based post-production services such as: sound, picture editing, color matching, color grading, closed caption, tech specs for distributors, VFX/animation, and music clearances using local post-production houses.
“Keeping post production in Portland is so important; so many times when people make movies here, they end up doing post in other places. It is really important to continue to build on the post production infrastructure that we have here in the city,” said Film Industry Project Manager Elyse Taylor Liburd. “I was really blown away by the caliber of the productions and the uniqueness of the storytelling. Every year that I think we can’t top the last, it just keeps on getting better.”
The projects were selected based on their commitment to diverse representation in their film and/or in production, the potential impact of the film on local talent and economy; influence of funding on the project and/or career of the applicant, and the potential impact of the film on external markets by way of bringing Portland’s vitality to the big screen.
Congratulations to all of the recipients of the 2024 Post Production Grant:
Trash Baby-
Trash Baby is a coming-of-age drama that follows 12-year-old Stevie as she navigates growing up, getting out, and the art of finding beauty in the ugliest of places.
The film takes a look at poverty in America through the lens of one of the most dismissed communities in the country. “We’re telling a story that is rarely given the attention it deserves and shining a light on the beauty of a world often left socially unclaimed.” says Jacy Mairs, Director of Trash Baby.
Directing narrative features has been a dream of Oregonian Jacy Mairs for as long as she can remember. She has a long history of working as a part of production in the commercial world, but Trash Baby will be her directorial debut.
A Simple Machine –
Nick Allander is a creative soul – a thoughtful, but indecisive, young man with an accounting job, a serious relationship, and a problem… he’s drowning in debt. Coming out of the pandemic, he and his partner, Marie, are looking to take the next step in their relationship, but when Nick’s mother, a hoarder in poor health, suddenly passes, he snaps, abandoning his career, leaving his apartment, and selling all his possessions to secretly squat in the garage of her foreclosed home.
“This is my first feature production as a producer, however I have worked on multiple productions in other roles over the years. I have been an advocate for filming in Oregon and am passionate about both telling Oregon stories and bringing projects to Oregon. A Simple Machine will hopefully be the first of many for me,” says Producer Michelle Damis.
5 Weeks in Silverton-
Nothing goes as planned when a group of trans and queer filmmakers set out to document the last 5 weeks of Stu Rasmussen’s life. The heartbreaking story of a trans teen at the beginning of her life and a trans elder at the end of theirs in smalltown Silverton, Oregon, and the wild things that happen when a crew of trans filmmakers show up for 5 weeks to ask big questions on gender, freedom, life, and death.
The film is being directed by both L Morgan Lee and Andrew Russell. Tony Award® nominee L Morgan Lee is an American actress, director and writer. She made history as the first openly transgender actor to receive a Tony Award® nomination for her standout work in A Strange Loop. Andrew Russell is a theatre and film director with a focus on real humans who have made a change in the world in which they live.
This is An Awesome Rock Show–
In the summer of 2023, a group of adults with disabilities set out with a dream: to perform an epic rock concert at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon. THIS IS AN AWESOME ROCK SHOW is a feature-length documentary film about their incredible journey, from their first day of rehearsal all the way to the stage at Revolution Hall, where they performed “Stop Making Sense,” their interpretation of the Talking Heads classic album.
Filmed over three months with candid, behind-the-scenes footage, you will get to know the cast and who they are – not just people with disabilities, but artists with talents who are daring to do something they’ve never done before. The film follows JJ Ross, a man with down syndrome, who is the show’s lead choreographer, as he practices and teaches the dance moves. You’ll also meet the rest of the cast, who are all part of the Portland nonprofit organization called PHAME, from the dance ensemble to the vocalists to the IPAD musicians. The cast does not want to inspire you. They want to rock you.
A feature documentary film witnessing the lives and experiences of trans people during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an airborne pandemic when separation, isolation, and self-sufficiency became the punishing norm, many trans people faced the COVID-19 era differently. G. Chesler’s new documentary feature presents eight portraits of trans, postgender, and genderqueer people sharing their experiences of cultivating, sustaining, and joining communities in this pandemic. Interlacing documentary portraits are reenactments with real folks reliving common COVID memories. G. Chesler’s film Connection | Isolation highlights how COVID-19 and Long COVID have impacted trans people disproportionately. This is not a new story for a community that faces violent loss, less access to health care, criminalization, and whose freedoms are legislatively restricted by transphobes forcefully. But it is one that must be heard and understood.
“This film is intended for impact and meant to foster dialogue,” says G. With a film about an unforgettable time in which we can all relate to during the pandemic, the cast and crew have high hopes for international distribution. “Community-based screenings around the US will allow me to highlight the artistry of the Portland filmmakers who are my collaborators,” says G.
