Katherine Wilson is a 6th generation Oregonian on her mother's side, and began her film career with the Poetic Cinema filmmakers in 1969 while attending the U of O in English Literature as a published poet. After a meteoric career as a Location Scout and Location Casting Director she returned to her true literary calling as a script story editor and writer.
‘Five Easy Pieces’ 1970: Karen Black and Jack Nicholson
This is an excerpt from the photo book being written by Oregon Filmmaker Katherine Wilson:
50 Years of Oregon Film, from Hollywood to Cinematic Literary Voices 1968 -2018
Five Easy Pieces & Poetic Cinema: the 1st Oregon Film of Jack Nicholson
There is a quote I love from Jack Nicholson about the low budget existential westerns he made in the early 60’s with Director Monte Hellman (Ride in the Whirl Wind & The Shooting) for Roger Corman: “Roger wanted some good Tomahawk numbers with plenty of Ketchup, but Monte and I were into these films on another level.” Continue reading... “Oregon Poetic Cinema Filmmaker Jack Nicholson Turns 80”
I first heard about the #OregonMade trademark at the Portland International Airport while viewing actual artifacts from several films shot in Oregon on display.
Now the Oregon Film Museum is stepping out and celebrating ‘Animal House’ with a huge party in Portland on October 30th, 2016. And the local communities, who hold their own local celebrations, are stepping up to support the Oregon Film Museum too.
Film is such a collaborative effort, but this scale of collaboration in celebrating Oregon creative projects is something I have never seen as a 47-year veteran of Oregon filmmaking.Continue reading... “Celebrating #OregonMadeShows”
In the spirit of acknowledging our current industry as ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’, its important to note the contributions of Oregon’s first independent filmmakers. Anne Richardson has done an exceptional job of this, sharing her research, most recently in a series of screenings at the Hollywood Theater. (http://midcenturyoregongenius.wordpress.com/)
This Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 5:00 PM, she presents a talk at the U of O Knight Library prior to Dennis Nyback’s presentation of Harry Smith’s “Heaven and Earth Magic” at the Schnitzer Museum at 7:00 PM. Continue reading... “Harry Smith: Oregon Film Pioneer”
We are so pleased to announce that Oregon’s own “Animal House of Blues” is launching World Wide July 22nd 2014 digitally on Amazon, Amazon Prime and Vimeo; and additionally by preordering physical DVD’s (with a booklet) that will be available on August 26th @ Movies On Demand. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2342022/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1.
Oregon Film Veterans Katherine Wilson and Philip Krysl (with over 40 years as Oregon filmmakers and 50 Oregon Film Credits between them) mentored 10 students this last year from the U of O into the industry by helping the students produce the couples’ screenplay “Animal House of Blues”. The collaboration with the students began small as a short for credit in a NW Film Class, which then resulted in final projects and Career Center and Journalism Internships. Not wanting to stop there, Student Director/ Cinematographer/ Editor Jay Richardson was supported by the whole group of students from several classes over the summer to create a feature length Documentary and entered the Eugene International Film Festival August 17th, the day summer school ended. Continue reading... “Oregon Film Veterans Mentoring Graduating U of O Filmmakers Wins Award”
“Animal House of Blues”: has been announced today as an Official Selection of the Eugene International Film Festival October 18th- 21st, 2012. Directed by Jay Richardson, class of 2012; with the help of fellow graduating filmmakers.
Subtitled “How an Oregon Community Helped Create a Hollywood Blockbuster (or Two) On a ‘B’ Drive-In Movie Budget”; this next generation of young Oregon filmmakers, formerly from the University of Oregon, stepped up and optioned, filmed and edited Katherine Wilson’s documentary screenplay, as well as licensed her Oregon Film Factory Movie Museum images and artifacts. Continue reading... “Animal House of Blues”
In the late 1960’s of Eugene, Oregon, we started a film company in a Garage. Kind of like the beginnings of Nirvana and Microsoft, you know? It was an old auto-mechanic garage with 2 bay doors and a ticket office inside. We had the Movieola in the back room, now famous for the auditions we held there for the “Animal House” sorority sisters in the Pillow-Fight Scene. At the time, I had rented the Ticket Office inside the Garage for $25 a month, and it was literally just big enough for a desk and a chair. Continue reading... “The Northwest’s Inimitable Film Version of a Garage Band”
Katherine Wilson kicks off her Traveling Movie Museum on Friday from 4 to 7pm with an open house @ Jameson’s Retro Bar and Lounge, Broadway and Olive, downtown Eugene. A no-host bar is available. Jameson’s also provided the framing for over 30 images and posters from the iconic film. Many of them will be shown to the public for the first time since the filming 35 years ago. The exhibit ends Sept. 30th.
25 years ago, on August 8th, a film shot in Oregon was released nationwide in the theatres. It hasn’t stopped playing since. It is currently #175 on IMDB’s top 250 list, above “Avatar” and “Gandhi”. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay from Stephen Kings’ novella “The Body”; the Japanese Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; and won the Jackie Coogan Youth Award for the cast of River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, Jerry O’Connell and Corey Feldman. Continue reading... “25th Anniversary of Oregon’s Own “Stand by Me’”
He was here in Oregon in the 60’s; in the town that Stan Brakage called “the Poetic Cinema Capitol of the World, Eugene, Oregon.” He arrived on the scene like his character in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest:” Randall Patrick McMurphy, to tell us we weren’t crazy, to legitimatize what we were trying to do with our 16mm cameras, and over the years, to help us get a break in the business.
My friend Ron Vidor, a Cinematographer who worked as a cameraman on “Five Easy Pieces” said that in 1969 Jack and the rest of the cast and crew were just traveling through on I-5, when Director Bob Rafelson saw the Eugene Denny’s Restaurant. Continue reading... “Jack Nicholson’s Legacy to Oregon Film”
I first heard about the 
