Celebrating #OregonMadeShows

animal-house-of-blues-33-3-posterI 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”

Saturday Workshop With Mark Orton

mo_1-music_landing_croppedWorking with the Film Composer 
Taught by Mark Orton
Saturday, October 22, 10am-4pm
Register online

The Northwest Film Center is excited to be offering a Saturday workshop with local composer Mark Orton, who composed music for the films Nebraska and Boxtrolls, in addition to a new soundtrack for Buster Keaton’s The General and work on This American Life.

How to find, hire and work with a film composer, from the demo process to finished picture. The instructor’s musical palette and style will guide the discussion, along with real-life case studies from a variety of feature, documentary and fine art films. Continue reading... “Saturday Workshop With Mark Orton”

Central Oregon Thriller to Premiere Halloween Weekend

Official Poster - BESETMENT
Official Poster – BESETMENT

Besetment”, an indie-produced feature film from Barbed Wire Films, will have it’s first public premiere on Sunday October 30th at the Volcanic Theater Pub in Bend, OR at 6pm.

Filmed in Mitchell, Prineville, Ashland, and Bend, OR, the film tells the tale of Amanda Millard, a down-on-her-luck girl, desperate to find a job.  When she gets a call from the Oregon Hotel in Mitchell, things start to look up. Mildred Colvin, the owner of the Oregon Hotel is a kind lady, and her live-in son and local mechanic Billy, though a little slow, seems quite taken with Amanda. Continue reading... “Central Oregon Thriller to Premiere Halloween Weekend”

“Certain Women” Opened Strong & To Good Reviews

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or5lYLL41SY[/youtube]

Kelly Reichardt and Neil Kopps’ latest feature, “Certain Women” (written and directed by Reichardt) opened  to great reviews (New York Times, Variety, LA Times,Vanity Fair) and a strong box office (#2 indie box office.)

Reichardt and Kopp, have shot 4 projects together here in Oregon (“Night Moves“, “Meek’s Cutoff“,”Wendy and Lucy“, “Old Joy“) and although this film shot in Montana, it was posted here in state. Continue reading... ““Certain Women” Opened Strong & To Good Reviews”

“SEED: The Untold Story” To Premiere At Portland EcoFilm Festival

[vimeo width=”500″ height=”300″]https://vimeo.com/169932441[/vimeo]

Celebrate food justice at the Portland premiere of the award winning documentary, SEED: The Untold Story! SEED: The Untold Story is the Opening Night Film at the Portland EcoFilm Festival at Hollywood Theater, Thursday, October 20 at 7:00pm. A Q&A with the local Portland filmmakers, Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz, will follow. Visit seedthemovie.com/portland for tickets and more info.

SEED: The Untold Story is an eye-opening environmental documentary about the dramatic loss of seed diversity and the movement to future of our food, from the creators of the award winning Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? Continue reading... ““SEED: The Untold Story” To Premiere At Portland EcoFilm Festival”

Celebrate Animal House with The Kingsmen, Otis Day, and The House, October 30th

Animal House Travels to Portland
Animal House travels to Portland: Pieces of and set items from the original animal house are reassembled in celebration of the collegial Oregon comedy

Original Cast and Crew from the movie Animal House reprise items from the Cottage Grove and Eugene sets of the infamous #OregonMade movie for a historic celebration of an Oregon film on Sunday, October 30, 2016. A 5pm VIP Reception is followed by a 6pm concert and celebration at The Exchange Ballroom (123 NE 3rd Avenue, Portland, Oregon). Continue reading... “Celebrate Animal House with The Kingsmen, Otis Day, and The House, October 30th”

Bill Plympton Speaks, Oct. 15 & 16, UNDERGROUND USA

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On Oct 15, 2016, two time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton will appear as a guest speaker at Oregon Cartoon Institute‘s one day symposium UNDERGROUND USA. The following evening he will introduce a program of his short films at the Mission Theater.

UNDERGROUND USA is one day public history/arts education event which focuses on one chapter of Oregon print cartooning history. It was created in partnership with UO Comics & Cartooning Studies and PSU Comic Studies, and with support from Oregon Historical Society. Continue reading... “Bill Plympton Speaks, Oct. 15 & 16, UNDERGROUND USA”

AIFF- One Of MovieMaker’s “Coolest Film Festivals In The World, 2016”!

coolest-fests-featured-imageMovieMaker Magazine, has, once again, the  Ashland Independent Film Festival on their latest list of “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World“.  They admire that AIFF isn’t “mired in tradition…the 15-year-old fest has recently taken steps to broaden its range, with dives into live cinema, art installations and interactive media offerings, plus a new category called BEYOND…” and one panelist that MM interviewed describe AIFF as a “down-to-earth exhibition of talented filmmaking,” that “treats filmmakers with so much respect.”  Continue reading... “AIFF- One Of MovieMaker’s “Coolest Film Festivals In The World, 2016”!”

“Brother Nature”, Shot in Klamath Falls, Opened Sept 9th

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7tbSNqoCwU[/youtube]

Lorne Michael’s “Brother Nature” opened September 9th – shot in and around Klamath Falls (down town, Lake of Woods Resort, Keno, among others) for 15 days in the summer of 2014.  The feature brought much financial benefit to local businesses, as well as hiring many Oregon crew.  Starring Taran Killam (“12 Years a Slave”, SNL), Bill Pullman, (“Independance Day”, “Lost Highway”), (Gillian Jacobs “Community”), Bobby Moynihan (SNL, “Inside out” “Sisters”), Rita Wilson (“Sleepless In Seattle”), and Sarah Burns, Ellen Bloodworth, Giancarlo Esposito, Rachael Harris, Kumail Nanjiani, Kenan Thompson and David Wain, and produced by Lorne Michael’s, written by Taran Killam, Mikey Day and Cameron Fay, directed by Matt Villines and Osmany “Oz” Rodriguez. Continue reading... ““Brother Nature”, Shot in Klamath Falls, Opened Sept 9th”

Autumn Film Festivals Celebrate “The State of Jefferson”

seal-of-jeffersonA region of the Pacific Northwest that has imagined its own independence as far back as the 1850’s, the ‘mythical’ 51st State of Jefferson, is a proposed U.S. state that would span the contiguous, mostly rural area of southern Oregon and Northern California.

Many a liberated spirit claim this State their home, and as of the 2010 US Census, if the Jefferson counties were a state, the state’s population would be 457,859 and be roughly the size of West Virginia.

As Summer turns to Autumn in this neck of the woods, independent film fans and creators have two film festival opportunities to celebrate the art and entertainment of their local industry. Continue reading... “Autumn Film Festivals Celebrate “The State of Jefferson””