Ashland Independent Film Festival Expands the 28th Annual Varsity World Film Week

The Ashland Independent Film Festival has assembled an intriguing and illuminating array of international independent films for the 28^th annual Varsity World Film Week running October 6 through October 13 at the Varsity Theatre in downtown Ashland. The 13 films selected represent 23 countries, including Canada, Colombia, Lebanon, France, Thailand, Russia, Nepal, and the United States.

In addition to the week of screenings, this year will also feature opening and closing night festivities, including Q&A’s with film directors and after-screening parties.

POWGirls Summer $5k Set To Raise Scholarship Funds By September 20th!

POWGirls Summer $5k!

Help us to raise scholarship funds for the 2017/2018 POWGirls Workshops!

$5000 Goal by September 20, 2017!

POWGirls depends on partnerships and donations to meet the costs of running our workshops. Since some POWGirls participants are unable to pay tuition, we rely heavily on scholarships to make our workshops available to all young women. NO APPLICANT IS TURNED AWAY DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS.

POWGirls offers workshops in video production, cinematography, audio recording, set lighting, digital editing and media literacy for girls ages 15-19.

“Portlandia” Wraps After 8 Successful Seasons – Celebration And Plaque Dedication For City Hall

A celebration of Cast and Crew, gathered at Arbor Lodge Park today. Cast, Crew, Producers, and city officials gathered to celebrate 8 successful seasons of IFC’s and Broadway Video’s “Portlandia” shooting in Portland. The unveiling and dedication of a “Portlandia” plaque was then gifted to City Hall. The plaque will be placed near a specially commissioned “put a bird on it” bench on the third floor of Portland City Hall, outside the Mayor’s office.

Raiders Of The Lost Archive – Back To School With “Up The Creek” (1984)

This week we take a creek less traveled to the center of the state and explore a comedy that only the 1980’s could’ve created and then the rest of history has somewhat ignored. Along the way we connect the dots between an Astoria artist, the cast of “Animal House,” “Ghostbusters,” “Hill Street Blues,” and “Porky’s” and throw in a creator of “Grimm” for good measure, all the while never taking our eye off that wet and wild…creek: the Deschutes River.

Local Short “Thou Shall Not Tailgate” Crowdfunder Receives MovieMaker Magazine / Kickstarter honors

Portland documentary short, and #OregonMade, “Thou Shall Not Tailgate” recently received accolades from MovieMaker Magazine (Crowdfunding Pick) and Kickstarter (Projects We Love) for it’s current fundraising effort. With less than TWO DAYS LEFT, the indie short raised over 60% of it’s budget, and met its $15k goal.

Eighth Annual Eastern Oregon Film Festival Releases Line-Up

#EOFF2017 Announces Film Selections

Eastern Oregon Film Festival is proud to announce its Official Selections for the 2017 Festival. Spread across five venues (including a 48hr. online program at Filmmaker Magazine), EOFF will run October 19-21, 2017 in La Grande, OR.

The festival will open and close with fiction and non-fiction offerings that explore possibilities of the near-future. Opening night will feature Pete Ohs and Andrea Sisson’s gorgeous desert fable, Everything Beautiful Is Far Away.

EOFF will close out its program with Mila Aung-Thwin and Van Royko’s essential documentary about nuclear fusion, Let There Be Light.

Raiders of the Lost Archive – “Point Break” (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991)

As summer starts to come to a close it is with great pleasure that we find a way to celebrate the awesomeness that is the Oregon Coast especially in such a grand cinematic way. The North Coast as been home to many an iconic flick – Twilight, Short Circuit, Free Willy, Kindergarden Cop and, of course, The Goonies – but it has never seen the likes of Keanu and Patrick in the pouring rain at Indian Beach.

Raider/Contributor Phil Oppenheim tells the awesome tale of “Point Break.”

HouseSpecial’s ‘Jailbreak’ Takes Best Picture at the We Like ‘Em Short Film Festival

Jailbreak - a stop-motion short from HouseSpecial

HouseSpecial took home the award for Best Picture at the We Like ‘Em Short Film Festival held on August 17-20, 2017 in Baker City, Oregon. Aaron Sorenson wrote and directed the winning stop-motion film, Jailbreak, which was shot in black and white. The story follows the daring escape of a desperate prisoner fleeing his nightmarish cell in pursuit of sweet punishment. The design is German Expressionist-inspired, but with a decidedly adult twist.

“Everything about Jailbreak is perfect – beautifully shot, perfect timing and hilarious.

Mastering The Interview With OPB’s Steve Amen

Mastering the Interview: Real People as Documentary Story Structure
Taught by Steve Amen, Executive Producer / Host of OPB’s Oregon Field Guide
Mondays, 6:30pm-9:30pm, October 2 – November 6
Northwest Film Center, 934 SW Salmon St. $495

The stories and voices of real people are the building blocks of documentary storytelling. The challenge for the filmmaker is to adapt their style to the person being interviewed. A successful interviewer allows the subject to share their story in a way that is not only personal, but also that is focused, engaging, and provides real insight into the subject.

Raiders of the Lost Archive – “Legacy for Lucia” Route 66 (Philip Leacock, 1960)

Officially, the first Golden Age of Television spanned the late 40’s to the late 50’s. Since we’re ostensibly living through a Goldener Age of Television (which has certainly created far more hours and channels of product than the first one did) it seems only wise to remind ourselves of Oregon’s place in the first heyday of the small screen and the echoes of that past into our present. That’s were ROTLA creator and contributor Phil Oppenheim takes us this week.

Recent Posts

POWGirls Summer $5k!

Help us to raise scholarship funds for the 2017/2018 POWGirls Workshops!

$5000 Goal by September 20, 2017!

#EOFF2017 Announces Film Selections