The Confluence

SHORT FILM BLOWOUT: Stop Talking About Your Short Film & Make It

All of the great filmmakers started off making short films, from George Lucas to Gus Van Sant. Short films are a great training ground to learn your craft and to start building your audience. They’re also great “calling cards” to show people to get funding for bigger films. Make a good short film, and the film festival world will open up for you. So what are you waiting for?

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.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/22418896[/vimeo]

Yesterday Portland Mayor, Sam Adams unveiled a portrait of local filmmaker Todd Haynes that will be displayed in Portland’s City Hall.  Haynes is the creative force behind movies such as “Velvet Goldmine,” “Far from Heaven,” and the recent HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce.”  This is just one example of the city’s ongoing support of local artists and the local film/television community.   The portrait was painted by local artist  Steven Cohn, who paints under the pseudonym “Jasper Marks.”

You can read a full review of the unveiling and view additional videos on PortlandOnline.com