The Confluence

We are proud to be partnering with the inaugural International Women’s Sports Film Festival in downtown Portland May 1-3!

Join us at The Judy for a weekend of incredible storytelling through film, including: “Reggae Girlz” from Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton, the Billie Jean King documentary “Give Me The Ball”, and “The Britney Griner Story” (both produced by ESPN Films), plus live conversations with the athletes, coaches, and filmmakers behind the stories.

Explore the full lineup and buy your tickets today at iwsff.org

Multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated artist Tyga is set to make his feature debut in a starring role in “Baby, You’re a Star,” a coming-of-age musical drama that he’s also producing and wrote with Curtis Bryant.

Co-starring Madison Bailey (Outer Banks) and Ashton Sanders (Moonlight), the film is set in 1989 and follows an ambitious young artist determined to break free from the limitations of his environment, as he navigates love, identity, and the pursuit of artistic expression.

Production is happening in Portland, Oregon, pic’s cast also includes Apollonia, Clifton Powell, Patrick Cage, David Alan Grier, and Mike Epps.

The Oregon shot “Via Negativa” will premiere at Tribeca in June. Facing a crisis of faith after the death of an old friend, a young priest abandons all he knows and sets off on a road trip out West to heal. Along the way, he picks up a wounded coyote and meets enigmatic strangers who offer a different path towards closure.

Directed by Hannah Peterson the film stars Young Mazino, MiMi Ryder, Tony Hale, Zoe Winters, Keith Kupferer, Stanley Simons, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Mamadou Athie and Jee Young Han.

Los Angeles-based filmmaker Moriah Doepken, a 2020 graduate of SOU’s Digital Cinema program, returns to Ashland this year as guest director with the Digital Cinema program’s innovative “Crew Experience” course.

The Crew Experience production intensive is taught by Digital Cinema Professor Nora Zubizarreta, a filmmaker with professional experience in Los Angeles and New York City, and producer of the film Umama, which won gold at the Student Academy Awards.

Doepken graduated in 2024 from Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University with an M.F.A.

In partnership with Travel Portland, the Office of Events & Film at Prosper Portland is excited to offer a grant opportunity for Portland-based independent film productions to support and offset the cost of the post-production process. Grant applications open on Thursday, March 26.

Funding is designed to encourage the completion of local feature-length films and position local producers to build toward larger, more resourced productions. This year, grants of $7,500 each will be awarded.

Want to learn more about the Post-Production Grant?

If you needed a reminder that you are the one who can make your film dreams come true, here it is. We are in search of the next short narrative the world needs to see, and you might just be the keeper of that story. Time to write!

All applicants receive script feedback from our panel of professionals. The winner will receive a large grant along with in-kind donations, and massive production support.

Script to Screen is free and you must be a member to apply, so join the Collective now if you haven’t already.

The nonprofit organization Unseen Films Oregon announced today the reading of its first
feature film, “Hold My Hand,” a gothic horror drama written by and starring local producer Rose
Harwood. “Hold My Hand” is scheduled to enter production this fall and represents a significant
milestone for the Ashland-based nonprofit organization.

“We’re building something exciting, and we’re inviting our vibrant local community to help
bring it to life,” said producer-actor-writer Rose Harwood. Rose most recently associate-
produced Bruce Campbell and Ida Gearon’s Ernie & Emma and has been a working actor and
producer for two decades.

Deadline announced recently that Daytime Emmy-nominated actress Vannessa Vasquez (Say A Little Prayer) is leading the Jon Garcia directed crime noir Motives opposite Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite) and Michael Raymond James (Godfather of Harlem).

The project reps Garcia’s 13th independent feature. Motives centers around Detective Izzy Morgan (Vasquez), a relentless investigator pulled into a dark and intricate case that exposes the hidden violence beneath wealth and privilege.

As Izzy and her partner, Detective Mark Navarro (Ramirez), dig deeper into a disturbing murder tied to the city’s elite youth, they uncover a sinister underbelly that challenges their moral limits.

The new festival is a project by Sports Bra founder and CEO Jenny Nguyen.

The Sports Bra famously broadcasts only women’s sports on its televisions. Starting this spring, the Northeast Portland bar will turn its attention to the big screen.

The inaugural International Women’s Sports Film Festival will be held at the Judy Kafoury Center for Youth Arts in downtown Portland on May 1–3. The festival will be dedicated entirely to films about women and nonbinary athletes.

The film festival has four women behind it.

KATU recently ran a story, in conjunction with their coverage around the Oscars, that featured artist Nick Stokes and the massive, magnificent mural he created that celebrates 100 years of Oregon Filmmaking. The mural contains more than 100 “easter eggs” that call out specific titles to many #OregonMade films.

Watch the video here: