LAUREL SWENSON // VANCOUVER, BC
McMenamins and Pasta Veloce invite you to partake in a reception for
the Festival filmmakers following tonight's shorts program, with music
by Asa Metric.
shorts I: jump cuts
Sponsored by Teleport Internet Services
the candle
JOEL BAIRD & RICK PHILLIPS // MISSOULA, MT
A thoughtful mantra for the night preacher. MG (2 1/2 min)
cheezcake
ROSE ROBERTSON // VANCOUVER, BC
Three bikini-clad dancers deliver a punch-line in this well executed gag. MG (2 min)
da da dogs
TODD KORGAN // PORTLAND, OR
Volkswagen meets Tarantino in this witty commercial parody from the director of previous Festival favorites, HAVE YOU SEEN PATSY WAYNE? and JOHNNY BAGPIPES. (1 min) *JUDGE'S AWARD
flight fm2
MATT BLAUER // PORTLAND, OR
Phobia and possibility are brought to life through a Nikon and a Murphy bed in this serene short. Not a second too long. MG (1 min)
hitchcock vs. the martian
MARK O'CONNELL // SEATTLE, WA
Hitchcock and the Martian join the debating team as hilarity ensues. This video frenzy may be one of those candidates to give you a splitting head?but it's well worth it. MG (3 min)
insurrection
RENA DEL PIEVE GOBBI // VANCOUVER, BC
This took me back to the films I remember seeing in 1962. It's heartening to see artists finding new things to say with hand painted film. MG (4 min)
the insurmountable debt of john g. ford
CHRIS CUMMINS // BOZEMAN, MT
Debt ridden and arrogant, a pizza delivery driver in a small mountain town meets his match in a tenacious bill collector. (13 min)
interior latex
MATT WILKINS // SEATTLE, WA
Jack is taken to meet his girlfriend's father, setting him amidst the complicated infrastructure of a father/daughter relationship. Superb acting highlights an evocative short story. MG (13 min) *JUDGE'S AWARD
lights, camera, action figures
DAVID JAHNS // PORTLAND, OR
THE PHANTOM MENACE gets its just rewards. MG (4 min)
pamplemousse
TINK // VANCOUVER, BC
A bossa nova-esque meditation on grapefruit, an Inuit woman and a hiker face down in the frozen northern tundra. (4 min)
sophie
KAREN L. DUTHIE // VANCOUVER, BC
The story of a young woman's emotional and literal search for lost treasures. (8 1/2 min)
space #1
PAULA KINSEL // PORTLAND, OR
A sublime film poem about the meaning of outer space with carefully crafted found visuals. MG (4 min)
stealing kisses
HOWIE WOO // COQUITLAM, BC
A mysterious 40's style drama that follows the passion (and price) of stolen moments. (4 min)
sympathique
PINK MARTINI // PORTLAND, OR
A punchy, post-modern language lesson delivered a la mode by Pink Martini. (3 min)
the taming of the shrink
KEN BOYNTON // SEATTLE, WA
Four troubled Elizabethans-who somehow find themselves in the high-rise office of a 16th century therapist-delve in to our collective angst. In iambic pentameter, of course. (10 min)
un albor (dawn)
YING TAN // EUGENE, OR
This stunning computer animation based on a poem by Gustava Adolfo Becquer, begins at the magnificent break of dawn and ends with the "dark night" of the human soul. (3 1/2 min)
filmmaker & exhibitor social
In the spirit of broadening audiences and venues for independent film, we invite the Festival filmmakers and presenters from across the region and beyond to meet and share coffee, ideas, inspirations, and questions.
If you are a media arts presenter interested in attending this event,
please contact the festival coordinator: 503.221.1156
shorts II: urban compulsions
Sponsored by Teleport Internet Services
bloodlines
JENNIFER JAKO & REBECCA GUBERMAN // PORTLAND, OR
Jennifer Jako contracted HIV when she was eighteen years old. Rebecca Guberman became infected at age seventeen. Inspired to document the lives of HIV+ young people like themselves, BLOODLINES is an honest portrayal of HIV+ youth living powerfully with their diagnosis. (22 min)
box #
ANI KALEMKERIAN // VANCOUVER, BC
A candid look at people finding their way out of various degrees of desperation that is at once sweet, sad and funny. MG (15 min)
bunnyheads
JIM BLASHFIELD // PORTLAND, OR
Only the talent and vision of Jim Blashfield could create such a surreal and tacit world. It's like being inside the machinery of a beehive. And I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm an animator who draws bunnies. MG (5 min) *JUDGE'S AWARD
fiftieth wedding anniversary
JOEL BAIRD & RICK PHILLIPS // MISSOULA, MT
A droll reflection on couplehood. MG (2 min)
how to be a recluse
LAUREL SWENSON // VANCOUVER, BC
An intriguing little film that has fun with its self-acknowledged contradictions. A do-it-yourself guide to gaining control and independence in the face of difficult human relations. MG (4 1/ 2 min)
i am rubber
KENNA FAIR // GALIANO ISLAND, BC
Who would have thought that condemnation could be so perfectly illustrated by scratching on film? MG (4 min)
inflatable underwear and the 8 drunken immortals
JEANNETTE AILEE // OLYMPIA, WA
Exuberant animation paying erotic tribute to an unlikely body part-the Adam's Apple. MG (8 1/2 min)
lesbianage IV
SARAH MARCUS & KRISTEN KUPPENBENDER // PORTLAND, OR
This spoof of espionage thrillers was as much fun to watch as it obviously was to make. MG (3 min)
portrait of lloyd
LISA SHANNON // PORTLAND, OR
A beautifully shot black and white portrait of an lonely soul. (5 min)
primate tang
GIDEON D. BREAZEAL // OAK HARBOR, WA
A quirky tug-of-war to breed the ultimate primate. Watch for the surprise ending. MG (3 1/2 min)
rapt and happy
EMILY VEY DUKE & COOPER BATTERSBY // VANCOUVER, BC
Witty and reverberating, RAPT AND HAPPY bares the muscles of an intimate relationship. (17 min)
steaming weenies
TREVOR FIFE // PORTLAND, OR
This goofily strange Lynchian comedy, featuring a face-off with MEATBALLS, will leave you with a serious Oscar Mayer complex. MG (6 1/2 min) *JUDGE'S AWARD
vixen
KYATH BATTIE // VANCOUVER, BC
The female body is so often branded with metaphors of consumption. VIXEN
hits this tendency right between the knees. MG (5 min)
Ties That Bind: The NW Documentary
bingo! the documentary
JOHN JEFFCOAT // SEATTLE, WA
In 1995, John Jeffcoat stumbled upon his first large-scale Bingo operation. With visions of smoky gymnasiums and players whose concentration levels rival yoga masters, Jeffcoat began to research the history of the game in the U.S and abroad. A humorous look at all that is Bingo, including gambling, loneliness and the art of lady luck, BINGO! THE DOCUMENTARY reveals an unexpected subculture thriving below the gloss of American kitsch. "Jeffcoat and Williams have birthed a monstrous exploration of the most widely sanctioned form of gambling in the known world. It promises to be one of the most assured features to emerge from a Seattle filmmaker in recent memory."
-THE STRANGER "A surprisingly funny and touching documentary about a much maligned American pastime." MG (63 min)
PRECEDED BY:
the manchild project
TED JACKSON // PORTLAND, OR
A subversive concept band created by artist/musician Justin Calloway, "The Manchild Project," will, Calloway hopes, garner nationwide radio play and promote critical thinking among American youth while at the same time making a large sum of money for himself. This documentary proves the adage "truth is stranger than fiction." (12 min)
digital mediamakers' roundtable
Sponsored by the Computer Stores Northwest
In the ever-changing world of high technology, software can move faster
than the information, resources, and support needed by the artists who
use it. Affordable digital cameras and software programs such as Final
Cut Pro are making high quality do-it-yourself shooting and editing more
accessible and those who use it more isolated. The Festival invites artists
working with, or interested in, digital mediums, to come share your insights,
questions, short-cuts, frustrations, delights, knowledge and naivete with
others in this complex digital boat. We promise to have a panel of those
who indeed know what they are doing-including John Jeffcoat, of BINGO!
THE DOCUMENTARY-as well a technical representative who knows what the computer
thinks you are doing and plenty of coffee.
Ties That Bind: The NW Documentary
my american grandmother
AYSHA GHAZOUL // PORTLAND, OR
A moving personal testament, MY AMERICAN GRANDMOTHER reveals the layers of cultural and political discord between an Iraqi filmmaker and her Texan grandmother, and the emotional challenge of making a film about one's family. Archival footage weaves through the piece as ghostly as the feeling of memories it evokes. (48 min)
PRECEDED BY:
up and down she goes
ELIZABETH MACKENZIE // VANCOUVER, BC
This short meditation on loss and life in parenthood is the sweetest film of the Festival. MG (2 1/2 min)
phonebook
CHRISTINE STEWART // VANCOUVER, BC
A rose is a rose and by any other name would be something different, particularly if Rose is a woman. This insightful unraveling of naming and identity in our culture slips between the pages of the phone book, providing cunning testimony to the motives and repercussions of women's anonymity. (10 min)
a wealthy woman
JAMES WILMARTH // PORTLAND, OR
A woman reminisces about the changes of her life and individual perceptions about what is of value. (6 1/2 min)
7:00 pm
Ties That Bind: The NW Documentary
varmints
DOUG HAWES-DAVIS // MISSOULA, MT
"The SCHINDLER'S LIST of wildlife docmentaries" -THE COLORADOAN. VARMINTS is a darkly humorous and thought-provoking look at the demise of the prairie dog in the American West. Using historical footage, charming "dog" close-ups and interviews with those on all sides of the issue-conservation, eradication, tourism, capitalism, agriculture, and sport killing-"VARMINTS will leave you rooting for the underdog." MG (91 min)
PRECEDED BY:
quest for the noble desert poodle
DAN MONAGHAN // SEATTLE, WA
Part armadillo, poodle, monster and pet, when this litter of experimental hybrids is let loose from a top-secret desert lab they stumble right into urban mythology. (13 min)
oregon arts commission
media arts fellowship award
Each year since 1979, the Oregon Arts Commission has awarded a Media
Arts Fellowship award to an Oregon film or video maker whose work has shown
outstanding accomplishment or promise. The Northwest Film Center is pleased
to be the administrator of the Fellowship. Tonight we congratulate this
year's recipient, Portland filmmaker Chel White, whose animation and live-action
shorts (COTTONMOUTH, TEXAS, PHOTOCOPY CHA CHA, and DIRT) have enriched
the Portland film community, graced many a Northwest Film & Video Festival,
and garnered awards internationally. Chel will screen a few early pieces
and a portion from his new work-in-progress, SOULMATE. free admission
shorts I: jump cuts
(REPEAT)
See Friday, November 5 description.
Sponsored by Teleport Internet Services
SPECIAL SCREENING
an evening with marv newland
Vancouver B.C. animator Marv Newland is one of the region's most celebrated
media artists with a body of award-winning work extending back to his first
international hit BAMBI MEETS GODZILLA (1969). Over the years his studio,
International Rocketship, has produced an astounding array of personal
work as well as prize commercial collaborations with other producers including
Gary Larson and Will Vinton Productions. Tonight Marv will offer a retrospective
that includes such classics as ANIJAM, SING BEAST SING, FUV, BLACK HULA
and PINK KOMMOMMER, share unseen studio rarities and toss in a few surprises
from his personal collection of animated favorites. Co-sponsored by ASIFA
Northwest. A reception follows the screening. (90 min)
gus van sant: behind closed doors
psycho path (1998)
D.J. HAANRAADTS // PORTLAND, OR
Gus Van Sant's decision to remake Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO divided cinema lovers going in and divided them again when it finally came out. So what exactly was Van Sant thinking, daring to ?remake' an acknowledged masterpiece? Portland filmmaker D.J. was on the set, interviewing the director, actors and production team members as they worked on this daring ?experiment' - providing a fascinating glimpse into the creative
PRECEDED BY:
room 319 (1985)
JOHN CAMPBELL, ERIC EDWARDS, MISSY STEWART, GUS VAN SANT // PORTLAND, OR
Before taking on Alfred Hitchcock, Van Sant and friends did a ?remake' of another kind. At the Cannes Film Festival, Wim Wenders invited sixteen attending directors (ranging from Godard, Fassbinder, Herzog and Antonioni to Spielberg) up to his hotel room (666) to respond to a written list of questions about the future of cinema. "The cinema, is it a language about to get lost, an art about to die?" Inspired and amused by the concept, a diverse range of Portland filmmakers (including Penny Allen, Jim Blashfield, Elaine Velasquez, Van Sant and Seattle filmmaker Karl Krogstad) were invited to room 319 at the Heathman Hotel and, leaving each alone with the camera as Wenders did, asked to reflect on the future of the medium. (6 1/2 min)
Revealing Fictions: The NW Feature
good grief
ANDREW DICKSON // PORTLAND, OR
For those who spent a little less time in school than out, who may have dabbled in Dungeons & Dragons or even an unnatural amount of coffee, or who moved through high school a bit left of center, this is your coming-of-age GOONIES. A teen adventure film for the rest of us, Dickson's film provides a sharp look at a group of friends and their wild ride through angst, love and the metaphorical power struggles of a fantasy game. (90 min)
PRECEDED BY:
sincerely, joe p. bear
MATT MCCORMICK // PORTLAND, OR
GOOD GRIEF Director of Photography Matt McCormick brings us a dejected Polar Bear sure to break your heart. (4 min)
(REPEAT)
See Friday, November 6 description.
Sponsored by Teleport Internet Services
AT MCMENAMINS MISSION THEATER AND PUB, NW 17TH & GLISAN
Ties That Bind: The NW Documentary
dutch harbor: where the sea breaks its back
LAURA MOYA & BRADEN KING //
UNALASKA, ALASKA
It was two months before Laura Moya and Braden King unpacked their equipment after reaching Dutch Harbor, a fishing port set on the island of Unalaska, between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Instead, they did a lot of hitchhiking and hanging at the local bar to get to know the townspeople without the trust-altering presence of their 16mm camera. This desolate place, remains, even to many Alaskans, a mythological frontier town untouched by the changing values of the lower 48.
Shot in black and white, the starkness with which DUTCH HARBOR captures the strange presence of this place and its people is truly mesmerizing. Add to this a soundtrack recorded live by The Boxhead Ensemble, an ever-evolving assembly of Chicago-based musicians including members of Gastro Del Sol, Tortoise, Pinetop Seven and Will Oldham, who performed live to the film on a 16-city European tour before recording the final soundtrack. "It's half meditative tone poem about a place of wild fearsome beauty, half matter-of-fact document about the lives and feelings of the people who inhabit this wintry American outpost." -THE NEW YORK PRESS
Tonight we are proud to screen DUTCH HARBOR with live accompaniment by members of The Boxhead Ensemble, including Jessica Billey, Mick Turner, Michael Krassner, Ryan Hembrey, Steve Durake and Gerald Dowd.
PRECEDED BY:
FLOW
SERGE GREGORY // SEATTLE, WA
Reminiscent of urban montages of the late silent era, FLOW weaves, and ultimately deconstructs, a visceral city. (6 min)
reception
Sponsored by Music Millennium and McMenamins Theater Pubs & Breweries.
Please join us after the screening for a reception honoring our festival feature filmmakers, music by The Boxhead Ensemble.
Purchase advanced tickets at Music Millenium: NW 23rd Ave or East Burnside St.
SPECIAL ADMISSION: $10
21 AND OVER.
gus van sant: behind closed doors
(REPEAT)
See Wednesday, November 10 description.
Ties That Bind: The NW Documentary
kicking
BRIAN LINDSTROM // PORTLAND, OR
An unsentimental look at addiction, KICKING follows two heroin addicts and a crack-cocaine addict through the week-long detoxification process at Hooper Memorial Detox Center in Portland, where every morning more addicts wait in the lobby than there is room for. A necessary counterpoint to the "NYPD Blue" junkie desperate to maintain their addiction, KICKING shows us instead three addicts willing to live through unimaginable hell to break their habit, proving just how deep the grip of drugs can run. "Lindstrom and cameraman Matt Blauer establish a great deal of trust with their subjects and the emotional impact of this film shows the weight and rarity of that relationship." MG (56 min)
PRECEDED BY:
highrocks
JASON BLALOCK // PORTLAND, OR
If you lived near the Clackamas River, doubtless you would not be surprised
to see a crew setting up a shot for the Five O'Clock News. The cliffs along
this river's bank turn every summer into a popular gathering place for
locals and non-locals alike, a haven for swimmers, people watchers and
sometimes troublemakers. And wherever there are teenagers having too much
fun in public, the news will surely follow. The truth is that there have
been accidents here. The combination of drugs, beer, high rocks and shallow
water can be lethal. Blalock, however, has crafted a documentary of this
spot and the "regulars" that frolic there that is shocking but never judgmental.
(19 min)
Revealing Fictions: The NW Feature
my fathers angel
DAVOR MARJANOVIC // VANCOUVER, BC
One of the strongest features to come out of the Northwest in some time, MY FATHER'S ANGEL is the troubling story of Ahmed, a Muslim who fled Bosnia for Vancouver because it was the "westest place from Sarajevo." Ahmed prays for an angel to intervene and help his family- a fearful and traumatized wife and angry son. But when a series of chance encounters bring him Djordje, a Serb soccer star, the entire family, and eventually both men's families, are caught in the emotional scars of a nation's ethnic wars. Beautifully made, this is a film full of surprising moments. (86 min)
AT MCMENAMINS MISSION THEATER AND PUB, NW 17TH & GLISAN
Ties That Bind: The NW Documentary
dutch harbor: where the sea breaks its back
(REPEAT)
See Friday, November 12 description. This screening of DUTCH HARBOR will not be accompanied with a muscial performance.
Sponsored by Music Millennium and McMenamins Theater Pubs & Breweries.
NO ADVANCED TICKETS AVAILABLE, 21 AND OVER.
Revealing Fictions: The NW Feature
blink of an eye
VAN FISCHER // SNOHOMISH, WA
Set in East L.A., BLINK OF AN EYE follows a 28 year-old trying to stay
straight after his release from prison. As Tommy moves through the landscape
of his new life: a boarding-house room with the appeal of a jail cell,
a job as the cook at St. Michael's Catholic School, and an angelic teacher
named Sophie, gang-life and the lure of drug money are always lurking at
the perimeter. As Tommy's connections become stronger and his choices narrow,
the intensity of this well-crafted story takes hold with a rawness that
recalls the early films of Spike Lee. (92 min)
An Evening with Miranda July: NEST OF TENS
The Film Center welcomes creative innovator Miranda July: performance artist/filmmaker/local hero, as she screens her newest work, NEST OF TENS, along with choice shorts from the latest BIG MISS MOVIOLA VIDEO CHAINLETTER. (70 mins)