THE CALIFORNIA TRILOGY
SEPT 14 SUN 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM - VISITING ARTIST
US 1999-2003
DIRECTOR: JAMES BENNING Over the last three decades James Benning has been making films about the American landscape that simultaneously explore issues of representation, meaning, geography and ideology. In the process he has created one of the most compelling bodies of work in modernist cinema, minimalist and hyperrealist in atheistic, but richly evocative and reflective of the complexities of the world outside of the frame. His most recent work, “The California Trilogy,” made up of EL VALLEY CENTRO (1999), LOS (2000) and SOGABI (2003), comprise a particularly engrossing portrait. Focusing first on California’s Central Valley and the politics of land and water, then on the urban environment of Los Angeles, and finally on California’s wilderness, Benning combines a formal structure—each film consists of 35 striking shots, each 2-1/2 minutes long—with a keen sense of the inherent conflicts between love for the natural beauty of the land and the love for the products of its exploitation. With, SOGABI (the Shoshone word for earth), which he spent an entire year filming, Benning feels that he has come the closest yet to portraying a true sense of place. Benning, on the faculty of the California Institute of the Arts, is the juror for this year’s 30th Northwest Film & Video Festival, November 7-15.

09/11/01 (SEPTEMBER 11)
SEPT 19 20 21 22 FRI 7 & 9 P.M., SAT 7 & 9 P.M., SUN 5 & 7 P.M., MON 6 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
FRANCE 2002
DIRECTORS: VARIOUS French producers Alain Brigand and Jacques Perrin (WINGED MIGRATION) invited 11 directors, each representing a different nation, to contribute short films to an omnibus compilation exploring different aspects of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The only stipulation was that each film should last for exactly 11 minutes, 9 seconds and 1 frame; a contrivance that the film-makers have responded to in remarkably different ways. The diverse interpretations vary from the literal to the allegorical, and from the neutral to the political, but most compelling are the questions raised, notably those which tackle America’s perceived cultural and economic imperialism and the shared sense of worldwide horror. Included are films by Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran), Claude Lelouch (France), Youssef Chahine (Egypt), Danis Tanovic (Bosnia), Idrissa Quedrago (Burkina Faso), Ken Loach (Britain), Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu (Mexico), Amos Gitai(Israel) Mira Nair (India), Sean Penn (US) and Shohei Imamura (Japan). “A bold attempt to define the terrorist attack as a global event, and a global tragedy. It deserves attention.”—THE GUARDIAN, London.
(135 mins.)

BONHOEFFER
Mon 7:45 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
US 2002
DIRECTOR: MARTIN DOBLEMEIER German theologian and resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), remains one of the most influential religious figures of the modern era. Deeply impressed by the activist black Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, Bonhoeffer began to question his own church’s lack of social and political engagement. While the German Protestant establishment was kowtowing to Hitler, he became one of the most outspoken opponents of Nazism and anti-Semitism. After taking refuge in America, he returned to Germany to join the ill-fated bomb plot against Hitler and in a cruel twist of fate, was executed three weeks before the end of World War II. BONHOEFFER is not just the gripping story of a remarkable man, but also looks closely at the role of the church in the modern world, national loyalty vs. personal conscience, and what being a "peacemaker" really means. "If your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi and nonviolence. But if your enemy has no conscience like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer."—Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.“Mesmerizing”—THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. (90 mins.)

CASA DE LOS BABYS
SEPT 24 WED 7 P.M. SILVER SCREEN PREVIEW
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
US 2003
DIRECTOR: JOHN SAYLES John Sayles’ new film, set to open October 3, is a touching and sometimes comic look at what it means to enter motherhood—complicated by issues of class, politics, and pure emotion. A group of six women (Marcia Gay Harden, Daryl Hannah, Susan Lynch, Lili Taylor and Mary Steenburgen) from the United States, each of whom wants to adopt a baby, are checked into a hotel in an unnamed South American country waiting for the paperwork to go through. As their bureaucratic wait stretches on for weeks, they each get to know each other, sharing their hopes, fears and frustrations. Against their stories, Sayles naturalistically explores every layer of people who are effected by the industry—from the teenage girls who give their babies up for adoption to the nurses that care for them as they're being assigned to new mothers. The local homeless boys sniffing paint in the street clearly don't receive the parenting they deserve, and yet the hotel staff dealing with the wealthy U.S. mothers-to-be sees a different side of the story—these women may not make for competent mothers either. (115 mins.)
Thanks to IFC Films. Admission limited to Silver Screen Club members.

MY FLESH AND BLOOD
SEPT 26 27 FRI 7 P.M., SAT 4:30 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
US 2002
DIRECTOR: JONATHAN KARSH Winner of the Audience Award and Best Director (Documentary) Award at the Sundance Film Festival, MY FLESH AND BLOOD is a riveting, sometimes heartbreaking but incredibly fortifying film that follows the joys and struggles of single mother Susan Tom of Fairfield, California and her 11 adopted special needs children. Once married and the mother of two "homegrown" sons, Susan is both a Mother Teresa and an ordinary woman. Among her children are Faith, severely burned as an infant in a crib fire; Xenia, born without legs; and Anthony, born with a genetic disease that causes his skin to blister with the slightest touch. All are flourishing in surprising ways despite their physical disabilities. It is Joe, who suffers from Bipolar Disorder and Cystic Fibrosis, that is Susan's, and his siblings’, greatest challenge. A realistic, sobering, yet warmly inspiring look at a year in the life of a truly unique household, Karsh examines the way one unconventional family draws strength from their struggles and reveals how parents like Susan are filling the gaps in an increasingly overwhelmed and under-resourced foster care system. "Not only does [Karsh] humanize these extraordinary children, but he shows how they humanize everyone around them.”—Sundance Film Festival. (83 mins.) "The human drama—joy, rage, sorrow, unrealistic hopes—among these siblings blows away just about anything the [Sundance] Festival's make-believe tales can muster.”—ASSOCIATED PRESS (83 mins.)

STUDENT ANIMATION CELEBRATION
SEP 28 SAT 2P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
US 2002
DIRECTOR: JONATHAN KARSH This summer more than 60 Portland area students, grades 4-12, enrolled in the Film Center’s film animation classes offered in conjunction with Saturday Academy. Under the guidance of award-winning teacher Sharon Niemczyk, the students experimented in a variety of techniques and collaborated in their first films, which receive public premiers at this special screening. Join the students, their families and friends for an afternoon of animated surprises.
FREE ADMISSION

STILL LIFE AND OTHER JOURNEYS FROM THE STUDIO
SEPT 27 SAT 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
NORTHWEST TRACKING—VISITING ARTIST
US 2003
DIRECTOR: JACOB PANDER For the last four years Portland filmmaker (THE OPERATION, SECRET BROADCAST) and comic book artist (EXQUISITE CORPSE, TRIPLE-X INTERNATIONAL SECRET BROADCAST) Jacob Pander has been quietly fashioning an intimate portrait of his father Henk Pander, one of the Northwest’s most illustrious painters. Following the familial thread which links early 20th century Netherlands to 21st century America, Pander’s film explores family history, transformation, death and reverence over a cross-cultural and cross-generational experience. Accompanying his father from the edge of desert highways to the solitude of the studio to his homeland in Holland, STILL LIFE follows the development of a magnificent oil painting from inception to completion, along the way creating a portrait of its maker that reveals the sources of a singular artist vision. (80 mins.) Jacob Pander will be on hand to present his film. The Film Center’s Visiting Artist programs are sponsored in part by the Independent Film Channel.

AN EVENING WITH JOANNA PRIESTLEY
OCT 4 SAT 7:30 P.M
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
NORTHWEST TRACKING—VISITING ARTIST
Tonight we welcome Portland animator Joanna Priestley for the world premiere of her new film ANDALUZ (2003), co-directed with Boston animator Karen Aqua. The two, whose award-winning work shares a similar spiritual connection, met by chance in a small village in Andalusia, Spain. They both fell in love with the culture and spent three years collaborating on this beautiful cinematic valentine that combines their bright, playful visual styles with a equally evocative music and sound design created by Lance Limbocker. Along with the new film will be glorious slides from Spain, a sampling of other of Priestley’s collaborative film projects, including SURFACE DIVE (2000), also made with ANDALUZ sound designer Lance Limbocker, THE DANCING BULLRUSHES (1995), co-directed with Steve Subotnick and CANDY JAM (1988), co-directed with Joan Gratz, a selection of Karen Aqua’s films including the wonderful GROUND ZERO/SACRED GROUND (1997), PERPETUAL MOTION (1992) and KAKANIA (1989), and other surprises. (113 mins.)
The Film Center’s Visiting Artist programs are sponsored in part by the Independent Film Channel.

The Northwest Film Center’s Young filmmakers program and oregon folklife program Present: NUESTRA VISION, NUESTRO FUTURO: THE OREGON LATINO YOUTH VIDEO PROJECT
oct 8 wed 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
US 1999-2002
Community leaders, educators and librarians around the state, from Susan Castillo to Serena Cruz, are hailing the completion of NUESTRO VISION, NUESTRO FUTURO, five video shorts which depict the challenges and rewards of growing up as a Latino in today’s Oregon. The works were created throughThe Oregon Latino Youth Video Project, a collaboration between the Film Center’s Young Filmmakers Program and The Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement. With community and foundation support, the project brought 50 Latino youth from 13 Oregon communities together with professional filmmakers Enie Vaisburd, Brian Lindstrom and Sue Arbuthnot for instruction and mentorship. Tonight we celebrate their documentary and narrative co-creations, each a unique reflection of the cultural values, past and present, which are shaping this next generation: MI GENTE, a look at the many Hispanic traditions of eastern Oregon, created in cooperation with Treasure Valley Community College; MY CULTURE, MY PEOPLE, MY PRIDE, the stories of Latino mothers, fathers and grandparents raising families in Central Oregon, created in cooperation with Central Oregon Community College; TONALE: OUR DEEPER SELVES, a challenge to the social and cultural assumptions that Latino culture places on Latinas, created in cooperation with the Eastwind Center, A LONG WAY TO GO, the story of a young Latino man who awakens to the importance of his Hispanic heritage, created in cooperation with Central Oregon Community College; and LA DECISION, the story of a young couple faced with the immensity of adult responsibilities, created in cooperation with Portland State University and the Listos Alternative Learning Center. Our thanks to the Oregon Arts Commission, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Henry Lea Hillman, Jr. Foundation, Inc., Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for making this project possible. Free admission. (70 mins.)
Co-presented with the Oregon Folklife Program of the Oregon Historical Society and it’s exhibition, OUR WAYS: HISTORY AND CULTURE OF MEXICANS IN OREGON, opening october 4, 2003 at OHS.

ROLL ON COLUMBIA
OCT 10 FRI 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE NORTHWEST TRACKING - VISITING ARTIST
US 2000
DIRECTOR: MICHAEL MAJICK AND DENISE MATTHEWS In the spring of 1941, on the cusp of the great depression, a 28-year-old, unemployed Dust Bowl balladeer, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, took a one-month job with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The BPA decided it needed a folksinger to help promote the benefits of building dams on the Columbia River to produce cheap power. Guthrie, with a wife and three children, needed the job and more than delivered. He wrote 26 songs in 30 days, among them classics like “Roll on Columbia,” “Pastures of Plenty” and “Jackhammer Blues.” Majdic and Matthews captivating piece of regional history documents the most unusual convergence of a left-wing poet and a mammoth Federal Government project, drawing on the reminiscences of son Arlo Guthrie, daughter Nora Guthrie, Pete Seeger and many others on hand at the time. (60 mins.). Co-presented with the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission which is presenting a three-day Woody Guthrie Festvial focused on his time in the Pacific Northwest. For a schedule of otther events: www.ochcom.org. The Film Center’s Visiting Artist programs are sponsored in part by the Independent Film Channel.

WESTENDER
OCT 11 SAT 7 P.M
GUILD THEATRE
NORTHWEST TRACKING—VISITING ARTIST
US 2003
DIRECTOR: BROCK MORSE “Asbrey, once a famed and heroic knight under the lordship of the King, has fallen, and fallen hard. Trying to drown the pain of a terrible tragedy from his past, he spends his days anonymously among a clan of gypsies and his nights drinking and playing games if chance. One morning he awakes to discover that he has gambled away his own valuable possession, a ring of great personal signifance. In desperation, he sets out to recover his treasure from the men he lost it to—a treacherous band of slavers. So begins WESTENDER, a saga that stretches from the wilderness on the fringes of the Kingdom, across the mountains aand into the desert wasteland. It is there that Asbrey discovers that the slavers are not the greatest onstacle he must overcome and that his ring is not the only thing of value he will regain. Matching the scope of BRAVEHEART and THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS, director Morse has achieved a stunning look for WESTENDER, on a fraction of the budget one needs for a fantasy film. Shooting in and around his hometown of Corvallis, Oregon, he has created a lushly textured otherworld to serve as the backdrop for his epic tale of one man’s quest for the ultimate redemption.”—SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. (105 mins.)
The Film Center’s Visiting Artist programs are sponsored in part by the Independent Film Channel.

HISTORY ON THE LINE PREMIER
OCT 11 SAT 7P.M.
SEI AUDITORIUM, 3920 N. Kirby.
This spring 12 North/Northeast Portland high school students planned, produced and edited a documentary utilizing the TriMet Interstate Light Rail Project as a catalyst for examining neighborhood histories and personal stories located along the line. Including interviews with artists, local residents and business owners, as well as documentation of project construction, HISTORY ON THE LINE takes on the critical matter of observing enormous economic transformation within the context of the personal experience.

AMERICAN WAR PROPAGANDA - A SECRET CINEMA EXPLORED
NOV 1 SAT 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
NORTHWEST TRACKING—VISITING ARTIST
This weekend we welcome American writer (“Land of A Thousand Balconies” ) and film-print collector Jack Sargent from his home in Denmark for several programs drawn from his collection of rare film artifacts. The first program is a retrospective of highlights of American war propaganda films from the World War II period through the Cold War. “This show has renewed relevance today in the current war-like atmosphere we find ourselves in, and not just in a theoretical sense: OUR JOB IN GERMANY(1945) and YOUR JOB IN JAPAN (1946), by the Frank Capra film unit, are aimed at American troops occupying just-defeated Germany and Japan—troops facing the same challenges as American soldiers today face in Baghdad. Classic examples of ‘50s & ’60s Cold War paranoia—SURVIVAL UNDER ATOMIC ATTACK and the classic cult gem, RED NIGHTMARE, narrated by Jack Webb—are also included along with other little-seen material. Sobering and thought provoking, but also very entertaining.”—Jack Sargent. (90 mins.)

WHIPPED & ABUSED
NOV 1 2 sat 9 P.M., Sun 8 P.M
GUILD THEATRE
NORTHWEST TRACKING—VISITING ARTIST
A SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN EXPLOITATION CINEMA
“What is exploitation? This informative (and of course, entertaining) introduction to the history of American exploitation cinema includes a mix of classic trailers, clips, out-takes, short subjects, pitch-films, pseudo-documentary newsreels and home-movie erotica. From the silent era up to the mid-‘70s, a range of exploitation sub-genres dominated during certain periods: illicit nudist and “stag” films from the Teens and Twenties; exotic travelogues popular during the Thirties that played on the popular assumption that strange foreign peoples indulged in cold-blooded barbarities; mildly erotic mail-order films of the ‘40s and ‘50s that were for “home use only;” sexy late-‘60’s amateur filmmaking and the riches of commercial B-movies; and finally, the late ‘70s women-in-prison film. An “Adults Only” evening.”—Jack Sargent. (90 mins.)

JACK SARGENT PRESENTS: THE DANISH DOGME MOVEMENT
NOV 2 SUN 4 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE - FREE
In addition to his interest in film and popular culture, Jack Sargent has written two books on the Danish Dogme movement: including the soon to be published “Dogme Uncut—Lars Von Trier and the Gang That Took On Hollywood. Join Sargent for a lecture and discussion of the work of these influential artists.

JACK SARGENT PRESENTS: CULT OF CAMP
NOV 2 SUN 6 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE - FREE
“This lively examination of some of the more outstanding treasures of Camp cinema takes on timely significance as Camp turns 40 this year—Susan Sontag’s famous essay, ‘Notes On Camp’ having been written in 1963 and published the following year in THE PARTISAN REVIEW. The program showcases various underappreciated film genres, such as the old visual-jukebox films known as ‘soundies’ and ‘scopitones’, and also functions as a tribute to high queens of camp such as Maria Montez and Eartha Kitt. A diverse mix of trailers, television clips, an early piece by San Francisco filmmaker Mike Kuchar and other surprises will captivate, delight and illuminate.”—JS. (80 mins.)