NOV 12 13 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM—CINEMA TROPICAL
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF PABLO ESCOBAR
COLOMBIA 2002
DIRECTOR: MARC DE BEAUFORT Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar Gaviria was killed in 1993 at the height of running a $20 billion worldwide cocaine business. To the US government and many he was a ruthless villain capable not only of killing anyone who crossed him. But to family, friends and associates, he was the heroic Robin Hood of Medellin, building soccer fields, donating heavily to his home town of Envigado, stealing from rich drug-crazed industrial countries. Marc de Beaufort's arresting film unveils Escobar’s background and personality, lucidly exploring the realities of the Latin American drug trade. “A necessary counterpoint to the American media's portrayal of the war on drugs . . .the melodrama of ‘Behind the Music’ to the down-and-dirty reportage of ‘Frontline’”
—THE VILLAGE VOICE. (80 mins.)

NOV 17 WED 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM – SILVER SCREEN CLUB PREVIEW
LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE
US 2003
DIRECTOR: ANTOINE FUQUA No ordinary concert movie, LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE is the record of an amazing evening at Radio City Music Hall in February, 2003, when a host of artists paid tribute to the “Year of the Blues.” Produced by Martin Scorsese as the culmination of his blues film project, the film is punctuated by contemporary interviews and vintage films clips of past blues greats while the performance highlights go on and on. From Angelique Kidjo's African opener "Zélié," to Mavis Staples's gut-wrenching "See That My Grave is Kept Clean," Keb' Mo's cover of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," Natalie Cole’s "Saint Louis Blues," India.Arie’s "Strange Fruit," Macy Gray’s "Hound Dog," Buddy Guy’s riff on "Voodoo Chile, " and then Ruth Brown, Solomon Burke, Bonnie Raitt, the Neville Brothers, Robert Cray and B. B. King, Fuqua offers a great consolation prize in lieu of being there. (106 mins.)

NOV 18 THUR 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE — SUNDANCE CHANNEL SHOWCASE
UNCONSTITUTIONAL:
THE WAR ON OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES
US 2004
DIRECTOR: NONNY DE LA PEñA
Producer Robert Greenwald (OUTFOXED, UNCOVERED) and writer/director De La Peña delve into the outcomes of the USA Patriot Act and other homeland security policies quickly ushered in after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Intended to make America “safe,” the seldom heard of stories of those investigated, harassed, detained and arrested without due process suggest otherwise. For many, the increasing infringement, curtailment and undermining of constitutional rights is a reminder of what America has stood for in the past, and where it seems to be heading in the future. (60 mins.)

WITH
THE FIRST AMENDMENT PROJECT:
FOX VS. FRANKEN
US 2004
DIRECTOR: CHRIS HEGEDUS, NICK DOOB From “You're Fired” (Trump) to “Let's Talk” (Avon) to “Uh Huh” (Pepsi) common English phrases and words are being co-opted by private business. When Fox News sued Al Franken for his “appropriation” of their trademarked phrase “Fair and Balanced,” Franken took the position that not only was that not a trademarkable phrase but that his use was parody protected by the First Amendment. As he succinctly put it, “Parody is protected by law, even if the subject doesn't get it.” FOX VS. FRANKEN explores the corporate business of trademarking common phrases and the issues of Freedom of Speech in relation to trademark interests. (22 mins.)

WITH
THE FIRST AMENDMENT PROJECT:
POETIC LICENSE
US 2004
DIRECTOR: MARIO VAN PEEBLES Mario Van Peebles (BADASSSSS) explores First Amendment implications of State sponsored art, focusing on former New Jersey Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka. In September 2002, Baraka outraged audiences when he performed his poem “Somebody Blew Up America” at a poetry festival in New Jersey. Critics labeled the poem Anti-Semitic and state officials asked for his resignation. Baraka refused to resign. Lacking the authority to force resignation, lawmakers decided to eliminate the post altogether. In March 2004, Baraka filed a lawsuit against New Jersey Governor McGreevey claiming First Amendment violations.
(22 mins.)

NOV 19 20 21 23
FRI 7 PM, SAT 3, 5 & 7 PM, SUN 7 PM WHITSELL
TUE 7 PM GUILD THEATRE
2004 BRITISH ADVERTISING AWARDS
UK, 2004
DIRECTORS: VARIOUS Commercials possess not only the power of suggestion, but also the power to entertain and inform, provoke reflection and action, and, at their best, keep you on the couch. The annual BRITISH AD AWARDS achieves the above by combining essential doses of uniquely British humor, visual creativity and an edge that rarely appears in politically-correct American advertising. Drawn from over 1,000 entries, this year's program showcases award-winning works that don’t just sell, but spark your imagination. (90 mins.)

NOV 21 SUN 2 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
UNFORGIVABLE BLACKNESS:
THE RISE AND FALL OF JACK JOHNSON
US 2004
DIRECTOR: KEN BURNS The first black world-heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson had peerless boxing skills, a singular sense of dignity and an unapologetic manner that incensed and provoked a racist America. In addition to beating his white opponents, Jackson liked white women, lived to party, read books and generally failed to acknowledge the proscribed limits of behavior and place for non-whites in society. During the years (1908–15) he held the title, the boxing establishment searched to find a Great White Hope who might unseat a man who dared to live as an American rather than as a Negro. Ken (CIVIL WAR, JAZZ) Burns’ new film, made for PBS, brings his meticulous research and filmmaking skill to bear on both a legend and an era in American life. Weaving fabulous archival film and photographs with a haunting score by Wynton Marsalis, Burns tells a fascinating, complex story of triumph and tragedy on the long road to justice in American. Cosponsored by Oregon Public Broadcasting. (210 mins., which includes a short intermission between parts I & II)

NOV 26 27 28 29 FRI 7 & 8:45 PM,
SAT 4, 6 & 8 PM, SUN 5 &7 PM, MON 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE
LETTER TO TRUE
US 2004
DIRECTOR: BRUCE WEBER Famed fashion photographer and filmmaker (LET’S GET LOST, BROKEN NOSES, CHOP SUEY) Weber’s greatest love remains his dogs and his new film centers on his family of gorgeous golden retrievers, including True, the youngest of his five. Weber celebrates his animals for what they are—beautiful, affectionate, fun-loving friends full of unconditional love, loyalty and listening ability. Framed by a literal letter written to True, Weber offers not only a paean to his dogs, but a solace-searching conversation on personal speculations and obsessions, from the events and impact of 9/11 to nostalgic meditations on life, music and movies of the ’50s and ’60s, home movies of Dirk Bogarde in Provence, conversations with Elizabeth Taylor, recollections of friendships past, and more. Weber poetically ties these diverse currents together with strikingly beautiful images, glorious recordings and narration by himself, Julie Christie and Marianne Faithfull, to fashion a heartfelt, homemade valentine.”An altogether original film. . .a haunting metaphor for the enduring qualities that represent the best in ourselves and in our fragile, beautiful world.”—VANITY FAIR (78 mins.)

DEC 1 wed 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE– NORTHWEST TRACKING
THE BEST OF ARCHIPELAGO
Local documentary powerhouse Archipelago (Adrienne Leverette, Eric Schopmeyer and Rob Tyler) presents an evening of their most recent work along with Rob Tyler’s new short ELECTRIC CAN OPENER (2004). Exploring the tension between humans‚ awe of nature and our compulsion to manipulate it, THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE FINE (2003) introduces three "bio-collectors"-a carnivorous plant fanatic, a couple with a house full of koi and goldfish and a species tulip enthusiasts—with stunning photography, thought-provoking commentary, and an atmospheric original score. (29 mins.) A THING OF WONDER (2002) is a rich portrait of 83-year-old magician-philosopher Jerry Andrus, reflecting not only his creative genius, but also his highly principled lifestyle and profound involvement with the problems of human existence (43 mins.)

DEC 2 THURS 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
PEPPERS AND NUDES —
THE PHOTOGRAPHER EDWARD WESTON
GERMANY 2004
DIRECTORS: JOACHIM HAUPT, SABINE POLLMEIER Edward Weston's (1886–1958) photographic work has defined both the field of photography and the course of art history. PEPPERS AND NUDES, offers a captivating portrait that follows Weston’s life from a well-established studio in Los Angeles, through his sojourn in Mexico, to twenty years spent in a cabin in an artists’ colony overlooking the Pacific in Carmel. Weston’s lifelong photographic fascination with women transformed over time into the effort to find a purely abstract form in which he approximated the curves of a woman’s body using the unfolding structures of seashells, coastal cliffs and bell peppers. (26 mins.)

WITH
REMEMBERING EDWARD WESTON
US 1992
DIRECTOR: DAVID TURNER Turner’s film focuses on the pivotal years of his career in the 1920s and 1930s, when developed his style, and features interviews with his sons Cole and Brett, photography historian and friend Beaumont Newhall, and Charis Wilson, the subject of many of his nude photographs. (30 mins.) Additional short to be announced. Presented in conjunction with the Portland Art Museum’s current Edward Weston exhibition and First Thursday.

DEC 3 FRI 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE – NORTHWEST TRACKING
ANDREW DICKSON:
SWAN SONG
Andrew Dickson has been part of the Portland film community for almost a decade, creating a body of work that combines astute social commentary with satirical comedy. His character-driven pieces, including the feature GOOD GRIEF (1998), short films AUTOGRAPHSS.COM (2001), HUNTER DAWSON (2002) and NATE PRESTON (2004), and the multimedia PowerPoint performances AN EVENING WITH BRADLEE (2003) and AC DICKSON, EBAY POWER SELLER (2004) have delighted audiences around the country. Tonight he will screen a selection of his films, talk about the process and evolution of his work and, in true Dickson performance fashion, auction off some of his personal treasures as he prepares to leave his adopted home town (temporarily) in search of new adventures. This will be Dickson's last Portland show and we trust a lively send off. (90 mins.)

DEC 3 4 5 6 FRI 7 PM, SAT 4, 6:15 & 8:30 PM,
SUN 5 & 7:30 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
MON 7 PM GUILD THEATRE
BRIGHT LEAVES
US 2003
DIRECTOR: ROSS MCLEWEY Ross McElwee’s first-person meditations (SHERMAN’S MARCH, BACKYARD, TIME INDEFINITE) have practically defined a genre of personal documentary and his new film is a delightful, inspired addition to the collection. McElwee returns to his North Carolina birthplace to research the story of his family’s history in the tobacco industry and why it went up in smoke. Did the unscrupulous Dukes, the first family of tobacco, swindle his relatives out of their rightful share of an empire? Did Gary Cooper really portray a character based on McElwee’s tobacco-baron grandfather in the 1950 Michael Curtiz movie BRIGHT LEAF? Maybe it should have been McElwee, instead of Duke, University? In the process of wrapping his mind around the “what ifs” and maybes, McElwee wittily muses on the tobacco business and lifestyle in the South, and offers a pack of thought-provoking ironies observed on a very personal journey down Tobacco Road. “Reflective, wise, often hilarious . . .leaves you feeling invigorated by the boundless curiosity, humor and high spirits of its creator.”—New York Times. (107 mins.)

DEC 4 SAT 2 PM
GUILD THEATRE — NORTHWEST TRACKING
Something To Make Life Happy:
REFUGEE ELDER TRADITIONAL ARTS PROJECT
US 2004
For more than 20 years, the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) has served as a lighthouse and bridge for the new Oregonians arriving from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, many of them with compelling stories to tell about their homelands then and now. This afternoon the Film Center's Young Filmmakers Program joins IRCO's Arts for New Immigrants Program to premier something to make life happy, a new documentary giving voice to immigrant elders who brought with them traditional arts ranging from Vietnamese silk painting and Russian wood carving to Eritrean foodway practices. The elders were interviewed by Portland area youth, sparking the opportunity for intergenerational connection, the discovery of common bonds, and documentation of the richness of traditional arts in our community while developing media making skills. The IRCO Refugee Elder Traditional Arts Project was made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Oregon Cultural Trust, Regional Arts and Cultural Council and PGE Community 101. Artists and filmmakers present. FREE ADMISSION

DEC 9 THUR 7:30 PM
GUILD THEATRE — NORTHWEST TRACKING
WATER MARKS: AN EVENING WITH JOANNA PRIESTLEY &
PAUL HARROD
Tonight we welcome Portland animator Joanna Priestley and her husband, director and production designer Paul Harrod, both of whom have new films to premiere. Priestley’s DEW LINE (2004) is a rich, abstract tapestry of botanical and biomorphic forms—her first film utilizing Flash animation—and a striking continuation of her fluid and playful style. Along with her new film she’ll share FIGHTING GRAVITY (2004), a behind the scenes visit to her studio and the making of such award-winning films as UTOPIA PARKWAY (1997) and SURFACE DIVE (2003), and a short interview piece with ace sound designer Lance Limbacker, a long-time creative force on her films. Harrod, known for his stellar segments of the Will Vinton produced THE PJs, presents his first live action film, STAIN (2004), a twisted tale of a night gone wrong and an exploration of attraction, self image and the fear of exposure. Written by Portland writer Dale Base, it features local actors Nicholas Price and Ina Strauss. Harrod will also screen selections of his earlier work, including SLACKER CATS, a pilot demo for a television series directed and designed by Harrod and produced at Vinton. (80 mins.)

DEC 9 10 THUR 7 PM WHITSELL AUDITORUIM
FRI 7 PM GUILD THEATRE
SECRET HONOR
US 1984
DIRECTOR: ROBERT ALTMAN Altman’s funny, offbeat film is a mythical portrayal of former President Richard Nixon's struggle to cope with the death of his political career after Watergate. Based on the one-man stage play of the same name it features a tour-de-force performance by Philip Baker Hall (MAGNOLIA) as the unraveling President, hunkered in his office shortly after his resignation. The fallen leader, in a drunken frenzy of self-justification and resentment, acerbically rails against the betrayals, events and personalities (from Eisenhower, Castro, Khruschchev and Kissinger to the Kennedys) that did him in and generally bemoans his fate. HONOR remains an insightful and interpretative glimpse into the behavior of one of America’s most notorious presidents while offering mindful insights into the nature of power, corruption and the gulf between public image and private reality. “One of the most scathing, lacerating and brilliant movies of the year... rarely have I seen 90 more compelling minutes on the screen. ”—Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN TIMES. (90 mins.)

DEC 10 FRI 8:30 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM — NW TRACKING
TOWLINES:
A NIGHT OF FILM and MUSIC with MATT McCORMICK &
JAMES MERCER
Tonight Portland director Matt McCormick and musician James Mercer premiere their newest collaboration, TOWLINES (2004), an experimental documentary about tugboats. The two first worked together in 2002 when McCormick directed a video for Mercer’s band The Shins and they found a fertile partnership. TOWLINES explores the visual and emotional characteristics of tugboats, those hardworking and invaluable contributors to our world and waterways who never seem to get their due recognition and glory. Borrowing the tone of a children’s book, a bit of history, beautiful cinematography and a bright soundtrack McCormick give the heroic tug a loving salute. In addition to the screening, Mercer will perform a set of acoustic material while McCormick fills the screen with projected film loops and sequences and the evening will be rounded out with the screening of several of McCormick’s earlier works, including GROUNDED (2004). (90 mins.)

DEC 11 12 SAT 7 PM, SUN 2 PM
GUILD THEATRE—CINEMA TROPICAL
LAVOURA ARCAICA
(TO THE LEFT OF THE FATHER)
BRAZIL 2001
DIRECTOR: LUIZ FERNANDO CARVALHO LAVOURA ARCAICA’S visual magnificence has amazed audiences at over 30 major film festivals around the world, garnering over 40 prizes. Based on the novel by Raduan Nassar about a family of Lebanese immigrants in the interior of Brazil, the film is a tragic drama about the eternal struggle between tradition and freedom, tackling grand themes such as love, incest, prostitution, homosexuality, and family relations. The power of suppressed passions and destructive familial conflicts is expressed in the whirlwind camerawork, a rich palette of vivid colors and intense performances. A unique film that offers an unforgettable experience. “Contains some of the most gorgeous imagery you are likely to encounter in any movie this year.” —THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.” (170 ins.)

DEC 12 SUN 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE—NORTHWEST TRACKING
NW FILM CENTER SCHOOL OF FILM PRESENTS:
CERTIFIABLY YOURS
The Film Center treasures its role in nurturing the regional media arts community and tonight are pleased to screen recent projects completed by Certificate students at our own School of Film. Charlotte Lettis Richardson’s documentary RUN LIKE A GIRL traces the evolution of women's distance running and women’s sports over the past 40 years through the personal stories of women runners from three different generations, including Richardson herself. Gregory P. Dorr's narrative short, RESIDENT, targets the existential angst lurking in contemporary life through a working stiff who staples papers during the day and eavesdrops on teen chat lines at night. Melissa Gordon Clark's MONDO GARAGE SALE captures the everyday nuances of the second-hand economy of yard sales. Join us as we celebrate the talent and accomplishments of these emerging filmmakers. Our thanks to the King Family Foundation for its support. (80 mins.)

DEC 15 WED 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE—SILVER SCREEN CLUB PREMIERE
THE SEA INSIDE
SPAIN 2004
DIRECTOR: ALEJANDRO AMENÁBAR Winner of the Grand Jury and Best Actor Prizes at this year’s Venice Film Festival, THE SEA INSIDE is based on Ramon Sampedro’s book “Letters From Hell,” which recounts his 30-year struggle to end his own life with dignity. Set in 1996 along northern Spain’s Galician coast, Sampedro (Javier Bardem)—now in his mid-50s—has been confined to his bed for the last 28 years after being paralyzed from the neck down following a diving accident. Ramon fights a legal battle for the right to die not because he's near death, or even because he's in any physical pain, but because he feels he's survived long enough without being able to trulylive. For him, surrounded by loving and disagreeing family members, life is a right, not an obligation. Two women try to change his life—Julia (Belén Rueda) is a lawyer who supports his cause and works to get his case presented and book published, and Rosa (Lola Dueñas) a neighbor who strives to convince him that life is worth living. Their separate encounters with the charismatic Ramon lead to changes that effect them all. Bardem delivers a masterful performance as the wily, witty quadriplegic in a story that is by turns philosophical, humorous and heart-wrenching, and provides fascinating dimension to the dialogue that has surround Oregon’s pioneering death with dignity legislation. (125 mins.) Admission is free for Silver Screen Club members.

DEC 16 THUR 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE—SUNDANCE CHANNEL SHOWCASE
WILBUR (WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF)
DENMARK 2004
DIRECTOR: LONE SCHERFIG Scherfig’s (ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS) engaging ensemble dramatic-comedy is a bittersweet romance set in contemporary Glasgow. WILBUR tells the story of two wildly different brothers who are transformed when love enters their lives. The elder brother, Harbour, is a congenial second-hand bookstore owner blessed with a perpetually sunny disposition. Unfortunately, he is cursed with a troublesome younger brother, Wilbur, who sees clouds wherever Harbour sees silver linings. After weathering yet another of Wilbur’s botched suicide attempts, Harbour moves his “wee brother” into his flat so he can keep an eye on him. He then tries to find Wilbur a girlfriend, hoping this will cheer him. One prime candidate is Alice, a lovely single mother who lives nearby and frequents the store. But as luck would have it, Harbour falls in love with Alice first. Unfortunately, Wilbur does too. Inevitably, storm clouds gather, but not before Wilbur realizes that the life he wanted to end is about to blossom. (109 mins.) In English.

DEC 17 18 19
FRI 7 PM, SAT 4 & 7 PM, SUN 4 & 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
BURN! (QUEIMADA)
ITALY/FRANCE 1969
DIRECTOR: GILLO PONTECORVO For the follow up to his legendary THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, Pontecorvo enlisted Marlon Brando to star in the politically charged BURN! Brando plays British agent provocateur William Walker, sent to foment a slave uprising on the Caribbean island of Quemada in the 1840s and select a new ruler. An illiterate sugar-cane cutter (Evaristo Márquez) is installed, but a decade later, when the puppet governor realizes that the new masters are no better than the old, Walker must return to the island to suppress a new revolution. Pressured by the Spanish government, who didn’t like the depiction, and nervous distributors, the film was drastically cut and edited and then dumped into distribution without fanfare. Even in its truncated form, NEW YORKER critic Pauline Kael wrote, “An amazing film… No one, with the possible exception of Eisenstein, has ever before attempted a political interpretation of history on this epic scale.” Passionate, political and intoxicatingly beautiful, BURN! Has been restored to its complete, unseen Italian-language version. “One of Brando’s subtlest and most unnerving performances.”—A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES. (132 mins.)