SEPT 10 11 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE — CINEMA TROPICAL
A LUCKY DAY (UN DIA DE SUERTE)
ARGENTINA 2002
DIRECTOR: SANDRA GUGLIOTTA In the midst of a city shaken by social unrest, unemployment and political turmoil, 25-year-old Elsa barely makes a living via odd jobs and petty crimes. She hopes to find a decent job but the reality that surrounds her is bleak. The desire for a better life and the memory of a fleeting Italian boyfriend draw her to Rome and later to Sicily to find him, in a trip that is the reverse of the journey that her anarchist grandfather took decades earlier when he left Italy escaping poverty. Shot in Buenos Aires during the riots of 2000, Gugliotta effectively expresses the state of mind of a generation and a country. Calagari Prize winner at the Berlin International Film Festival. (94 mins.)

SEPT 15 WED 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE
SUNDANCE CHANNEL SHOWCASE
PREY FOR ROCK AND ROLL
US 2003
DIRECTOR: ALEX STEYERMARK A grown-up movie about women rockers who've been at it for 20 years and can't quit no matter how bad it gets. No-bullshit Jacki struggles to keep herself and her band together on the fringes of the L.A. music scene despite her wicked wit and sexual misadventures. She fears that getting older will end her career in the image-driven world of rock. Jacki and her bandmates Tracy, Faith, and Sally survive it all: dangerous sex games, a loveable ex-con, internal friction, the record deal that never comes and an industry full of slime balls. Through it all they survive. Written by Lovedog and sung by Gershon with musical performances by Samantha Maloney (Hole), Sara Lee (B-52s), Gina Volpe (Lunachicks) and produced by Stephen Trask (Hedwig & The Angry Inch) and Linda Perry (Pink, 4 Non Blondes). (104 mins.)
SPONSORED BY THE SUNDANCE CHANNEL. ADMISSION IS FREE FOR FILM CENTER AND PORTLAND ART MUSEUM MEMBERS.

SEPT 19 SUN 3 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM — VISITING ARTIST
GEORGE CATLIN: Painter, preservationist & ethnologist
US 2004
DIRECTOR: THOMAS VAUGHAN In the 1830s, George Catlin became the first major artist to travel west of the Mississippi and live with Native Americans. With a pack on his back, in saddle or canoe, he drew and painted incessantly on his own personal mission to preserve some hint of the noble cultures he predicted would soon vanish off the face of the earth. Oregon Historian Laureate Thomas Vaughan’s inventive “episodic docu-drama” (THE CRIMEAN WAR: A CLASH OF EMPIRES, WELLINGTON’S LAST PARADE and ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY: A MONARCH OF THE SEAS), deftly weaves paintings, drawings, photographs and letters to trace both a remarkable personal story and a rich artistic and ethnographic legacy. As Vaughan brings to life Catlin’s journey, he reveals Catlin’s keen understanding of indigenous cultures, and the timely perspective his story offers a fascinating chronicle that contributes a timely perspective on an important chapter in post-Lewis and Clark American history. (180 mins.) Thomas Vaughan will introduce the film along with editor and cinematographer George Hood.
Proceeds from the screening will benefit the Oregon Historical Society Film Archive and the Northwest Film Center.

SEPT 18 SAT 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM — VISITING ARTIST
AN EVENING WITH SAM GREEN
Sam Green has made a career of turning his investigative eye on society's impassioned misfits and idealist. His powerful works have earned him a reputation not only as one of the best documentarians in the country, but as a media activist bringing public attention to events in American history that don’t appear in textbooks. In THE RAINBOW MAN/JOHN 3:16 (1997), the addictive nature of media attention drives an otherwise reasonable man to the brink of insanity. PIE FIGHT '69 (2000) documents an absurd but well planned protest at the 1969 San Francisco Film Festival. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND (2002) tells the story of radicals who announced their intention to overthrow the government in the 1970s—which included the bombing the US Capitol, breaking Timothy Leary out of prison and evading one of the largest manhunts in F.B.I. history. Green and co-director Bill Siegel spent four years uncovering the story, allowing members of the Underground to speak out for the first time about their decision to "bring the war home". Tonight Green will introduce all three films and be on hand for post-film discussion.
Sam Green, on the film faculty at the University of San Francisco, is this year’s Judge for Northwest Film & Video Festival, November 5–14.

SEPT 22 WED 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE—VISITING ARTIST
A DREAM IN HANOI
US 2002
DIRECTOR: TOM WEIDLINGER In the fall of 2000, Portland’s Artist Repertory Theater embarked on the Vietnam-America Theater Exchange, an historic collaboration with the renowned Central Dramatic Theater Company in Hanoi, Vietnam to stage the first performance in that country of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Traveling with ART’s staff and company members to Hanoi, Weidlinger wonderfully captures the weeks of behind-the-scenes struggles with language, culture and ideology—never mind artistic egos—to reveal the myriad rifts and frustrations that threatened to scuttle the production. As this clash of cultures and wills often humorously plays out, a shared dream emerges from the chaos and we witness not only the creation of a unique bilingual, bicultural production, but leaps in personal growth and understanding—the play may have been the thing, but so too are the players. (101 mins.)
September 1 to October 3, ART hosts the Central Dramatic Theater Company for the US premier of their co-produced “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. For ticket information call (503) 241-1278 or www.artistsrep.org. Director Tom Weidlinger and members of both companies will be on hand to introduce the film.

OCT 6 WED 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE
SUNDANCE CHANNEL SHOWCASE
THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES
BRITAIN 2003
DIRECTOR: DANIEL GORDON Of all the "theres" out there, few feel as remote as North Korea. THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES takes us inside the country's borders to tell one of its strangest stories. In 1966, North Korea somehow slipped into World Cup soccer contention with their triumphant victory over Italy. Director Daniel Gordon and his crew were the first Westerners to be allowed to visit the members of the team, who fondly recall the glory they brought to their country—and who deny the rumor that they were imprisoned for losing to Portugal. The Italians, on the other hand, were greeted by fans armed with tomatoes. (80 Mins.) Winner of the Best Documentary Prize at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival.
SPONSORED BY THE SUNDANCE CHANNEL. ADMISSION IS FREE FOR FILM CENTER AND PORTLAND ART MUSEUM MEMBERS.

OCT 7 THU 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITOIRIUM
NW LABOR ARTS FORUM
In conjunction with the Oregon Cultural Hertitage Commission’s Labor Arts Forum, a symposium on October 9 exploring the history and impact of the New Deal’s arts programs in Oregon during the 1930s and ‘40s, the Film Center is pleased to screen several films touching on his important era. For more symposium information: www. ochcom.org

ARTISTS AT WORK:
A FILM ON THE NEW DEAL ARTS PROJECTS
US 1993
DIRECTOR: MARY LANCE
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, nearly 10,000 artists were among those out of work. Lance’s award-winning documentary on New Deal arts projects combines interviews with such artists as Alice Neel, Jacob Lawrence and Lee Krasner with archival footage, photographs and audio recordings to reveal the tremendous impact the Works Progress Administration had in employing artists across the nation and spreading “art to the millions.” (35 mins.)
WITH
RESTORING C.S. PRICE
US 1990
DIRECTORS: STUDENTS AT PENDELTON HIGH SCHOOL Produced by students in Pendleton, Oregon with artist-in-residence Larry Johnson as part of the Northwest Film Center’s Young Filmmakers Program, RESTORING C.S. PRICE examines the life and work of one of Oregon’s most important painters. In addition to celebrating Price’s legacy, the film traces the restoration of two of Price’s WPA murals, painted in the 1930s that hang in the high school. (25 mins.)
WITH
THE BUILDERS OF TIMBERLINE
US 1986
DIRECTOR: JIM SWENSON Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge remains the crown jewel of the WPA legacy in Oregon, an architectural and artistic landmark. Using vintage construction footage and photographs, interviews with craftsmen and project organizers, and present-day views, Swenson weaves a moving portrait of the people and times that built this lasting treasure. (30 mins.)

OCT 8 9 FRI 7 & 9 PM, SAT 7 & 9 PM
GUILD THEATRE—CINEMA TROPICAL
THE PHOTOGRAPHER
CHILE 2002
DIRECTOR: SEBASTIAN ALARCÓN In this romantic comedy set in the stunningly beautiful Chilean port of Valparaíso in 1962, a few days before the beginning of the World Cup, Simón, an ambitious photojournalist, is obsessed with creating a seminal fotonovela. Despite many obstacles, Simón and his friends – a colorful group of characters including a Francophile boarding house owner, a Don Juan, and an Audrey Hepburn look-alike—embark on a search for artistic identity and love. In Simón’s desperate urge to complete his project, he falls prey to the hands of the producers who force him to betray his ideas, his friends, and his love and in the end, himself. Director Alarcón masterfully mixes bright colors and shimmering black-and-white images, brilliantly recreating a radiant, bygone era in this sumptuous visual treat. (96 mins.)

OCT 15 FRI 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM — VISITING ARTIST
NORTHWEST TRACKING
BUFFALO BILL'S DEFUNCT
DIRECTOR: MATT WILKINS A hit at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival, BUFFALO BILL'S DEFUNCT is an intergenerational study of the various messes family members make when they attempt to deconstruct the walls that separate them. Bill, the patriarch of an eastern Washington family, accidentally drives his car through the garage. In an effort to hide the accident, he decides to embark on an epic effort to demolish the building, bringing in his entire extended family to help. From this seed, a tangled web of family stories emerges, painting a touching and funny, but stubbornly unsentimental portrait of a rural northwestern clan. Improvised from a detailed treatment, the film focuses on bringing authentic human behavior to the screen. This the third film to emerge from the innovative Start To Finish program at Seattle's Northwest Film Forum, a project which partners nonprofit organizations with for-profit investors to finance and produce feature films. (84 mins.)

OCT 21 THU 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE—VISITING ARTIST
NORTHWEST TRACKING
THE MOUSTACHE SUITE:
ZAK MARGOLIS AND FRIENDS
Portland filmmaker Zak Margolis is known for his simple, evocative animation style and close collaboration with his musical partners. But over the past three years, he has also emerged an active curator, with the North Portland co-op gallery Pacific Switchboard becoming a breeding ground for a variety of artists experimenting with the relationships between film, music and performance. Tonight's program features new pieces and works-in-progress from artists involved with the space. Charles Salas-Humana, (AKA Panther) produces low-tech video art with which he performs a tape loop-based soundtrack. Animators Tanya Smith and Jeff Gardner animated film HOTSHADES uses Smiths' face and body as a canvas. Steve Doughton’s multiple projector piece OWL VS LEMMING features his live action and found footage images with DJ Sean Byrne’s improvisations. Longtime Margolis collaborator Charlie Campbell’s new untitled film explores his troubled relationship with the world of music and performance. And Margolis himself will present THE MOUSTACHE SUITE, two animated music videos for the band Goldcard, bookending a third film which connects the two stories.

OCT 22 23 FRI 7:30 PM, SAT 7:30 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM —VISITING ARTISTS
THIRD ANGLE AND THE FILM CENTER PRESENT
ANIMATED RHYTHM
Proving that behind every great cartoon stands a brilliant musical score, Portland’s Third Angle opens its season with an evening of music and animation—with a bit of live action comedy added to the mix! Third Angle will perform live accompaniment for two rare Carl (LOONEY TOONS) Stalling gems, THE SPIDER AND THE FLY (1931) and THE VILLAGE SMITHY (1931), using newly reconstructed historic scores for each cartoon. The program also includes a silent comedy by Stan Laurel and the world premiere of BODACIOUS JANE (2004), a new film by Portland animator Phil Guzzo, with a score by Anne Guzzo. The evening will also unveil a remarkable postmodern concoction called “D’eau a Simpsymphony,” which takes the theme song from The Simpsons and transforms it into an epic fantasy, weaving in over a dozen quotations from popular symphonic works. Composer-curator Dr. Anne Guzzo will be in attendance for each evening’s pre-concert talk starting at 6:45pm.
Tonight’s program is sponsored by John Montague, Linda Hutchins and WILLAMETTE WEEK. Special Admission: $20 general, $15 PAM & NWFC members, $10 students. Advance tickets are available at the Film Center office, (503) 221-1156.

OCT 28 THUR 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
AN EVENING WITH DENNIS NYBACK
NW EXPOSÉ:
LOST, FORGOTTEN AND SUPPRESSED FILMS 1931–1967
Tonight we welcome film collector and curator Dennis Nyback for another dive into his archive of cinema rarities, this time a sampling of lost advertising and promotional films from Portland and the Northwest’s past. Among the gems: a 1968 Beer Distributors Conference in which four guys (one from Portland) talk about how changing the shape of the Heidelberg bottle boosted sales; the Pendleton Roundup in the 1930s; PG&E FARMERS (1938), made by Portland Gas & Electric to show the benefits of electrifying farms. WASHINGTON NATURAL RESOURCES (1941) about the use and conservation of the great Northwest; WASHINGTON WINE— in the 1940s!; An early Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) filmed radio broadcast made in Portland in the 1940s; and surprise treasures that offer a peek back into times gone by. (90 mins.)

COMING NOVEMBER 5–14
31ST NORTHWEST FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL