VISITING ARTIST—Portland documentary Oscar nominee (THE FINAL INCH) and Peabody winner (HEAR AND NOW), Irene Taylor Brodsky’s new film tells the gripping story of the rescue of pelican “LA 895”—one of the oiled bird victims of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill—by the Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Louisiana. Neither a story that compounds the horrors we already know about our nation’s worst oil disaster nor a treatise on oil production or consumption, SAVING PELICAN 895 is the tale of a single animal and the compassionate people deployed to save him, showing how the process of saving one life restored a degree of humanity for the rest of us. (40 mins.)

FREE ADMISSION

Director Irene Taylor Brodsky will introduce the film.

Special thanks to HBO Documentary Films, with reception to follow. Co-sponsored by Ecotrust.

Tonight the screen is yours. We throw open the doors of the Whitsell Auditorium and invite you to show your new short work. If you have something you’re proud of and want to share with an adventurous audience, sign up by contacting Thomas Phillipson by April 28 at thomas@nwfilm.org. First come, first served as time allows, with preference given to works under ten minutes.

VISITING ARTIST—“In the languid world of the night shift at a highway diner in the Pacific Northwest, Francine’s small-town life consists of quickies in public restrooms and pouring coffee for truckers and townies. And the inertia isn’t limited to Francine; it extends to the diner owner, a short-order cook, a Serbian waitress, and Francine’s roommate. What they want is out of reach—or is it that they’ve lost track of wanting anything at all? When Oliver, a banker turned big-rig driver, becomes a diner regular, he sparks hope in Francine, introducing the possibility for change.”—Sundance Film Festival. “A reverse angle for a road movie, focusing not on the people passing through but on those who stay behind.”—Variety. (93 mins.)

Director Megan Griffiths will introduce the film.

VISITING ARTIST—Former Film Center lead faculty member and now Pacific University assistant professor Enie Vaisburd has helped many Portland filmmakers find their voices as artists. Tonight, she’ll share her own films and talk about the work that has inspired her. Included in the program are her new film, WALK (2011), an experimental documentary exploring themes of fear and wonder through the eyes of children, the Hebrew language, and ancient Jewish texts; AGUA (2004), which layers footage of the sea with text from escape legend Harry Houdini to take a look at our most precious resource and its ability to both preserve and endanger life; and UNWINDING THE THREAD (1996), which interlaces transitory images from a journey by train through the lush Brazilian countryside and telephone conversations between a mother and daughter. (90 mins.)

VISITING ARTIST—“There is a place where the skies are wide and the forests are thick and strange. You can lose yourself forever in these woods. Here live troubled truckers and old women with strange powers. You may even make a furry friend. Just be sure to stay quiet. Spend some time with a woman from Oregon who is lost on the road and running away from her past. Now she has a chance to experience everything the Northwest has to offer, whether she likes it or not. If you know Calvin Lee Reeder’s short films LITTLE FARM and RAMBLER, you know you are in for some thick atmosphere in THE OREGONIAN. Reeder is a king of ambiance, using color and sound to creep you out as much as the sinister characters do. The moody, tense vibes will make you laugh, too. Come in, sit down, and get lost.”—Sundance Film Festival, Park City at Midnight Program. (81 mins.)

Director Calvin Lee Reeder and actress Lindsay Pulsipher (True Blood) will introduce the film.

VISITING ARTIST—Those who saw HOW TO DIE IN OREGON at PIFF 34 will find further evidence in this film of Richardson’s gift for gaining the trust of his subjects to tell their story. One of the great Oregon success stories, Rex Clemens built a lumber empire in the small town of Philomath. For decades, Clemens’ philanthropy helped the town in myriad ways. His foundation famously offered to pay the college tuition of every Philomath High School graduate, an act that provided opportunities for thousands of students. But with the decline of the lumber industry and an influx of new residents without sentimental ties to the business and values of past, the current generation of Clemens Foundation board members delivered an ultimatum to the school board: fire the Chicago-native superintendent whose “politically correct” ideals compromise the traditionalist values of the board, or they would cease the tuition grant program. Richardson, a Philomath native, draws out all sides of the bruising conflict with an even hand, via remarkably trusting and candid interviews. (72 mins.)

Director Peter Richardson will introduce the film.

View a recent NW Film Center interview with Peter Richardson as he talks about CLEARCUT and his recent Sundance award-winning film HOW TO DIE IN OREGON.

VISITING ARTISTS—Each year following the Northwest Film & Video Festival, the Film Center assembles a collection of short films—representative of the depth of talent in the Northwest—and sends it out on tour across the region and beyond, not only to find new eyes for these outstanding works, but also to inspire new work from filmmakers and potential filmmakers in communities large and small. This collection from NW Fest 37 includes SAVAGE, by Lisa Jackson; INTO DARKNESS, by John Waller; MUMBLES, by Rick Raxlen; ROBIER TALKS ABOUT LIFE PART 28, by Jim Lowry; SHUT UP AND RIDE, by Michael Ward; THE THOMAS BEALE CIPHER, by Andrew S. Allen; MY VOYAGE TO EGYPT, by Ian Berry; CROSSINGS, by Brian Libby; DEAR PETER, by Orland Nutt; and THE TRUE BELIEVERS, by Nathaniel Bennett. (85 mins.)

Be sure to visit the Portland Art Museum’s Contemporary Northwest Art Awards exhibition, on view through September 11.

VISITING ARTIST—“Featuring a tour-de-force performance from actress Frances Hearn, MARROW is an intense psychological drama about ordinary horror. Writer/director Matt Wilkins’ wrenching drama dives into the deepest, most secret places in the life of a family with a haunting exploration of mortality and regeneration. Disturbed by the noises of something in the walls of her house, a mother (Hearn) struggles to regain balance in her life after the traumatic death of her father (Todd Jefferson Moore). It is her conflict with her son (Wiley Wilkins), however, that reveals the deeper wounds festering in the family dynamic as he fails to gain control over his adolescent body and mind. The struggle to restore the tumbledown home inherited from her father serves as the backdrop for the ensuing guerilla war with both her son and her own memory, which ultimately leads to a redemption as unique as it is hard-won.”—Cinequest. (92 mins.)

Director Matt Wilkins will introduce the film.