Vancouver filmmaker Phil Borsos (1954-1995), whose shorts SPARTREE, COOPERAGE, and NAILS are also B.C.-made films, had an extraordinary international hit with his first feature film. In 1901, after having served 33 years in San Quentin for stagecoach hold-ups, “Bill Miner was released into the 20th century.” According to legend, Canada’s most romantic outlaw went to see Edwin S. Porter’s THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY and decided at age 60 to embark on a career that would make him Canada’s most notorious train robber. Breathtaking cinematography, accomplished performances, and skillful direction earned this elegiac western a record 13 Canadian Genie (Oscar) Award nominations and awards to Borsos for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. (93 mins.)

ADMISSION: PAY WHAT YOU WILL (tickets available at the door)

VISITING ARTIST—How did a small, unpretentious used bookstore in Portland, Ore. become the world’s largest bookstore, filling 68,000 square feet of floor space with a million titles? At a time when independent booksellers are shrinking to a website or disappearing altogether, Powell’s City of Books is thriving. SHELF LIFE goes inside Powell’s to find customers, book buyers and sellers, writers and readers, and the eccentric, opinionated staff to discover what this exceptional place means to them and why reading is so important. Writers like Chuck Palahniuk and Ursula K. Le Guin weigh in on the joy and necessity of reading and how it makes us who we are. (78 mins.)

Lisa Day will be in attendance.

In celebration of the Film Center’s 40th Anniversary Season, we invited Northwest filmmakers to enter the MAKE IT SHORT film contest. Submissions could be in a variety of genres and formats—narrative, documentary, experimental, animation, 16mm, camera phone—as long as the film’s running time was 40 seconds or less. Join us for a screening of the entries and vote for your favorite! After the screening, prizes will be awarded for Audience and Judge’s Choice winners in youth and adult categories. Entries will be accepted through January 6!

FREE ADMISSION

Come early for a pre-film reception at 6 p.m.

VISITING ARTISTS—For four decades, the Northwest Film Center has attracted talented staff and interns who make this regional media arts resource a vibrant hub of media making in the Northwest. More than just a staff show-and-tell, this evening we present a collection of recent short films by talented filmmakers who just happen to work at the Film Center. The program includes THE LOST VAN GOGH (Jessica Lyness, PR/Marketing Manager), a comedic caper shot from the POV of a painting which perfectly frames the value of art; SOLARISTICS (Miles Sprietsma, Education Program Assistant), a celebration and transformation of incandescence into the celestial through multiple exposure and fogging; JAMIE, KATIE, RYAN, AND RACHEL (Shawn Sullivan; Laurel Degutis, Program Marketing Associate; and Liz Lewis, Education Program Assistant), the story of four women, old friends grown apart, who gather for a night of margaritas; THE SPACE BETWEEN (Gabe Van Lelyveld, Education Intern), in which a young man taking pictures in a park opens the door to an encounter not soon forgotten; THE LAST MARCH (Jonathan Dick, Education Program Assistant), in which a Civil War soldier searches for redemption on the battlefield; REHEARSAL FOR THE WRECK (Kirk Johnson and Jane Ballou, Education Program Assistant), about a young maiden who lived all alone, all alone on the shore; POSITIVE (Liz Lewis, Education Program Assistant), a story of love and abortion; POULTICE (Darrell Brett, Education Intern), in which a young man’s grandmother removes a splinter wedged up his thumbnail and forever changes the way he sees her; and REV (Pam Minty, Education Program Manager), an abstract animation set to vehicular machine sound. (80 mins.)

The filmmakers will be in attendance.

VISITING ARTIST—Portland animator Joanna Priestley’s amazing body of two dozen films made over the last 30 years have deservedly earned her a place in the pantheon of contemporary international animators. Inventively visioned, superbly crafted, and rich with insight into the physical and spiritual dilemmas that confront us all, each new work is infused with its own magic and unexpected pleasures. This evening we welcome Joanna to present a collection of her recent work, including three world premieres, a slideshow, and some surprises. The program includes EYE LINER (2011), a meditation on facial recognition; SPLIT ENDS (2012), which probes perception and cognition through the use of multi-layered patterns inspired by wrapping and wallpaper designs; CHOKING HAZARD (2012), a whirlwind tour of best intentions gone awry in the recycling of plastic; DEAR PLUTO SLIDESHOW (2011), an amusing behind-the-scenes look at the making of DEAR PLUTO (2012), a tribute to everyone’s favorite planetoid from the poem “Pizza” by Taylor Mali; and MISSED ACHES (2009), a witty commentary about proofreading and the indiscriminate use of spellcheck, written and narrated by poet Taylor Mali. (80 mins.)

Joanna Priestley will be in attendance.

VISITING ARTIST—Like many Native American tribes across the US, the Nomlaki of Northern California were confined on military reservations and removed from their land in brutal fashion during the sprint by settlers to grab rich farmland. After a gradual return to their aboriginal lands, the Nomlaki rebuilt their lives, but this would prove to be a brief respite. In 1957, the US government unlawfully terminated the tribe, denying the Nomlaki people their nation’s rights. PASKENTA is a story of identity, struggle, and resilience as the Nomlaki face down Congress to successfully reclaim their history, restore their sovereignty, and revitalize the culture of a displaced tribe, building a powerful vision for the future. Portland filmmaker Harry Dawson tells the story through the words of tribal elder Everett Freeman and other Nomlaki tribe members as they trace the rise, fall, and rise again of their cherished people. (100 mins.)

Harry Dawson will be in attendance.

VISITING ARTIST—Made at the same time as Terrence Malick’s BADLANDS, ROCKADAY (nationally released in 1975 as B-titled STARK RAVING MAD) is based on the infamous Starkweather-Fugate murder spree in 1958. Portland actors Russ Fast and Marcie Severson star as the pair who left a disastrous trail of carnage from Nebraska throughout the Midwest as they desperately tried to cover up one killing with another. Written and co-produced (with Tiger Warren) by Don Gronquist and shot by John Mincey, a large cross-section of the Portland film community worked on the film, which was also George Hood’s first feature. “A compelling, if modest, work ... neither high-brow nor exploitation. Fast has a brooding presence and is genuinely chilling. ... Severson has natural screen charm.”—Variety (88 mins.)

George Hood and Don Gronquist will be in attendance.

ADMISSION: PAY WHAT YOU WILL (tickets available at the door)

VISITING ARTIST—This Spokane-made first feature by Jerry Cook retains the charm and wit that made it a standout among regionally made films in the 1980s. The film depicts J. Jordan, a sort of ’80s Maynard G. Krebs/Rube Goldberg gadget-loving guy who quits his job as a bored and hassled local television news photographer to make a movie about a guy who quits his job to make a movie. Cook describes his film as “the TV dinner of movies ... it didn’t cost a lot, but it’s still pretty good.” Technically assured and full of heart, laugh-out-loud ambience and humor, and off-the-wall hipness, Cook’s debut will warm the hearts of anyone who has made, or dreams of making, a movie. “A clever comedy, well worth seeing.”—Ted Mahar, The Oregonian. “The film’s delightful atmosphere wins you over.”—D.K. Holm, Willamette Week (95 mins.)

Jerry Cook will be in attendance.

ADMISSION: PAY WHAT YOU WILL (tickets available at the door)

VISITING ARTIST—Raw and unflinching, FADED: GIRLS profiles the heartbreak and struggles of four young women battling the allure and grip of binge drinking. Holly skates with the Rose City Rollers, a semi-pro girls’ skating team. She plays hard and parties harder, bouncing from one job to another, including a stint at an X-rated bakery that ended when she broke in after-hours to decorate her friend’s ass—a rather spectacular Barbie doll-themed creation in pink and white icing. Other stories are more serious, such as that of Cassidy, a drama major and honor student, who has vowed to stop drinking after a girlfriend is date-raped at a party. “Heartbreak, disturbing and at times comical.”—Kelly House, The Oregonian (58 mins.)

Janet McIntyre will be in attendance.

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, sign up by contacting Thomas Phillipson by January 27/March 15 at thomas@nwfilm.org. First come, first served as time allows, with preference given to works under ten minutes. Invite your friends—admission is free!

The Open Screening scheduled for February 2 at 7 p.m. has been canceled.