Northwest passage : the birth of Portland’s DIY culture [film event] / directed by Mike Lastra.
24th Reel Music Film Festival, Northwest Film Center.
[http://www.nwfilm.org/screenings/?volissue=351&series=1#1351]
On Thursday, February 15th, Cinema 21 (616 NW 21st Ave., 503.223.4515) will host two showings of the very last installment in this year’s Reel Music Film Festival, Northwest Passage. The film chronicles our local punk/alternative music scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a welcome and overdue subject indeed.
More substantive comment can be found over at Portland Public Art.
Dear Readers,
I am pleased to announce the arrival of Multnomah County Library’s brand new zine collection! (What’s a zine, you ask? The short answer is: an independently produced publication. But there’s lots more to it than that; take a look at a bit of a long answer.)
Zines are on the shelf and ready for you to read and check out at Central, Hollywood, Midland, North Portland, Northwest, and Sellwood-Moreland libraries. The collection includes a myriad of fascinating zines on subjects such as women’s experiences in prison, vegan cooking, political theory, bicycling, fat activism, college radio, and more. The library also has fiction and short story zines, and zines relating personal experiences working as a camp counselor, being a modern mom, living with disease, and many other topics.
So, if you’re here in Portland you should stop by the library and take a look — whether you’ve never heard of zines or are an aficionado, I’m sure you’ll find something to pique your interest.
And, the library’s zine staff will be hosting a grand opening party on January 28, 2007, from 12-3 p.m. in the Periodicals room, on the second floor of Central Library. There will be donuts and hot beverages, so come eat, celebrate, and perhaps do a bit of reading too (and we can all try not to get the zines too sticky!).
Portland Indy Animation Festival 2006 [film event].
[http://www.pdxanimation.com/]
Local independent animated films will show at the Hollywood Theatre this Friday and Saturday (11-12 August) at 7.20 and 9.20 p.m., $5 per show. I can’t say much more than that, since I don’t know a speck about the films, their directors, or the history of this possibly annual festival, but it sure sounds great!
Filed under: events
Portland Zine Symposium 2006 [event].
[http://www.pdxzines.com/]
The sixth annual festival of zines, still free and open to all, runs this weekend, Friday-Sunday, 11-13 August, (mostly) at Smith Hall at Portland State University. The main space will be full of tables filled with great stuff brought to you by zinesters and zine-y organizations; and there will be workshops (Saturday & Sunday), a potluck (Thursday night), an open mic reading (Friday night), a zinester prom (Saturday night), and a program of short films (Sunday afternoon).
If you decide to come, stop by the library’s table and say hello, or come to our workshop on Sunday afternoon!
Brick [film] / Bergman Lustig Productions ; written and directed by Rian Johnson.
Universal City, CA : Focus Features, 2005.
[Multnomah County Library does not have this film, but for you Portlanders, it is currently playing at the Laurelhurst and St. John's Pub Theaters]
Brick is a murder mystery simultaneously in the old school and in the dark underbelly of modern-day America; it’s like film noir goes to high school. Brendan, the protagonist and detective, is sort of like an 11th grade Philip Marlowe — he definitely has a plan of action to get from the dead body to an understanding of what went down and how it fits into everything else, but he plays his cards close to his chest (even if you’re on the other side of the film’s fourth wall), is willing to get the shit kicked out of him any time it’s a shortcut to information, and he is absolutely rock solid about who’s side he is on.
To say that Brick is like a high school noir makes it sound like it must be completely ironic, if only to avoid being ridiculous. But Brick is not ironic, on the whole, and it damned sure isn’t ridiculous. The same story could have been written, directed, designed, or acted differently to make it tongue-in-cheek, but the electricity of the film as it has been made is largely that it is straight up, no chaser.
See Brick while it’s still on the large screen. You will probably need a stiff drink, a massage, or a hot bath afterwards from 90 minutes of plot tension, obscure teenager slang, and unrelenting workaday violence and anguish, but I do not think the movie would be as, well, as big, on the smaller screen. And if nothing else, noir should be big. It hurts more that way.
N.b.: Despite the fact that I recommend you see Brick in a theater, it has been released on dvd:
Brick / by Rian Johnson; Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Lukas Haas; Emilie De Ravin; Focus Features.; Universal Pictures.
Universal City, CA : Focus Features : Distributed by Universal Pictures, 2006.
[thanks, Kristian]
Filed under: events
Scene at the library [event series].
Multnomah County Library.
[http://www.multcolib.org/events/scene.html]
Free theater previews at Portland’s Central Library! Local theater companies will be presenting excerpts of their current productions starting Saturday January 7, with play previews presented every few weeks through April 1. Dates, times, and details are at the library’s website.
Small city big hip hop [film] / Opio Sokoni.
Opio Media LLC, [2005].
Hollywood Theatre.
A documentary about hip hop in the Rose City debuts at our own Hollywood Theatre at 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. this Saturday, August 20 at 7:00 p.m. The film’s press release promises, “Radio talkshow host and Hip Hop enthusiast Opio Sokoni intelligently documents the different elements of Hip Hop in his first independent film. . . [the film] also explores social issues, a generation gap and some of this city’s dirtiest realities.”
Clearly I can’t make any representations about this film, as I have not yet had an opportunity to see it, but the it’s about time for the subject matter and free is a very good price.
The fifteenth annual Cascade festival of African films : in celebration of Black History Month films].
[Portland Community College], 20 January 2005.
[http://15.africanfilmfestival.org/]
Just like it sounds, films from Africa — many that you’ll never have a chance to see otherwise, either on the big screen or the little one. The festival website includes descriptions of each movie, as well as information on lectures and appearances by directors.
Films are showing at several locations (mostly in North and Northeast Portland) February 3 through March 5, and they’re all free.
Filed under: events
African-American Read-In [event].
North Portland Library and the International Reading Association.
At this annual event, local celebrities (I’m not sure what that means!) and community leaders read from works by their favorite African-American writers. Fiction, nonfiction, children’s literature, and works written for adults are all included.
The African-American Read-In is Sunday, February 6, 2005, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. at the North Portland Library, 512 N Killingsworth St., Portland 97217. Admission is free.
Imagining home : stories of Columbia Villa [film] / Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm.
Hollywood Theatre.
[http://www.hollywoodtheatre.org/calendar/imagininghome.html]
The Hollywood Theatre, our local non-profit film foundation & venue, is hosting the world premiere (free admission!!) of this local film. From the webpage:
“The film examines poverty, race and class through the lens of a historic, maligned, and cherished public housing neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, undergoing complete transformation. Are equitable and inclusive affordable housing policies critical to the health and sustainability of our larger communities?”
Showing Thursday, January 13 at 7pm, Saturday, January 15 at 1pm, and Sunday, January 16 at 1pm at The Hollywood Theatre at 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. in Portland. Admission is free.
Skeletal systems [exhibit] / Michael Paulus.
[http://michaelpaulus.com/gallery/character-Skeletons]
Drawings of the skeletons of cartoon characters. You must see to believe the horror and the fascination. If you would like to see them in person, hurry to Stumptown Coffee on Belmont, where 22 of the sketches are on display through the month of December.
