Best of Fest:

The Dam Keeper

Best Narrative Feature:

Sex Ed

Best Documentary Feature:

Tamara W. 

Best Animation:

The Dam Keeper

Best Narrative Short:

Lessons Learned 

Best Documentary Short:

Modify to Fit

Director Award:

B.F.E.

Best Screenplay Award:

Pelham Bay Park by John Burdeaux.
Two girls meet at a deserted baseball field in the Bronx and are drawn into an absurd and possibly menacing match of wills.

Highlights from August 26th, the Red Carpet World Premiere of SEX ED staring Haley Joel Osment and the Portland Premiere of Glena during our Opening Night events.

Music: “Little Glow” by Oh Darling

The cast and director during the Q&A session after the World Premiere of SEX ED.

The cast and director during the Q&A session after the Portland Premiere of Glena.

Check out the festival schedule at http://portlandfilmfestival.com

Muybrudge’s Horse

Did a trotting horse always have a foot on the ground?

Motion pictures has its roots in questions like these that became high dollar bets between tycoons. The mavericks that solved these questions are at the heart of film’ roots.

One of these mavericks was Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), an english immigrant known in the west as a wilderness photographer. His East coast reputation included fraud and murder but thats another story.

In 1878 Eadweard Muybridge experimented with a battery of cameras along side a horse track attaching spread threads to the contacts on each camera’s shutter. As the horse trotted by- successive frames of action were recorded settling a bet.

The Ghost Is The Machine

Muybridge had a sponsor for his work, the California railroad tycoon Leland Stanford. The money man had a side bet to settle. He was head strong in knowing whether or not the horse was air born mid stride.

In the next decade Muybridge made a hoopla over the potential of sequence photographs to show motion. These motion pictures he made like strong man picking up weights, gymnast in motion or woman walking down stairs( naked btw) although an attraction had little narrative. Like the magic lanterns before, the most famous of which is the Zoetrope a name Francis Ford Coppola will adopt in the 70s, the first motion images we’re gimmicks. The real story was the machines themselves.

Later, George Eastman (1854-1932) will invent Kodak Film and in New Jersey Thomas Alba Edison (1847-1931) a camera. Meanwhile in France the Lumiere Brothers, Auguste and Lois (1862-1954, 1864-1948) also invent a camera and begin filming.

EXT. TRACK

LELAND STANFORD, dark thick brows, full beard but well kept. He sucks on a fine cigar. His grey suit is stately and pressed. His eyes are a hard blue. He pulls on a gold chain and fishes for the shiny gold watch. After he checks the time he looks up at the horses in the distance beyond the far white railing as they enter the final stretch. The jockeys use their whips. Lelands hand takes gold match box from his vest and lights his cigar. The stands are nearly empty suggesting mid day, mid week. As he puffs he leans in to his cane then brings it up to examine its solid gold goose head handle. Nearby TWO WELL DRESSED BUSINESS Men Argue as the horses round the bend and head for the finish line.

Man one
It’s impossible I can see it. There is always one down.

MAN 1
No. There are always two touching.

He points out the horses as they finish. A voice comes from behind.

LELAND
Two what?

MAN 2
Hooves.

Leland bellows smoke and grips his cane.

LELAND
I think these horses do fly. I say No hooves down.

MAN 2
Impossible.

LELAND
Wanna bet?

Enter MUYBRIDGE. His battery of cameras. An audience on a sunny day in the stands dressed for the derby: big hats, pastel scarves kerchiefs, julip cocktails, fair skin.

It’s a period piece with flawed heroes, beautiful women, sport, an element of danger, greed, sex, show stopping galas and an ending with a pay off that makes history. An ending that is a beginning: it propels the moving image away from the magic lantern and towards celluloid.

Jason Momoa

Jason Momoa, known for playing Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones, is making his directorial debut with Road to Paloma – a gripping story about a Native American man who travels across the country, seeking revenge for his mother’s death. Don’t miss the screening of Road to Paloma on Monday, September 1st at Mission Theater (5pm and 8pm) and the discussion panel at 1801 NW Northrup St (3:30 pm).

Haley Joel Osment

Haley Joel Osment, known for the Sixth Sense and AI, is staring in a hilarious new indie flick called Sex Ed about a sexually inexperienced teacher who is put in the awkward position of teaching sexual education to teenagers.

Speaking of which…

Abby Elliot

SNL alum, Abby Elliot, plays opposite Osment in Sex Ed and will also be making an appearance at the festival. The world premiere of Sex Ed will be playing at the Crystal ballroom on Tuesday, August 26th (2:30 pm).

Doug Benson

Hysterical comedian, Doug Benson (Last Comic Standing, Super High Me), will be doing a live podcast on Thursday, August 28th at Mission Theater (4:20 pm, really) and premiering his new movie, The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled, on Friday, August 29th at Mission Theater (5:15 pm).

Get your tickets today.

This years Portland Film Festival is attracting some big names, so make sure to get your tickets and be part of the burgeoning PDX movie scene! Who knows? You might just run into someone famous.

– Zara Zhi

View the online schedule http://pdxff.com and get your tickets today.

Click on the image to download your copy.

Do you want a free ticket to a 5×5 movie (any showing before 5pm) at the Portland Film Festival? Of course you do.

To win all you need to do is read the blurb and then post a comment with the title of the movie on our Facebook Page. It’s that easy! We’ll select one name at random out of everyone who gets it right, and send that person a free ticket.

Here’s a hint: All the movies and descriptions are posted at http://portlandfilmfest.com.

Follow us on Facebook and post the correct movie title to win. Your first chance to win will be on 7/30.