As we gear up for another season, it's worth looking back at fall 2011 to reflect on the programming and to make a few quick notes on our transition as a collective. This was our first season without co-founders Autumn Campbell and Jeremy Rossen in Portland to guide us (me, Michael McManus, and Heather Lane), to make sure no detail was overlooked, and to, well, tell us what to do. They were accessible, but also in the midst of their own transitions after running the organization for over eight years. Despite a few stresses--some big, some queasily immediate, and others a bit more fundamental--we made it through alive: surpassing our Kickstarter goal (thanks to everyone), last minute technical problem solving (thank you Mission Control), or understanding how to balance our needs and wants for the organization while maintaining the mission (thank you George Thorn). The future is still a knot of fear and excitement, but we enter into spring with a stronger sense of who we are as a collective. A little optimism feels good right now. 

But to return to last season's programming. A question we often get asked from friend's is how we find out about work. A lot of what Cinema Project presents doesn't exist online or be rented from the local video store, we have to seek it out, go out to watch it. A good source of non-fiction can usually be discovered at the annual Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, an intense week long rampage of movies and discussions, which thanks to a Recognition grant from the Oregon Arts Commission, I was able to attend last June. The outcome was immediate--Lillian Schwartz films need to come to Portland, and so they did last November. I'm simultaneously puffing my chest and blushing because apparently people are still talking about it. Heather Lane attended last year's Stan Brakhage Symposium in Colorado, out  of which came our last two inspired programs for fall, two incredibly meditative and I might say haunting (in the sense that they stay and resonate with you) works: Sharon Lockhart's Double Tide and James Benning's 13 Lakes. Our first time collaboration with the American Institute of Architects Portland for their Architecture & Design Festival last October, formed out of a short research trip I made over the summer to Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley. There I spent a day watching Ant Farm videos and another day checking out architecture inspired film and video and discussing curation with Steve Seid. A quick dream of a trip made possible by a Regional Arts & Culture Council Professional Development grant. Support like that is both humbling and necessary. 

With all this said, we'll be announcing our spring 2012 season in mid-February, so look out for our new print calendar then at your favorite coffee shops, record stores, and galleries, and keep checking back on our website. Ideally, we'll make it to a few festivals or seminars between programs this season so we can keep bringing the goods to our loyal Portland fans.

Sincerely,
Mia