Spring 2015

Our 2015 spring season is another reflection on recent travels and adventures in curatorial research. Film and video seen in Germany, Ontario, Chicago, and New York over the past year-and-a-half makes up the bulk of the season and represents new work from contemporary artists as well as historical work from archives around the world. Our little ship will once again be sailing to various venues around town, so please be sure to check individual program listings for screening location details.  Starting out the new year as we usually do at the Northwest Film Center's Portland International Film Festival, we've put together a program called She Never Dreams of Places full of recent works on the subjects of memory, exile, and home. In March, we team up with our friends the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art to host Swedish artist Erik Bünger to present his lecture-performance The Third Man. In this multi-media event, the artist explores the ghost-like and infectious nature of film music and its influence on contemporary popular culture and the cultural psyche. Following in April is another performance with collaborative duo OJOBOCA. Visiting from Berlin, they present Horrorism for Beginners, Beginners for Horrorism, which includes the narrated slideshow Wolkenschatten full of phantasmagoric imagery and excitement. In April and May are two programs that present historical overviews from the same time period but from opposite sides of the planet: early video art in the US and experimental film in Japan, both produced during the 1970s and 80s. And to close the season, we'll be celebrating with a new project called Small Acquisitions! The goal of this project is to establish a small permanent library of work from artists we've hosted in the past. Join us at the VFW Hall in Southeast Portland on June 6th to see our inaugural selections and then stay for libations and good conversation into the night. We would also like to give a special thanks to all of you who donated or became members during our 2014 end-of-year fundraising campaign. In addition to individual contributions, we have been humbled by the continued support we receive from local business sponsors, arts organizations NWFC and PICA, as well as granting organizations Regional Arts & Culture Council and Meyer Memorial Trust. It means a great deal to us when others also believe in our mission and in the vibrant arts community here in Portland. It is our hope that everyone can find a way to access, support, and engage with the arts in a meaningful way this year. See you at the cinema.