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State's 150th Year Film Fest Finds Oregon Movie Gold
Excerpts and links to news coverage of the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Fest including:
a column by Shawn Levy in The Oregonian, April 25, 2009:
The Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival is a 10-day celebration of the unique contributions of our state to the art and history of the cinema. It encompasses screenings of obscure and popular films and visits from and chats with major film talents from several decades of Oregon history. And it will undertake, at least in brief, an effort to define what makes a film an "Oregon film."
Hosted by Marylhurst University (which is itself marking the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of the Holy Names in Oregon), the festival is like a crash course in the state's movie history.
The festival begins Friday with a bang: an onstage conversation between James Ivory and Gus Van Sant, two Oscar-nominated, Cannes-winning film legends who were partly raised and schooled in Oregon (Ivory in Klamath Falls and at the University of Oregon; Van Sant in Portland and at the Catlin Gabel School).
In the following days, an eye-opening variety of films and programs will unfold. The feature film schedule alone gives an impressive idea of what sort of cinematic variety Oregon has hosted and fostered.
Read the Full Article on OregonLive.com
an article by Aaron Mesh in Willamette Week, April 29, 2009:
Mention Oregon filmmaking, and certain images spring to mind. John Belushi impersonating a zit on the U of O campus. Chunk performing the Truffle Shuffle. River Phoenix riding tandem with Keanu Reeves past Mary’s Club. Kristen Stewart and a vampire, sittin’ in a tree. Mr. Holland, opusing.
Dennis Nyback and Marylhurst University contend that the perception should be expanded to include Leonard vanquished by a bookcase in Howard’s End, Humphrey Bogart consorting with working girls in Marked Woman, Eric Bogosian unsettled by his callers in Talk Radio, and an obscurity from expressionist legend F.W. Murnau called City Girl. Nyback and fellow curator Anne Richardson have compiled 10 days of programming ranging back 79 years to create the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival, a birthday tribute to the state’s movie scene that also serves as an attempt to redefine it.
Read the Full Article on WWeek.com
an article by Cliff Newell in The Lake Oswego Review, April 30, 2009:
Bette Davis with eyes wide open and in full strut.
Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Susan Hayward and rodeos.
A little-seen silent classic by master filmmaker F.W. Murnau.
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in rowboats.
All of these movie wonders and more will be featured in Marylhurst University’s first film festival on May 1 to 10, titled the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Fest.
"I’ve never done anything like this in my life," said Marylhurst’s Jennifer Marron, film festival manager.
Yet somehow everything seemed to line up for this event to happen.
The most important thing was adjunct professor Dennis Nyback deciding to have his vast 7,000-film collection be archived at Marylhurst.
In addition, not only is 2009 the sesquicentennial year for Oregon, it is also the sesquicentennial year for the Sisters of the Holy Names coming to this state and transforming education.
"We started with two days," said Shirley Skidmore, marketing and communications director for Marylhurst. "It grew to 10."
A couple days simply were not enough to contain all of the good things the Marylhurst film fest had to offer, and everything shown will have an Oregon connection.
Read the Full Article on LakeOswegoReview.com
an article by James Bash on his blog NW Reverb, April 30, 2009:
Composer John Paul, who heads the music department at Marylhurst University, has written a score for the silent film "City Girl," which will be shown at the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival. The festival will show 10 films in ten days and John Paul's score will accompany "City Girl" at 7 pm on May 8 at the James Ivory Theater, Villa Maria, on the campus of Marylhurst University. Tickets are $10.
I talked with John Paul a couple of weeks ago about this intriguing project.
How did you get to write music for a silent film?
John Paul: We at Marylhurst are hosting an Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival. The idea for the festival was ten nights of film that was connected to Oregon somehow. For example, the director was born here or the movie was filmed here. The curators and organizers of the festival, Dennis Nyback and Anne Richardson, have an incredible wealth of knowledge and they knew about this silent film called "City Girl," which was shot in 1928 and released in 1930. It was filmed in the wheat country of eastern Oregon near a town called Athena.
Of course, the question with silent film is what are you going to do about the music. When silent films were released there was always live accompaniment. So I advocated for some homegrown music to be played by a local group. That would be in keeping with the thrust of the festival. So, I volunteered to write the music and get local musicians involved. And here we are!
Read the Full Interview on NorthwestReverb.blogspot.com
an article by Shawn Levy in The Oregonian, May 1, 2009:
The idea of a film festival marking Oregon's sesquicentennial simply raises the question, What is an Oregon film?
Is it a film produced and shot in the Beaver State? One made by somebody from here? One with its creative seed here? One set here but made elsewhere? Or is it one with a certain theme or ethos or worldview that feels somehow Oregonian?
Among other concerns, the folks who have mounted the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival, which starts Friday and runs through May 10, seek an answer to this fascinating puzzle.
But they're also adding to it with their impressive programming.
Take tonight's stellar kickoff event: a conversation between two Oscar-nominated, Cannes-winning directors, James Ivory and Gus Van Sant, both of whom were partially raised and educated here.
In all, the festival, which will unfold principally on the campus of Marylhurst University, includes 10 days of films, workshops, lectures, panels and parties. And if it doesn't fully resolve the question it poses, it certainly offers a diverting journey en route to an answer.
Read the Full Article on OregonLive.com
a segment on Think Out Loud on OPB Radio, May 1, 2009:
Last night I went for a walk in my neighborhood and discovered a movie being shot just down the street from my house. A bunch of my neighbors were standing around. They said they'd just seen Brendan Fraser ace his scene. He walked from a car, into a house, and closed the door. Not much action, in my mind, but the neighborhood sure was buzzing about it. It made me start to wonder about the role of film in the Oregon economy. What's the art of filmmaking here? And how is business doing?
According to the curators of the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival (which begins this weekend at Marylhurst University in Lake Oswego), Oregonians have made "significant contributions to the movie industry." While most people think of Free Willy, The Shining, and The Goonies, when they reflect on films made here, the Film Festival website lists many, many more.
Listen to the Podcast on OPB.org
a blog entry by Shawn Levy on OregonLive.com, May 1, 2009:
Last night at the Mission Theater, the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival kicked off with an utterly absorbing conversation between directors Gus Van Sant and James Ivory. The two were raised in part and schooled in part in Oregon, and between them they've won trophies at Cannes and gleaned more than 30 Oscar nominations (with 10 wins), so they're bona fides as both webfoots and important cineastes are unquestioned.
But could they keep a crowd entertained? They aren't the world's greatest talkers, after all. Gus is famously low-key and plain in his speech, and Ivory is famously reserved and exact.
Well, it turns out that, seated in puffy chairs on the Mission stage, they have a lot of wisdom, a trunkload of great anecdotes, a great score of practical filmmaking knowledge and experience, and all the goodwill in the world.
The two great directors held the stage for more than two hours, chatting, comparing experiences, walking through clips of Ivory's storied career (from his first Indian film, "The Householder," to his newest, as yet unreleased film, "The City of Your Final Destination" with Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney, and Charlotte Gainsbourg), taking a few questions, and generally seeming thoughtful, generous and comfortable.
I tweeted the event on my phone, and here are the little bits I broadcast during the evening.
Read the Full Article with Twitter Recap on OregonLive.com
an article by Cliff Newell in The Lake Oswego Review, May 7, 2009:
When Marylhurst University officials asked Dennis Nyback if he could be the curator for the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival, his answer was instantaneous.
"I said, ‘Could I? I’d love to!’" Nyback said.
After all, without Nyback, along with his wife Anne Richardson, there would not be any film festival this week.
It was Nyback who agreed to line up the films for the festival’s 10-day run, and it was Richardson who lined up the big names who agreed to appear at the festival – James Ivory, Gus Van Sant, Mike Rich and Bill Plympton.
"Anne’s vision was getting the guests," Nyback said. "Mine was getting the films."
All of the films in the festival, which concludes on Sunday, have a strong Oregon connection, and the variety is incredible – ranging from silent classics to animation to home movies of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
Read the Full Article on LakeOswegoReview.com
a segment on Northwest Previews on All Classical FM Radio, May 7, 2009:
Andrea Murray interviewed Dr. John Paul, chair of Marylhurst's music department, about his original score for the F.W. Murnau silent film City Girl.
Listen to the Archived Broadcast on AllClassical.org
Click on: Listen Now > On Demand > Northwest Previews - John Burk
Dr. Paul's interview begins approximately 27 minutes into the broadcast.
a review by Lorin Wilkerson on NW Reverb, May 9, 2009:
The James Ivory Theater at Marylhurst University was full to capacity Friday night, May 8, for a special presentation of the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival. The film was famed director F.W. Murnau's 1930 silent opus City Girl, accompanied by a brand-new original score by composer John Paul, head of Marylhurst's music department. Paul directed clarinetist Barbara Heilmair Tanret, violinist Julie Coleman, violist Joël Belgique and cellist Justin Kagan.
The film tells the story of beautiful Kate, a tough, hard-working Chicagoan who works at a bustling lunch counter constantly patronized by a horde of leering, demanding goons, and Lem, a naive Minnesota farm boy who is sent to the city by his father with the all-important task of selling the family's wheat crop for that year. Subsequently they fall in love and get married, much to Lem's family's chagrin, and Kate follows Lem back to the wheatfields of Minnesota (actually filmed in 1928 outside Athena in Eastern Oregon) trying to gain acceptance from Lem's family and adjust to life on the farm.
Murnau originally wanted to call this film 'Our Daily Bread,' so in honor (it would seem) of the director's vision Paul entitled the prelude 'Give Us This Day.' The prelude and score for the title screen reminded one of Copland's rendering of Americana: stately and dignified, the music painted visions of the heartland with broad brushstrokes, harmonically uncluttered and straightforward, complementing rather than competing with Murnau's pastoral cinematography.
Read the Full Review on NorthwestReverb.blogspot.com
an article by Kristi Turnquist in The Oregonian, May 9, 2009:
Oregon may not be Hollywood, but our state has played itself in movies that range all over the cinematic map.
Thursday night, the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival tackled the topic of location in film, with a screening of "The Lusty Men" (1952), which was partially shot during a Pendleton Round-Up. The film festival, which concludes Sunday at Marylhurst University, honors Oregon's contributions to the film industry.
While we're more used to seeing recent films spotlighting Oregon locations, "The Lusty Men" is a tale of circa-1950s rodeo riders. Robert Mitchum plays a champ sidelined by injury who mentors a rodeo newbie, played by Arthur Kennedy. The black-and-white film, directed by Nicholas Ray ("Rebel Without a Cause"), begins with footage of a Pendleton Round-Up parade during the opening credits, and returns to the famous Eastern Oregon rodeo for a climactic sequence.
After the film ended, guest speaker Beth Melnick, a veteran location scout and manager, made the point that filming on location can be a bigger factor in a finished film than audiences realize. "You don't see it on the screen," Melnick said, "but you can feel that influence in the performances."
Read the Full Article on OregonLive.com
an article by Cliff Newell in The West Linn Tidings, May 14, 2009:
Marne Lucas proved to be quite an amazing choice to serve as guest commentator for Marked Woman at the recent Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival at Marylhurst University.
The film was based on the notorious Lucky Luciano prostitution racket in New York City. It took courage for Warners Bros. to tackle this story about powerless women.
It was similar to the courage that Lucas and her friends showed in the non-profit outreach organization Danzine in the late 1990s, helping people who no one else was helping – the sex workers of Portland.
"Danzine did not necessarily try to get them out of the sex industry, and we were not apologists. We just thought they deserved decent health care and a decent place to live."
In a lot of ways, Danzine won, even though it did end in 2003 because it could never get that all-important major foundation grant.
Meanwhile, Lucas pursues a career as an artist that grows by leaps and bounds and from coast to coast, since she now often commutes to Portland from her new home in New York City. Lucas has had an increasing number of gallery showing.
One of her most successful showings came right at Marylhurst University in February with "Warlord Sun King: The Genesis of Eco-Baroque."
Read the Full Article on WestLinnTidings.com
an article by Elisa Williams in The Columbian, May 20, 2009:
Vancouver filmmaker Erin Wilkinson has turned her Pembroke Welsh corgi Trotter into a star, and in the process helped further her own career. Wilkinson created a short film called "Trotter Von Wilkinson," about her dog, for a class at Washington State University Vancouver, where she's a senior. She submitted the film to the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Fest at Marylhurst University in Marylhurst, Ore., and won the Gold Coyote award.
"It was very surreal," said Wilkinson, currently filming a tour documentary in Canada for musician Mr. Plow. "There were a lot of really amazing films that, technically speaking, were a lot better than mine. It was a huge honor."
"Trotter Von Wilkinson" is Wilkinson's homage to Federico Fellini and other notable Italian directors, but with a comedic twist.
"The plot is my dog is an egocentric dictator-type character who is plotting to kill me so he can escape and take over the world," Wilkinson said.
Trotter may not be evil in real life, but he is very smart and manipulative, Wilkinson said.
"He's got a lot of personality."
He's also adorable, which helped steal viewers' hearts, said Bill Crawford, director of the Gold Coyote competition.
Read the Full Article on Columbian.com