PIFF 35 Alaska Airlines Audience Award Winners

February 28, 2012 By 3 Comments

The Portland International Film Festival is just as much about you, the audience, as it is the films, that’s why we love it when you pick the awardees! Without further ado the winners of this year’s festival are: ALMANYA (Germany) directed by Yasemin Samdereli for Best Narrative Feature and FIRST POSITION (United States) directed by Bess Kargman for Best Documentary Feature and the Best New Directors Award. This year’s Short Film Award goes to German filmmaker Max Zähle for RAJU and the Oregon Short Film Award goes to John Waller for TREEVERSE.

Keep reading for a complete list of winners.

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KBOO Interview with Makers Near and Far

February 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The yesterday morning’s The Film Show on KBOO Community Radio was packed full of Film Center related interviews.

First on the show was Linda Goldstein Knowlton, director of the documentary SOMEWHERE BETWEEN, which has been screening at PIFF for a touched and affected audience and has it’s final screening for high school students as part of our Global Classroom program.

somewhere

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN focuses on teenage girls from around the US that have all been adopted from China, and the identity issues they encounter.

The show then turns to Janet McIntyre and Kelley Baker (School of Film Instructor), director and executive producer respectively of FADED: GIRLS + BINGE DRINKING another documentary about young women, this time focusing on binge drinking and the issues surrounding it. The film is screening at the Film Center on March 15, 7 PM as part of our NW Tracking program featuring local filmmakers.

Listen to The Film Show here: http://kboo.fm/node/34064

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Today at PIFF35

February 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As we head into the final weekend of the 35th annual Portland International Film Festival there is still plenty to see. Today alone you can catch ten film screenings. Well, eleven if you count the nineteen minute French short I Could Be Your Grandmother  that screens before Lebanese documentary Grandma, A Thousand Times, both playing at the World Trade Center Theater tonight at 8:45.

Director Mahmoud Kaabour has made an incredibly sweet documentary about his 85 year-old grandmother who is nearing the end of her richly lived life. Having raised a large family, Teta Fatima Kaabour now lives alone in a small and immaculately clean apartment in Beirut. Yet she is still a hookah smoking matriarch, still a sprightly woman who haggles with street vendors and the butcher, commanding respect within her section of old Beirut. Her husband, once a successful violinist but now long deceased, is the indirect source for much of this film, since director Mahmoud Kaabour not only shares his grandfather’s name but also his looks. Exploiting this resemblance throughout, Mr. Kaabour takes on the role of both grandson and grandfather as he gets ready for his wedding day while coming to terms with the reality of his grandmother’s mortality. In Arabic, with English subtitles.

Showing earlier in the day at PIFF35 is The Island President, a film about the (until very recently) President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed (Nasheed was very recently overthrown by those with political ties to the old, tyrannical regime). Having been tortured, imprisoned, and exiled, Nasheed seems unable to stop his international fight against global warming, which threatens the very existence of the 200 islands that make up the Maldives. Watch the trailer below, and then go see the film tonight at 6:15 at the World Trade Center Theater.

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Adjust Your Tracking #6: Midnight Marauders

February 23, 2012 By 2 Comments

Adjust Your Tracking is the podcast produced through the facilities of the Northwest Film Center Newsroom. The show is hosted by Joe von Appen and Erik McClanahan, and is produced by Jessica Lyness and Laurel Degutis. Opinions expressed are that of the hosts, and not necessarily of the Northwest Film Center. In episode 6, Joe and Erik conclude their coverage of the 35th Portland International Film Festival with three segments, starting things off by digging deep in to a topic that’s near and dear to our black little desensitized hearts, cult fandom and midnight movies. In the second act we review and highly recommend you seek out the British genre mashup shocker “Kill List,” which screens this Friday at 11:30 at Cinema 21, as part of PIFF After Dark. We also have a bonus spoiler section of our chat on this film, which can be found here below the regular episode. After you’ve seen it make sure to come back and give that a listen to hear our thoughts on what actually happens in this insane film. In the last segment, Erik interviews Michael Roskam, the writer/director of the Oscar nominated Beglian film, “Bullhead.”

Don’t forget PIFF ends this Sunday, February 26, the encore screening day. Head to the Film Center Web site for all information on the films and how to purchase tickets in advance. New episodes of AYT are released every Thursday, so make sure to come back and check out what Joe and Erik are discussing every week. We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments section, or feel free to email adjustyourtracking@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/adjustyourtrack. You can download the podcast by right-clicking the link below and selecting ‘Save Link As…’ Once saved, the show can be played in iTunes or any other mp3 player. Or stream it on the embedded player.

AYT #6

(**Spoilers Below**) Do not listen until you’ve seen “Kill List.” Or if you don’t care and wan’t to know our interpretation of the film, mainly what the ending means, click on the player below. If you agree or disagree with us, please leave a comment.

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Toll Booth

February 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Turkish director Tolga Karaçelik’s first feature film, ‘Gişe Memuru’ (Toll Booth) takes its inspiration from the humdrum lives of toll-booth attendants. Taking a close look at the blurry line between reality and wishful thinking, Toll Booth is a “wry, heartbreaking ode to lost dreams in a sleepwalking world.”

Toll Booth follows the maddeningly predictable life of Kenan, 35-year-old tollbooth attendant who spends his days browbeaten by his aging but still domineering father, and the busy tollbooth where he makes the same movements, over and over, day in day out. Shy and withdrawn, the most exciting moments of his day take place within his own head, rather than in interaction with the outside world. Desperate to find his own way, rather than settle for the marriage his father has arranged for him, Kenan attempts to prove his worth by fixing up his father’s old car, but finds the pressure he faces has driven him to the edge of a nervous breakdown. Things change drastically for our tollbooth attendant with the appearance of a beautiful woman, who drives by his booth at the same time every day- in a car suspiciously similar to his father’s. Is she real, or have his adventures within his own imagination finally taken over?

Karaçelik was inspired by the tollbooth attendants of Istanbul’s Bosphorous Bridge, where he conducted many interviews with employees shortly before their jobs were replaced with automated tollbooths. “The European Union does not even sell tomatoes which grow near the highway, but these [toll booth attendants] live their lives there,” he says. In his exploration of individuality through the lens of the rote memorization and repetition required by a job such as this, Karaçelik has created a beautiful and thought-provoking film.

Showing at PIFF35 Thursday, Feb 23rd, 2012 at 8:30 PM (Pioneer Place 5)

Filed Under: Featured Screenings, Latest News, Uncategorized, Upcoming Events

Cirkus Columbia

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The NW Film Center brings director Danis Tanovic’s (Triage, No Man’s Land) sexy, communicative adaptation of Ivica Djikic’s novel Cirkus Columbia to the screen today, February 21st, as part of PIFF 35.

The setting is Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991. The communists have fallen from power. Divko Buntic returns to the small town where he grew up after a 20-year exile in Germany. With a flashy red Mercedes, a voluptuous young girlfriend named Azra, his lucky black cat Bonny, and a pocketful of Deutschmarks, Divko forcefully evicts his estranged wife Lucija in order to take his home back.

When Bonny the cat disappears, the whole town joins in a frantic search to get the cash reward, simultaneously putting strain on Divko’s fragile relationship with Azra and his attempted reunion with his 20-year-old son Martin. Not so unexpectedly, Azra and Martin are strongly attracted to each other. Disruption and clandestine activities ensue, but while these plot lines unravel daily, everyone seems unaware of the mounting political unrest around them: Croatia has seceded, all Yugoslavs are being forced to take sides, and the Serbs begin bombing Dubrovnik. Although their area is on high alert, many still can’t imagine anyone or anything could divide Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Cirkus Columbia is Danis Tanovic’s most recent film about war and its consequences. It is set in the period before the conflict reaches his native Bosnia & Herzegovina, while his 2009 film Triage dealt with post-war trauma, and his 2001 debut feature No Man’s Land took place in the midst of the Bosnian war in 1993 and won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Script prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and European Film Awards; the widely acclaimed film received over 40 international awards, making it one of the most awarded first feature films in history. With Cirkus Columbia, one could say that Tanovic has come full circle, giving audiences a glimpse of the before, during, and after of war in that part of the world.

See it at 8:45 PM (Lloyd Mall 6).

(Cirkus Columbia review taken in part from Match Factory)

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To Be Heard

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

To Be Heard, the engrossing documentary of three teens who use spoken word/beat poetry as a catalyst for positive change, will be introduced by director Roland Legiardi-Laura before today’s 2:30pm showing at the Whitsell Auditorium.

Karina, Pearl, and Anthony are three close teenage friends living in the Bronx, New York.  Beyond the daily trials and tribulations of being a teenager, the three friends have something else in common: they are the top talents in a poetry workshop called Power Writing, where they use the spoken word to express love, hope, frustration, anger, and sadness, and to communicate their most profound life experiences creatively. We find ourselves hoping desperately that these three friends will find a way to turn their creative expression into meaningful opportunities, and that the artistic outlets available to them that made this story possible might be made available elsewhere- because as they learned, “If you don’t learn to write your life story, someone else will write it for you.”

Showing at PIFF35 Monday, February 20th, 2012 at 2:30pm (Whitsell Auditorium).

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PIFF Recommendation: “Elena”

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A review by Adjust Your Tracking co-host Erik McClanahan, previously published at The Playlist on Indiewire.

There are fewer things in cinema more satisfying than a filmmaker in total control of their story. Sure, we love the visceral thrill of a well-choreographed, impeccably staged action sequence as much as the next red-blooded human being. And there’s the perfect combination of song/score over moving images, blissful moments heightened through all the tools available in the medium. But those rare moments when a film has just begun, and the feeling sets in immediately that you’re in good hands; that no matter what happens in this film, you can trust the filmmaker has thought everything through and knows what he or she is doing.  It’s a good feeling. Comforting even. But it’s rare.

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Online Auction: The Bidding Ends Feb 25!

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For the NW Film Center, life goes on after the Portland International Film Festival. In addition to PIFF we host year-round exhibition screenings as well as educational outreach programs, workshops, and production classes and we do all of this as a non-profit.

We depend on grants, sponsorship support, our loyal members & volunteers, as well as fundraising to make everything we do happen. With this in mind we want to invite you to keep the bidding going with our Online Auction. Place your bids on a signed glossy of the GRIMM cast, a Hotel deLuxe glamour package, and all kinds of other film memorabilia and more. Proceeds support Film Center exhibition and education programs. New items are added daily, so check back often.

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Today at PIFF35

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There’s still time to buy your tickets to see some of the most amazing films screening today throughout Portland as part of the NW Film Center’s 35th annual Portland Int’l Film Festival.

There’s the family friendly Tales of the Night, playing at 1pm at the World Trade Center Theater. French animation master Michael Ocelot returns to the same format as his 2000 film Princes And Princesses (Princes Et Princesses), which consisted in a compilation of short fairy tales in silhouette from his short-lived 1989 TV series Cine Si. The six new short stories in Tales of the Night are each gorgeously rendered, told through the use of those lovely, Ocelot trademark silhouettes.

Showing at Cinema 21 at 3pm is Mr. Tree, director Han Jie’s documentary-like film, which is set in the small mining town of Jilin (a northwestern Chinese province bordering North Korea). Lead character Shu (Wang Baoqiang) is a lazy drunk and a danger to himself and others. When he temporarily blinds himself while welding in a garage, his unresolved despair over the brutal death of his older brother begins to surface. Once his sight is restored, Shu takes a joyride with friends to the nearby town of Jitai, where he meets attractive, mute massage-parlor girl Xiaomei (Tan Zhuo). An awkward courtship ensues, and Shu’s attempts to transform himself into marriage material only sow the seeds for greater disaster.

(Mr. Tree review taken in part from Variety).

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