November 8 – November 16, 2013
WELCOME!
The Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival turns 40 this year, fueled by the constant reinvigoration brought about by new filmmakers and new ideas, remaining a vital symbol of the Northwest’s creative community. Our pleasure at the Film Center is to keep our eyes and arms out for the region’s filmmakers, roll with their momentum and innovation, and fashion a festival experience that provides a singular opportunity for coming together to share stories, resources, and inspiration. There are many to thank as we reach this year’s milestone.
For much of the past four decades, the Festival has enjoyed the ongoing support of such key forces as The National Endowment for the Arts, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, LAIKA, and Wieden+Kennedy—whose support reveals a shared dedication to recognizing and celebrating the Northwest’s vibrant media arts community. This year, we’re grateful for the new support of The Oregon Cultural Trust, The Jackson Foundation, and smart car, who join the mission.
The Festival is also excited to partner with McMenamins who will provide lodging for our visiting filmmakers at their Crystal Hotel and will surely contribute toward putting more fest in the Festival with six nights of screenings at their Mission Theater and Pub. This year’s Festival Judge, Sundance Film Festival Senior Shorts Programmer Mike Plante, dedicated many hours assessing the merits of this year’s submissions, and we thank him for the generous lending of his objective, enlightened eye.
Special thanks to longtime collaborators Mike Houston and Austin Hilde for the stylish imagery that brightens the Festival’s graphics this year and will help us fill those rows and rows of chairs.
There are many reasons why we call this the Filmmakers’ Festival, and we welcome all makers of the region to join in the conversation, community, and viewing, whether their work is onscreen or not. For those who have not yet made a film (which begs the question: what are you waiting for?), we hope the Festival experience will nudge you nearer to the tipping point of commitment. There will be plenty of inspiration, so grab yourself a seat.
Thomas Phillipson, Festival Manager
Bill Foster, Director, Northwest Film Center

A Place of Truth
Directed by Barrett Rudich
Abigail Mott is a 21-year-old woman traveling from city to city as a nomadic street poet. Inspired by watching a …

All the Labor
Directed by Douglas Hawes-Davis
For two decades, The Gourds have played their rock/folk/country tunes, gathered cult listeners, and always managed to float just under …

Backbone: Early Vancouver Experimental Cinema, 1967-1981
Directed by Richard Martin
From the mid-1960s through the 1970s, Vancouver, BC, was an international hub for experimental film and the source of an …

Barzan
Directed by Alex Stonehill
To neighbors, Sam “Barzan” Malkandi was the model immigrant and perfect, hard-working family man. To investigators, Malkandi was a cold-blooded …

Bible Quiz
Directed by Nicole Teeny
In Tacoma, Washington, and all over the country, many church groups participate in an annual competition of memorizing and reciting …

Camera Shy
Directed by Mark Sawers
Larry (Nicolas Wright) is an unprincipled city councilman who doesn’t mind a little fraud and infidelity if it advances his …

City Baby
Directed by David F. Morgan
“This pungent, Portland-set tale features a striking performance by Cora Benesh as Cloey, a 25-year-old aspiring actress facing a turning …

Eden
Directed by Megan Griffiths
VISITING ARTIST—Independent feature filmmaking in Seattle is flourishing, led by filmmakers like Megan Griffiths (THE OFF HOURS) who are finding …

Empty Hollow Echo
Directed by Adam Sekuler
A man exits a building and immediately realizes that he doesn’t have his keys. Locked out, he wanders the empty …

Finding Truelove
Directed by Sam Kuhn
Clay, Michael, and Andrew are fascinated by a yearbook from Chico High’s Class of 1990, which they discover at a …

Hawaiian Punch
Directed by Nandan Rao
This unconventional buddy movie follows two young Mormon men on a mission term in Hawaii, who spend their days cliff …

Junk
Directed by Kevin Hamedani
Kaveh and Raul are two B-movie co-writers who have suffered a bitter falling out. Kaveh has lost his girlfriend and …

Mandarose
Directed by Gabe Van Lelyveld
Amanda, isolated and unfulfilled, is the sole provider for and caretaker of her joyful and loving sister, Rose, who has …

MMXIII
Directed by Ian Clark
Named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2012, Ian Clark’s latest work is an observational …

Neurons to Nirvana: Understanding Psychedelic Medicines
Directed by Oliver Hockenhull
Here we have a sure sign of progress: the psychedelic insights of the ’60s counterculture, intact and now bolstered by …

Shorts I
Directed by Various
The three shorts programs in the 40th Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival offer overviews of the current state of filmmaking in the …

Shorts II
Directed by Various
The three shorts programs in the 40th Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival offer overviews of the current state of filmmaking in the …

Survival Prayer
Directed by Benjamin Greené
VISITING ARTIST—In the past century in Haida Gwaii (British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands), commercial logging, over-fishing, and invasive species have …

The Exhibition
Directed by Damon Vignale
In 2006, Pamela Masik began to paint massive, gruesome portraits based on a police poster of 69 missing women—many of …

The Falls: Testament of Love
Directed by Jon Garcia
Five years after we left RJ and Chris in THE FALLS (2012 Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival), the ex-lovers who met as …

The Perception of Moving Targets
Directed by Weston Currie
“In this haunting feature, Currie stages an intervention into habituated and supposedly natural ways of making meaning onscreen. In collaboration …

Winter in the Blood
Directed by Alex Smith, Andrew Smith
“True to the tough, lyrical, magical spirit of James Welch’s classic novel of Native American life, this hauntingly beautiful movie …

You Make Me Feel So Young
Directed by Zach Weintraub
Weintraub’s third feature exemplifies his intimate filmmaking style, with a minimalism reminiscent of Yasujiro¯ Ozu, Claire Denis, and many other …