Screening of Portland International Doc Challenge Short Films

Mark your calendars! This Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 7 p.m., film lovers will gather at the Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy) to watch the premiere of eight short-format documentaries created by Portland filmmakers as part of this year’s International Documentary Challenge. Two of these Portland entries were of the 14 films that were chosen as finalists and competed for Grand Prize in the 2008 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto April 26. As for the May 7 screening here in Portland, the list of films, along with short synopses, is listed at the end of this post. Tickets are $6 and can be purchased at the Hollywood Theatre Box Office or can be purchased online here.

Portland tied for second at having the most entrants of all the cities in the contest (Toronto had the most at 14; Portland, Seattle, and LA all had 8 teams compete) Portland’s presence in the competition is partly due to founder Doug Whyte’s residence in town, though he moved here less than a year ago from St. Louis, Missouri. Doug has set out to increase the presence of this film experience in the City of Roses, but he hopes the competition will continue to gain popularity across the globe. In 2006, the first year of the challenge had 75 registered contenders. “I am amazed at the quality of films we got from the Portland area,” Doug said. “Out of the 101 total films from 16 countries, three of the Portland entries made the top 16.”

In alphabetical order, the showcase of short films that will be screened at Hollywood Theatre May 7 are listed below. The list includes all Portland entries to this year’s challenge, including the two Portland finalists, as well as the Doc Challenge Grand Winner, “Click Whoosh” and the POV Short Film Winner, “Ars Magna,” both made by Seattle teams; “Beholder,” the film that won Best Writing and the Doc Challenge Original Vision awards from Brooklyn, NY; and an international entry from Sydney, Australia. Two of the Portland teams also had wins in music categories: “The Mixtress” won best soundtrack and “Jetty” won best original score. Please note, the list below is not the order of the screening schedule, so be sure to get there before it begins at 7pm, to catch the full 90 minutes of film pleasure!

March 6 marked the gunshot start for the 2008 International Documentary Challenge, a 5-day filmmaking contest where 122 filmmakers from 16 countries attempted to make a documentary in only 5 days. The challenge, much like the 48-Hour Film Project and other insomniac filmmaking adventures, gives all us filmmakers out there the opportunity to wipe the Portland-winter grog from our bleary eyes and come out at the end of an intense week with a completed product.

The Challenge operates likes this: At 8am local time on the first day, the filmmakers who registered for the contest are emailed two genres from which to choose for their film. Genres range broadly and include experimental, music, nature, and history. Once the genre is decided, the filmmakers get busy writing their script, securing their music, and capturing their picture. Requiring efficiency, skill, and buckets of coffee, the final, edited film must be postmarked within five days, or the team will be disqualified. This year, 101 teams made the deadline.

Rules require the teams to prove their production lasted within the time frame allowed, have all rights to the music and images used, and create a film that has a total running time between four and seven minutes.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - 7 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre
Films, in alphabetical order:
“8veu”
Team: Willamette Valley Film Collective
City/Country: Monmouth, OR, USA
Genre: Music
8veu is about a house shared by music majors at Western Oregon University and the monthly concert series they host.

“All The Eights, 88”
Team: Sholi
City/Country: Sydney, Australia
Genre: Biography/Character Study
88-year-old Betty Van Acker, champion bingo player, shares her secrets to finding luck in life.

“Ars Magna”
Team Juicebox
City/Country: Seattle, WA, USA
Genre: Biography/Character Study
Cory Calhoun, creator of the famous Hamlet anagram, is an average guy with an obsession for finding meaning in jumbled phrases.

“The Art of Artificial Nature”
Team: Cingulate (fka EG Productions)
City/Country: Portland, OR, USA
Genre: Nature
Explore the Oregon Zoo’s creative process as they build an Asian rainforest for their Orangutans and Gibbons.

“At Their Own Pace”
Team: Nexus
City/Country: Portland, OR, USA
Genre: Biography/Character Study
Students of Parkrose High School’s Alternative Center of Education set the record straight on P.A.C.E., and reveal how it changed their lives for the better.

“Beholder”
Team: Boss and Coder 34
City/Country: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Genre: First Person
An autobiographical film about a photographer’s evolving perspective of New York City.

“Click Whoosh”
Team: Reel Grrrls
City/Country: Seattle, WA, USA
Genre: Historical
An homage to a familiar fixture of popular culture that now teeters on obsolescence.

“Ghost Bikes”
Team: PDXFCPUG1
City/Country: Portland, OR, USA
Genre: Social Issue/Political
A documentary that examines the growing phenomena of impromptu roadside memorials springing up at the scene of fatal accidents involving bicyclists and motorists.

“Jetty”
Team: Fly On The Wall
City/Country: Portland, OR, USA
Genre: Social Issue/Political
A “Mom and Pop” fishery on the Oregon Coast is threatened by an ecologically unsustainable crabbing policy.

“Meet The Freegans”
Team: Shields Films
City/Country: Portland, OR, USA
Genre: Social Issue/Political
Steve is an educated man. A school teacher. A homeowner. He also enjoys eating food from dumpsters.

“The Mixtress”
Team: wideshot studios
City/Country: Portland, OR, USA
Genre: Biography/Character Study
Changing the world of music one mix at a time.

“Thorns of the Rose City”
Team: PDXFCPUG2
City/Country: Portland, OR, USA
Genre: Historical
Portland, Oregon is often regarded as one of the most liberal and progressive cities in America, but this short documentary takes a look at the dark history of it’s treatment of African Americans as
well as the residual effects on the community.