We serve as a dynamic international hub for filmmaking, bridging global voices with Portland’s creative community to foster exchange, build connections, and establish our city as a premier destination for innovative and diverse creative talent.

Schedule of Events:

April 10, 2025

7:00 PM - Ponyboi

On Valentine's Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker is working at a laundromat with his pregnant best friend, Angel. He spends his nights with Vinnie, his secret lover and pimp who is also the father of Angel's child. However, when a drug deal goes bad, he finds himself on the run from the mob.

Location: Cinema 21

April 11, 2025

4:00 PM - Bye Bye Tiberias

In her early twenties, Hiam Abbass left her native Palestinian village to follow her dream of becoming an actress in Europe, leaving behind her mother, grandmother, and seven sisters. Thirty years later, her filmmaker daughter Lina returns with her to the village and questions for the first time her mother’s bold choices, her chosen exile and the way the women in their family influenced both their lives.

Location: Cinema 21

7:00 PM - Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks

The Lunachicks, an all-female punk band renowned for their unabashed humor and unwavering pro-women ethos, made their mark on NYC’s underground music scene in the ‘90s. A rollercoaster of drugs, romances, and creative conflicts ultimately led to their 2000 breakup, but can love of the music reunite them for one last show? Buoyed by energetic storytelling, gritty '80s-'90s nightclub footage, insightful interviews, and high-voltage performances, this is a must-watch for music history enthusiasts.

Location: Cinema 21

9:30 PM - Black Box Diaries

Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems.

2025 OSCAR NOMINEE - Best Documentary Feature

Location: Cinema 21

April 12, 2025

1:30 PM - Ashima

One of the world’s youngest elite rock climbers, Ashima Shiraishi spent her formative years breaking numerous age-based climbing milestones, spurred on by her number one fan and coach, her father, Poppo a retired Butoh dancer and avant-garde performer with no formal climbing experience. When these New Yorkers travel to South Africa to conquer a V14 boulder problem, father and daughter must face their interpersonal struggles in tandem with the challenging ascent.

Location: Cinema 21

4:00 PM - Sally

Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure, she carried a secret. Revealing the romance and sacrifices of their 27 years together, Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, tells the full story for the first time of this complicated and iconic astronaut. From National Geographic Documentary Films, SALLY is directed by Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker Cristina Costantini.

Location: Cinema 21

International Shorts 1

7:00pm - Five shorts from five different countries! A beautiful collection of international films that will take you both on a journey around and through different worlds. Happens to be an all female-directed lineup!

Includes this year's Oscar-winning Best Live Action Short.

Location: Cinema 21

9:30pm - The Ugly Stepsister

Combining comedy and horror, The Ugly Stepsister (Den stygge stesøsteren) is a daring and unexpected take on the world-famous tale, seen through the eyes of Cinderella’s stepsister. Elvira battles to compete with her insanely beautiful stepsister in a kingdom where beauty is a brutal and bloody business. She will go to any lengths to catch the prince’s eye.

Location: Cinema 21

April 13, 2025

1:00 PM - Standing Above the Clouds

Standing Above the Clouds highlights the movement to protect Mauna Kea through the intergenerational stories of women from three Native Hawaiian families as they stand for the sacred mountain. The film follows teacher and community organizer Pua Case and her two daughters — artist-activists H?wane Rios and Kapulei Flores — who have been called to stop the telescope since 2010. Their lives quickly become consumed with frontline actions and court proceedings and immersed in ceremonies and cultural practices. As they face opposition and arrests, they are joined by a community who have dedicated their lives to protecting Mauna Kea.

The film is an intimate journey through the women’s lives both on and off the mountain, and explores the physical and emotional toll of sustaining a grassroots movement. After nine months of living on the mountain and establishing a frontline camp, Standing Above The Clouds shows their journey to heal once they return to their homes in March 2020. In the face of challenges and tragedy, the mountain gifts each woman with hope and strength and the understanding that victory is in standing in unity for sacred places and that healing occurs through the sisterhood they have created along the way.

Location: Cinema 21

4:00pm - Skye Fitzgerald Trilogy Showcase

Screening together for the first time, this trilogy of films by renowned filmmaker Skye Fitzgerald each takes an empathetic look at the global refugee crisis.

The first, 50 FEET FROM SYRIA, focused on doctors working on the Syrian border and was voted onto the Oscar shortlist. The second, LIFEBOAT, documents Search and Rescue operations off the coast of Libya and was nominated for an Academy Award and national Emmy. The third, HUNGER WARD, explores the impact of the war and famine in Yemen on children, families, and healthcare workers and was nominated for an Academy Award.

His latest film, CHASING ROO, voted onto the Oscar shortlist and will have its US premiere at Portland Panorama on Saturday, April 19th at 12:00pm in the ENVIRONMENTAL SHORTS program.

As a Fulbright Research Scholar Fitzgerald directed the film BOMBHUNTERS and has worked with organizations as varied as the Sundance Institute, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Mountainfilm. Fitzgerald is an honorary member of SAMS (Syrian American Medical Society) for his work with Syrian refugees and a Distinguished Alumnus at his alma mater EOU for documentary work.

Location: Cinema 21

7:30 PM - The Queen of My Dreams

Azra is worlds apart from her conservative Muslim mother. When her father suddenly dies on a trip home to Pakistan, Azra finds herself on a Bollywood-inspired journey through memories, both real and imagined; from her mother’s youth in Karachi to her own coming- of-age in rural Canada.

Location: Cinema 21

April 14, 2025

4:00 PM - International Shorts 2

Seven shorts from five different countries! This collection of international films feature tender stories of family, communication, and connection.

Location: Cinema 21

7:00pm - Eureka

Traversing time, space and genre, Argentinian filmmaker Lisandro Alonso presents an elliptical meditation on the experiences of indigenous communities across the Americas. As the triptych unfolds, each temporal and spatial shift provokes metaphysical questions about colonial influence on native peoples and the ever-present tensions between indigeneity and the Western world. A cowboy (Viggo Mortensen) arrives in a village in search of his daughter, a native policewoman arrests various offenders in a snowy landscape, while her niece, a basketball coach, reunites with her grandfather for a decisive journey that will shape her future, a bird flies through time and space and begins to enter the minds and dreams of a native tribe in a the Amazon forest.

Location: Cinema 21

April 15, 2025

4:00 PM - Village Keeper

Jean is the provider and (over)protector of her two teen children, Tamika and Tristin, and begrudgingly lives with her mother in a crowded Lawrence Heights apartment complex. Despite the kids learning to become more self-sufficient, Jean’s vision is too clouded by the past to see that they're growing. She is haunted by violence in both their past and their present, and must help her children cope. Expertly using sound and flashbacks to construct a layered and full portrait of this woman's life, Chapman reveals the trials and tribulations that women in Jean’s family carry with them.

Filmmaking team will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.

Location: Cinema 21

7:00pm - International Shorts 3

Six shorts from five different countries! An impressive array of international films centered around family, ancestors and support systems. Includes a few films fresh off their Sundance premieres.

Location: Cinema 21

April 16, 2025

4:00 PM - Experimental Shorts

Experiments on analog film, dances with animation, and being trapped in a sitcom - these artfully crafted pieces experiment with narrative form and structure to showcase how the filmic medium can be so much more than you think. Filmmakers In Attendance!

Location: Cinema 21

7:00 PM - Sanctuary Station

Sanctuary Station traces a series of encounters with women and youth who have cultivated intrinsic attachments to the various life forms inhabiting the redwood forests and remote terrains of northwestern California. Oscillations between the desire for solitude and the need for collaboration recur through an album-like progression of personal stories and actions. These encounters are framed through the poems of Mary Norbert Korte (1934-2022), an ex-nun who built her own cabin deep in the forest, adjacent to a former logging railroad. Korte’s life and work bear witness to the daily phenomena of internal and external experience. Depictions of ongoing forest defense movements, collective and personal rites of mourning, and intimate everyday routines evoke cycles of life unfolding within this intricately interwoven environment.

This screening is in partnership with the Cinema Project.

Location: Cinema 21

April 17, 2025

2:00 PM - No Place to Grow Old

No Place to Grow Old is the first documentary to capture a growing crisis unfolding quietly across America: older adults aging into homelessness. Set in Portland, Oregon, this film follows the lives of three older adults navigating the harsh realities of life without a home. Through their stories of hardship and resilience, the film offers an intimate portrayal of their challenges while illuminating the systemic issues contributing to their plight. Featuring insights from local and national experts, No Place to Grow Old is a powerful call to action that emphasizes dignity and hope, envisioning a future where everyone, regardless of age, has a safe and secure place to call home.

Location: McMenamins Kennedy School

5:00pm - Block Dog w/ By My Side
    
By My Side
DocumentaryView all films tagged "Documentary"
Three veterans and their families bravely share their pain, fear, and the difficult realization that they’ve lost time and love that they may never get back again. All three found hope where no one had looked—in the heart of a faithful service dog.

This short film screens before Block Dog.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Main Floor

7:30 PM - Firebreak

Brandon and Royal are among a small group of firefighters in California who were trained while incarcerated and managed to break through and become professional firefighters post-release, but that’s not the story for most of their peers. After securing their own careers, they decided to take matters into their own hands and start their own nonprofit and fire department. Firebreak follows Brandon, Royal and their third group of trainees as they make their way through Brandon and Royal’s tough training program.

FILMMAKING TEAM WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Main Floor

8:30pm - Northwest Opening Night Party

Location: Jupiter NEXT

April 18, 2025

11:00 AM - Planet Panorama: Sustainable Filmmaking in Action

Lights, camera, sustainability! Join our panel to explore eco-friendly practices transforming film production. From green sets to energy efficient equipment to reducing waste, learn how the industry is going green without compromising creativity, and how you can make your next project more sustainable.

Jennifer is a production manager based in Portland, OR. Her credits range from sub-million dollar indie films to large studio series and everything in between.

Abdul Kassamali is an American-born, Kenyan-raised director based out of Seattle. He is an avid storyteller, focusing on work reflecting his life experience as a first-generation child of Kenyan immigrants in America. He frequently works alongside other artists to help tell and share their stories with the world through film and finds much joy in this work. Abdul has cut his teeth in the music video realm, working with locally and globally known artists, including Yo-Yo Ma.This experience has allowed him to find comfort working in high-pressure situations under a time crunch. He also has much experience as a documentary director, working with several outdoor brands on short commercial branded documentaries.

Tiffany Lindquist has been the Rental Manager at Gearhead Grip and Electric for over 10 years and has worked as a Producer, Grip, Electrician, and Talent on several film sets over the last decade. She is passionate about reducing her carbon footprint both at work and at home. Tiffany and Gearhead are eager to help Productions embrace sustainability on every set!

Allison Patt has been working as a Production Sustainability Advisor, with a focus on fuel reduction, in Portland, OR and the NYC regions, working with local crews on how best they can cut their carbon emission in practical ways for the film industry.

Heather Schrock is the Director of Environmental Partnerships at Bonneville Environmental Foundation. She focuses on developing relationships with all types of entities, including corporations, small businesses, universities, and nonprofits to help them understand their impacts in carbon, water and energy. Heather comes to BEF with a diverse background in sustainability, outreach, marketing and sales. Previously, she was the Portland Regional Manager of the ReDirect Guide, a local green directory, and has served on the boards of Green Drinks PDX and VOIS (Voice for Oregon Innovation and Sustainability). She has also been a professional singer, dancer, public speaker and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. As a Portland native, Heather enjoys the Pacific NW for its many outdoor offerings and an abundance of fantastic food!

Location: Cascada Thermal Springs + Hotel

2:00 PM - Finding Groovopolis

Filmmaker Wil Kristin seeks fatherly advice through the lens of Groovopolis, a never-produced comedic screenplay written by his late dad. While coming to terms with his dad’s death, Kristin discovered the original script for Groovopolis, which follows a music programmer who falls overboard at a work party, encounters a group of wild, dancing island inhabitants, and inadvertently records their music before being rescued and spreading the sounds as an antidote to dull and monotonous consumer culture. Produced scenes from Groovopolis eerily show up in and influence Kristin’s own life, and the unusual collaboration yields an excavation of family, legacy, and navigating adulthood.

Location: McMenamins Kennedy School

5:00pm - NW Shorts Program 1

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Main Floor

7:30pm - Rainier: A Beer Odyssey

Crack open a cold one with the epic story of Rainier Beer and the world-famous 1970s advertising campaign—designed by a small, up-and-coming agency with everything to prove—that put the Seattle-based brewing company on the map.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Main Floor

9:30pm - Late Night Shorts

A very special after hours program for our horror enthusiasts and weirdos! A mix of (mostly) local and national films that are sure to elicit a response. Bring a friend for support and try not to close your eyes!

Filmmakers In Attendance!

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Upstairs

April 19, 2025

10:00am - Safety Day Saturday

Keeping our employees, colleagues and community safe is our priority. With budgets at an all-time low, and technology racing faster than folks can keep up, we'll explore key practices around safety that often go overlooked in basic training programs and on indie sets. This annual event will continue to highlight new topics each year so we can all improve prioritizing getting each person home safe from set.

Program of Events:

9:30am - 10:00am - Doors open, coffee and pastries served
10:00am - 11:00am - Picture Car Safety Demo with Via Films
11:00am - 12:00pm - Production Safety & Protocol Panel
12:30pm - 1:30pm - Interpersonal Wellness on Set Panel

The program concludes with a special screening of the SAFE SETS documentary at the Hollywood Theatre.

Location: Wonderlove

12:00 PM - Environmental Shorts

Four very different documentaries, all with Northwest ties. From a beach cleanup initiative in Mexico, to the commercial killing of kangaroos in Australia, to restoring kelp forests and salmon populations here in the NW. These stories serve as both warnings and offerings of hope for a better future. Filmmakers In Attendance!

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Upstairs

2:30 PM - Safe Sets

Safe Sets - Dying to Work in the Film Industry

A doctor investigates hazardous working conditions in Hollywood, and discovers untold stories of enormous personal sacrifice and life-threatening risks for those working in an industry that brings us the movies and TV shows we cherish.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Upstairs

5:30pm - A Midsummer Night's Dream in Prison

“The three hours we spend down here – it’s almost like not being in prison,” says Zeb, a prison inmate in rural Eastern Oregon. Zeb and his fellow cast members are putting on a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Most have never even considered acting, and were simply drawn in by the opportunity to break up the monotony of incarceration. In rehearsals, as they work together and learn more about each other, the men find unexpected new perspectives about their lives – past, present, and future. As their dramatic odyssey unfolds, themes of gender identity and the challenges faced by BIPOC prisoners are deftly explored, and the power of the arts to challenge and heal, even under the most difficult circumstances, is affirmed and celebrated.

Join us for this special presentation of the late Bushra Azzouz's A Midsummer Night's Dream in Prison. Celebrate a wondrous local filmmaker and the work she left behind. Screening followed by a Q&A with filmmaking team.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Upstairs

7:30pm - NW Shorts Program 2

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Main Floor

April 20, 2025

12:00 PM - The Long Long Night

The Long Long Night follows Pete and Carroll, best friends since they were six, scrambling to build adult lives that contain some semblance of purpose. It's about two people doing their absolute best to try and help..and absolutely not helping. Created by real-life childhood friends Mark Duplass and Barret O'Brien over the course of two-and-a-half years, the series asks: On a planet with 8+ billion people, can two people make any difference at all?

The first two episodes of this series will be screened, followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Upstairs

2:00pm - HRAFNAMYND

HRAFNAMYND is a poetic, raven guided tour of memory and location. Upon returning to Iceland as an adult, the filmmaker documents the Icelandic raven while along the way feeling an overwhelming sense of familiarity through the hundreds of beautiful Ektachrome slides from the early 70's that his father took. As he continues documenting ravens, poring through family slides, and interviewing family about their time there, the filmmaker finds himself on a journey of self discovery and ponders the nature of memories and myth. Hrafnamynd is an unconventional, dream-like feature documentary taking us through the psychology of memory, myth, family bonds, and symbology. Featuring an original soundtrack and sound design by Patricia Wolf.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Upstairs

2:00 PM - NW Series Program

A special showcase of Northwest series content. This program includes food and culture chronicles, the craftsmanship of local metalworkers, the effects of the Almeda fire on the Latino/a/x community in Rogue Valley, and a journey of reclaiming the history and narratives of Black portlanders. At the heart of these pieces is an attempt to connect local communities through education, art, food and culture

Location: Open Signal

4:30pm - NW Shorts Program 3

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Upstairs

5:30 PM - Trash Baby

The year is 2003 and it’s another sweltering summer in Pine Park. After an unexpected run-in with the cool girl next door, Stevie (12) finds herself befriending trail park queen and neighbor, Edie (20). Swirling in a new world of puberty, boys, and drinking, Stevie is convinced it is time to leave childhood behind in exchange for new friends and a world she has long romanticized. That is until the reality of her new found idol’s life which contains fractured experiences of motherhood, corrupted innocence, and a world of violence starts to bleed into the frame. Soon Stevie must decide if she is truly ready to let innocence go or choose to embrace childhood while it lasts.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Upstairs

5:30 PM - Trash Baby

The year is 2003 and it’s another sweltering summer in Pine Park. After an unexpected run-in with the cool girl next door, Stevie (12) finds herself befriending trail park queen and neighbor, Edie (20). Swirling in a new world of puberty, boys, and drinking, Stevie is convinced it is time to leave childhood behind in exchange for new friends and a world she has long romanticized. That is until the reality of her new found idol’s life which contains fractured experiences of motherhood, corrupted innocence, and a world of violence starts to bleed into the frame. Soon Stevie must decide if she is truly ready to let innocence go or choose to embrace childhood while it lasts.

Location: Hollywood Theatre - Main floor

10:00pm - Closing Night Party

Date: April 10 - 20, 2025

Location: Various Venues in Portland, OR

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