2016 Portland Film Festival Announces Line-Up; 54 Feature Films; 89 Shorts Selected from Nearly 4000 Entries

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Thursday, 11 August 2016 18:20

OFFICIAL COMPETITION TITLES

A jury comprised of industry professionals and acclaimed filmmakers will present awards to films in both the Documentary Feature and Narrative Feature competition categories. There will also be an Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, Best Narrative Feature, and Best Short Film.

NARRATIVE COMPETITION FEATURES

9 films showcasing fresh voices telling new stories with imagination and style.

Dark Harvest / U.S. (Director: James Hutson)

Two friends run a successful marijuana grow operation, until a murder investigation and a shady narcotics officer threaten to derail their plans. Cast: James Hutson, Cheech Marin, A.C. Peterson. WORLD PREMIERE

Gozo / United Kingdom (Director: Miranda Bowen)

Hoping to put their troubled past behind them, a young couple emigrates to an idyllic Mediterranean island where the living is easy, until one of them begins to hear strange noises. Cast: Joseph Kennedy, Ophelia Lovibond, Daniel Lapaine. WORLD PREMIERE

June Falling Down / U.S. (Director: Rebecca Weaver)

After wandering aimlessly for a year following her father's death, a young woman returns to her small Wisconsin hometown for the wedding of her best friend. Cast: Rebecca Weaver, Nick Hoover, Claire Morkin, Joanna Becker. WEST COAST PREMIERE

Panopticon / U.S. (Director: Aaron Keene)

With a sun allergy that keeps him inside all day, a lonely man begins hacking into webcams as a way to take part in the lives of others. Cast: Guilherme Scarabelot, Sylvia Sakellaridis. WORLD PREMIERE

The Remnant / U.S. (Director: Karmia Chan Olutade)

A 16-year-old girl and her little brother seek shelter in an orphanage run by a cold-hearted man in this politically-conscious indie musical. Cast: Kayla Cao, Tenzin Low, Ankhnyam Ragchaa, Sylvia Niu. WORLD PREMIERE

River House Inheritance / U.S. (Director: Sandra Lee)

A young woman spends her days caring for her bedridden mother, which gets complicated by the arrival of her just-paroled sister. Cast: Emily Seely, Beth Puorro, Willy McGee, Eva Jackson. WORLD PREMIERE  

She Sings to the Stars / U.S. (Director: Jennifer Corcoran)

A Native American grandmother spends her days tending her drought-ravaged corn in the desert Southwest until her estranged grandson arrives and anything becomes possible. Cast: Fanny Loretto, Jesus Mayorga, Larry Cedar. PORTLAND PREMIERE

Some Freaks / U.S. (Director: Ian MacAllister McDonald)

A high school student with one eye thinks his life could not be more different than the other kids at his school, until he meets Jill. Cast: Thomas Mann, Lily Mae Harrington, Ely Henry, Marin Ireland. WEST COAST PREMIERE

Those Left Behind / U.S. (Director: Maria Finitzo)

25 years after her brother's suicide, a woman returns to her childhood home with her 16-year-old son to help her mother recover from surgery, opening up old wounds. Cast: Daphne Zuniga, Jack Griffo, Debra Mooney, Jack Hogan) WORLD PREMIERE 

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION FEATURES

Nine new films from around the world that tackle real life stories with bold vision and energy.

Boone / U.S. (Director: Christopher LaMarca)

An unsentimental look at the gritty reality of three young Oregon goat farmers. PORTLAND PREMIERE

Check It / U.S. (Directors:  Dana Oppenheimer & Toby Flor) An intimate portrait of four African-American childhood friends as they work to pull themselves out of gang life and poverty via street fashion. PORTLAND PREMIERE

Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model / United Kingdom (Director: Rebecca Brand) Follow along as award-winning performance artist Bryony Kimmings and her 10-year-old niece create their very own alternative pop star role model for girls 7-12 years old. U.S. PREMIERE

Free CeCe! / U.S. (Director: Jacqueline Gares)

On her way to the store with a group of friends, Chrishaun Reed "CeCe" McDonald, a trans African American woman, was the victim of a transphobic, racially motivated attack. This is her story. Executive produced by Laverne Cox (

Orange Is the New Black). OREGON PREMIERE

The Good Mind / U.S. (Director: Gwendolen Cates)

An intimate portrait of the Onondaga Nation in central New York State, an indigenous sovereign nation that still maintains a traditional government led by clanmothers and chiefs. WEST COAST PREMIERE

Indivisible / U.S. (Director: Hilary Linder)

Renata, Evelyn, and Antonio were young children when their parents brought them to the U.S. in search of a better life; they were teenagers when their families were deported. Now, they must fight for their citizenship and the chance to be reunited with their loved ones. OREGON PREMIERE

Jackson / U.S. (Director: Maisie Crow)

Set against the backdrop of the fight over the last abortion clinic in Mississippi,

Jackson takes an intimate, first-of-its-kind look inside the issues surrounding abortion from the perspectives of three women. PORTLAND PREMIERE

Unseen / U.S. (Director: Laura Paglin)

In 2009, in Cleveland, Ohio, police discovered the bodies of eleven women near the home of known sex offender Anthony Sowell.With unprecedented access to the surviving victims,

Unseen tells a chilling story about the invisibility of women on the margins of society. OREGON PREMIERE

Yesterday Was Everything / U.S. (Director: Matthew Mixon)

A raw and unflinching look at the attempts of Misery Signals, a Wisconsin metalcore band, to reconcile for a ten-show reunion tour in the wake of a tenuous split and a fatal accident that happened a decade earlier. WORLD PREMIERE

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT

Unique films, marquee names, and highlights of the best of modern film.

6 Love Stories / U.S. (Director: Michael Dunaway)

Six locations. Six couples. Six conversations. This ensemble drama explores the many facets of love from six unique perspectives, sometimes finding laughter, sometimes finding tears, but always finding truth. Cast: Ashley Williams, Ross Patridge, Carrie Preston, Matthew Lillard, Stephen Tobolowsky. WORLD PREMIERE

All the Birds Have Flown South / U.S. (Directors: Joshua & Miles Miller)

Unsettling psycho-thriller that follows a disturbed man grieving for his mother who begins obsessing over a down-on-her-luck waitress. Cast: Paul Sparks, Joey Lauren Adams, Dallas Roberts. OREGON PREMIERE

Hunter Gatherer / U.S. (Director: Joshua Locy)

A forty-something African-American ex-con, fresh out of prison, attempts to put the pieces of his old life back together, but finds that starting over is never simple. Cast: Andre Royo, George Sample III, Kellee Stewart, Ashley Wilkerson. OREGON PREMIERE

Neil Stryker & the Tyrant of Time / U.S. (Director: Rob Taylor)

In a madcap future era, the world's greatest secret agent must race through time to rescue his son from the clutches of his infamous former mentor. Cast: David Ogden Stiers, Rob Taylor, Nic Costa.

On the Farm / U.S. (Director: Rachel Talalay)

A powerful, dramatic exploration of a wily psychopath who murdered nearly 50 marginalized women in and around Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and the flawed systems that allowed him to do it. Cast: Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Sarah Strange. U.S. PREMIERE

Orphans of Eldorado / Brazil (Director: Guilherme Coelho)

A story of love, obsession, and a man who goes insane in the Amazon. Based on the novel by Brazilian author Milton Hatoum. Cast: Milton Aires, Adriano Barroso, Henrique da Paz. OREGON PREMIERE

Spaghettiman / U.S. (Director: Mark Potts)

After an incident with an old bowl of spaghetti and a malfunctioning microwave, an average man becomes a superhero who can fight crime with the power of spaghetti. Cast: Ben Crutcher, Winston Carter, Brand Rackley. OREGON PREMIERE

Tierra Caliente / U.S. (Director: Laura Plancarte)

The story of a family from the state of Guerrero, Mexico, caught in the crossfire between the

narco and the military. Based on a true story. Cast: Anais Alvarado, Dimitri Andreas, Claudia Coulter. OREGON PREMIERE

STRANGER THAN FICTION

Celebrating the best in contemporary documentary filmmaking.

The Farmer and I / Germany, Bhutan (Director: Irja von Bernstorff)

Cultural barriers and tensions arise between German filmmaker Irja and Bhutanese farmer Sangay when they team up to create a TV series. WORLD PREMIERE

Gold Balls / U.S. (Director: Kate Keckler Dandel)

Competitive athletes barnstorm the US in pursuit of a National Championship title in tennis. The twist? They're all over age 80. OREGON PREMIERE

The Incomparable Rose Hartman / U.S. (Director: Otis Mass)

With a career spanning decades, photographer Rose Hartman is known for her iconic photos from Studio 54 and the fashion world, her boisterous personality and her uncanny ability of capturing the New York social scene, warts and all.  OREGON PREMIERE

The Legend of Swee' Pea / U.S. (Director: Benjamin May)

A film about the quixotic life of Lloyd 'Swee' Pea' Daniels, a basketball prodigy who, felled by drugs and bullets, embarks on an improbable comeback to cements his reputation as the greatest playground legend of all time. OREGON PREMIERE

My Millennial Life / Canada (Director: Maureen Judge)

A provocative and humorous observational documentary about the big dreams, crushing disappointments, loves, and aspirations of "Millennials." U.S. PREMIERE

Searchdog / U.S. (Director: Mary Healey Jamiel)

Humans and canines work together to accomplish heroic acts in this doggie documentary, which follows an internationally renowned K9 Search and Rescue Specialist as he turns the "unadoptable" into the next generation of search dogs. OREGON PREMIERE