Ballet isn’t the first thing that a subway platform brings to mind, but the NYC Ballet Company isn’t afraid to dance on one. James Newell Osterberg, Jr. is hardly a name you associate with the earliest days of punk, yet that’s the name Iggy Pop’s folks gave him.
 
The 28th annual Reel Music Festival celebrates the unexpected stories behind some of the world’s greatest music, with films spotlighting the incongruous, transformative, and sometimes bizarre origins of songs we sing every day.
 
We’ve kept our eyes and ears peeled over the last year for new film works (with a few reprises tossed in) for our annual celebration of sound and image, music and culture. Whatever your musical tastes, we hope that something in this year’s eclectic lineup will perk your curiosity and warm your soul. Our special thanks go to Music Millennium, Willamette Week, Oregon Music News, KINK.fm, MacTarnahan’s Brewing Co., Music Fest NW, and McMenamins for helping make it all happen. Enjoy.

Unless otherwise noted, all movies are are shown at the Whitsell Auditorium in the Portland Art Museum.

Download a printable version of the Festival schedule.

Welcome to the Film Center’s ongoing series showcasing work by filmmakers of the great Northwest. From Scott Ray Becker’s first-person documentaries BLACK DOG TRILOGY and Alain LeTourneau and Pam Minty’s stylish 16mm moving image essay EMPTY QUARTER, to Christopher Witherspoon’s new thriller RAGE, this corner of the country continues to demonstrate filmmaking worthy of international screens in a wide variety of styles and stories.

The martial arts film has long been the Hong Kong equivalent to the American western and Japanese samurai film. Hong Kong swordplay films of the 1960s gave way to early ’70s movies featuring Shaolin Temple monks who blended Buddhist teachings with deadly fighting styles. By the late 1970s, fight-choreographers-turned-directors Lau Kar-Leung, Tang Chia, and Yuen Woo-Ping were bringing martial arts cinema to its apex, delivering action-packed films with high production values, elaborate set designs, and excellent cinematography. This series, curated by local programmer and film collector Dan Halsted, features rare 35mm prints of this unjustly overlooked genre.

Once dubbed “the most famous man in the world,” Charlie Chaplin is recognized as one of the preeminent icons of both comedy and cinema. From 1914 until 1967, Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, and starred in more than 80 films, quickly advancing from basic slapstick to a unique comic style—immaculately constructed, deeply human, and always hilarious. Chaplin’s most recognizable character is the Little Tramp, a well-meaning gent in a raggedy suit with a cane, who always finds himself wobbling into awkward situations and then miraculously wobbling his way out. More than any other figure, it is this kind-hearted character that we associate with the time before the talkies. Arguably the most influential film comedian in history, Chaplin’s antics have inspired generations of talents from Jackie Chan to Johnny Depp while retaining their unique, universal appeal. We’re pleased to present this broad survey of Chaplin’s work on new, beautifully restored 35mm prints.

The elements of the classic crime film are as recognizable as they are revered: the heist, the femme fatale, inevitable betrayal, and outright deceit. In the treatment of these elements, however, French filmmakers have fashioned their own unique take. Inspired by American noir films, French filmmakers have subtly expanded the boundaries of the genre, playing on classic story points and infusing them with what can only be described as a sense of cool. These seven films are among the greatest in the genre, delivering tightly woven plots, charismatic criminals, and a sense of controlled chaos, while maintaining an austere remove and unmistakable calm that is undeniably Gallic.

All films in French, except THE SICILIAN CLAN, in English.