VISITING ARTIST—Velazquez’s award-winning film provides an intimate and compassionate look at the Yiu Mien, Southeast Asian refugees who originally settled in the Pacific Northwest in the wake of the Vietnam War. In their ancient society in the mountains of Laos, this hill tribe had no electricity, cars, or any other twentieth century technology. Their involvement with the CIA during the war forced the Mien to lose their homeland and resettle in the US. Coming here, they were catapulted from one century into another, shifting their ancient mountain homeland and the mindboggling complexities of Western, urban living—everything from apartments and new food to freeways and shopping malls. Through the words of the elders and rare archival footage, we glimpse a moving, not so often seen story of the immigrant experience. (58 mins.)

Elaine Velazquez will present the film.

After the screening, Velasquez will preview a cut of her work-in-progress, Gaining Ground: No Food, No Justice, produced with Barbara Bernstein. From farms in the fertile Willamette Valley to the marginalized food desert of Richmond, Calif., Gaining Ground shows how growing healthy food is the catalyst for igniting hope and empowerment in rural and urban communities.

VISITING ARTIST—Portland filmmaker Lydia B. Smith has been making television documentaries for more than 25 years. Tonight, Smith will present a work-in-progress screening of her latest project, a film about the Camino de Santiago—a sacred path in Spain that stretches westward to the city of Santiago de Compostela. Millions of people from all over the world have traveled this trail for more than 1,000 years. In 2010 alone, more than 270,000 people attempted the arduous trek, each one a seeker, spiritual or otherwise, of something. THE CAMINO DOCUMENTARY (working title) follows pilgrims from all walks of life and motivations as they attempt to cross an entire country on foot with only a backpack, a pair of boots, and an open mind. (75 mins.)

ADMISSION: PAY WHAT YOU WILL (by contribution at the door)

VISITING ARTIST—Each year Filmmaker Magazine selects “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” a survey of emerging feature, documentary, and short filmmakers deserving of wider recognition. Among the 2012 honorees is Eugene filmmaker Ian Clark, whose new film SEARCHING FOR YELLOW follows a young landscape painter in the midst of navigating a fleeting relationship. In addition to presenting his film, Clark will introduce a program featuring six of the other 25 filmmakers also recognized for their impressive short films. The program includes A CHJANA (THE PLAIN), by Jonas Carpignano of New York, which follows an African migrant worker seeking to reunite with his best friend in the wake of an Italian race riot; FISHING WITHOUT NETS, by Cutter Hodierne of Maryland, a unique take on sea-bound piracy in Somalia; HEY JANE, by A.G. Rojas of Los Angeles, a film/music video; FIG, by Ryan Coogler of Los Angeles, which portrays a young single mother making a desperate choice and risking the deep bond she shares with her child; DOUBLES WITH SLIGHT PEPPER, by Ian Harnarine of Toronto, the story of a Trinidadian street food vendor confronted with the unexpected reappearance of his estranged father; and THE GATHERING SQUALL, by Hannah Fidell of Austin, in which a teenage girl navigates complex social and domestic situations. (115 mins.)

Sponsored by the Governor's Office of Film & Television.

VISITING ARTIST—This year’s recipient of the Regional Arts and Culture Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship, Portland filmmaker Lawrence Johnson—STUFF (2011), HANDGAME (2001)—is known for his sensitive treatment of history and Native American cultures. Tonight, Johnson will present a program of his shorter works, made over the course of 25 years, including pieces made for the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyo., and other Oregon and Washington history museums; THREE POSSIBLE SCENES (2002), an experimental film starring Portland actors Ted Roisum and Sarah Lucht; and a live performance by Thringst, a performance art group Johnson helped found that blends live music, video, drama, and general mayhem on an aquatic theme. “Larry’s work evokes a trickster’s sensibility,” says filmmaker Sue Arbuthnot. “Guiding us with humor and patience to a better understanding of our world.” (120 mins.)

VISITING ARTISTS—In 1985, when MTV was in its most creative phase, producer Melissa Marsland sent Portland filmmaker Jim Blashfield’s cutout, Xerox-animated film SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES to the band Talking Heads, asking—out of the blue—if the studio could do a music video for them. The band’s response set in motion a series of groundbreaking music videos for Talking Heads, Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Tears for Fears, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Portland’s Nu Shooz, and others, all of which imaginatively expanded the genre and earned international acclaim. Visually innovative, conceptually engaging, and hugely labor intensive, the handcrafted, photo collage videos employed a virtual “Who’s Who” of Portland visual artists. Profiled in Connoisseur Magazine and elsewhere, the videos received numerous MTV nominations and awards, a Cannes Gold Lion, and a Grammy, among other accolades. Blashfield, Marsland, and others who worked on the videos will be on hand to show the work and to give a behind-the-scenes look at the production of what Rolling Stone Magazine counted among the best music videos ever made. (120 mins.)

Blashfield presents a workshop, “Suspicious Circumstances: Inside the Artistic Process,” at the School of Film on November 11 at 1 p.m.

Join us as we screen and celebrate the achievements of this year’s matriculating School of Film Certificate Program students. Each filmmaker will present the short narrative film that they have created as the culminating effort of their studies. Stephanie Hough’s HEART compares the rituals of three brothers; Nathan Luppino’s LOCKS follows two lonely souls in the city; William Scheuner’s LILY takes a circus performer back to a pivotal moment in the past; and Shane Watson’s CHANGES explores the processing of loss and grief. These “final projects” showcase the skill and voice that each individual has developed over the years through class exercises, visiting artist sessions, group projects, faculty advising, and extracurricular pursuits. (90 mins.)

A reception honoring the filmmakers begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Andree Stevens Room.

FREE

VISITING ARTIST—Tonight we welcome Portland filmmaker/media artist Jim Blashfield for the second of two programs surveying his diverse, internationally heralded work. Although Blashfield is best known for the award-winning music videos that he and his studio created in the mid-1980s, much of that groundbreaking work found inspiration from a body of eclectic animated and live-action experimental films that reflect his quirky, sometimes whimsical, and always unexpected perspective. Included in the program is the cut-out animated film SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES (1984), described as a “hilariously unpredictable exercise in kitschy surrealism” by The New Yorker; BUNNYHEADS (2007), a collaboration with sculptor Christine Bourdette that offers a poetic exploration of an enigmatic subterranean culture with some possible parallels to our own; VANITY (2010), in which a 1950s instructional film is transformed into a meditation on ... the pursuit of beauty? dueling aspects of the guilt-infested self? yoga for the genetically modified?; THE MID-TORSO OF INEZ (1978), a noir-ish comedy disguised as a detective story (created in collaboration with Vern Luce); THE LONE RANGER (2002), a dreamy and provocative merging of imagery with the music of guitar great Bill Frisell; excerpts from recent video installations; and other surprises. (120 mins.)

Blashfield presents a workshop, “Suspicious Circumstances: Inside the Artistic Process,” at the School of Film on November 11 at 1 p.m.