Northwest Tracking highlights the work of independent filmmakers living and working in the Northwest—Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington—whose work reflects the vibrant cinematic culture of the region. Whether presenting single-artist retrospectives, new features, documentaries, or inspired collections of short works, this ongoing showcase offers testimony to the creativity and talent in our flourishing media arts community.

Welcome to the 23rd annual Portland Jewish Film Festival, produced by the Northwest Film Center and co-presented with the Institute for Judaic Studies. While the Festival specifically celebrates the diversity of Jewish history, culture, and identity, we hope that these films, and the stories they tell, resonate beyond their settings and speak to universal experiences and issues that confront our common humanity.

Special thanks to our sponsors: Oregon Israel Fund of OJCF; Oregon Jewish Life Magazine; Leonard & Lois Schnitzer Charitable Supporting Fund of OJCF; Diane Solomon, Family fund; Cedar Sinai Park; Schnitzer Care Foundation; Reuben & Liz Menashe; Carolyn Weinstein, Hasson Realtors; Jewish Federation of Greater Portland; Community Warehouse; Mittleman Jewish Community Center; Portland Jewish Academy; Holzman Foundation; JStreet; German Consulate; Jewish Family & Child Services and Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education; Cong. Neveh Shalom and Cong. Shaarie Torah.

Purchase a Portland Jewish Film Festival Patron Pass

Join us atop the Hotel deLuxe’s parking structure at SW 15th and Yamhill for our 11th annual program of cinema under the stars. Doors open at 7 PM with food and beverages available for purchase from select food carts and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Music begins at 8 PM and films begin around dusk.

Entry for advance ticket holders is guaranteed until 8:30 PM. Advance tickets ensure that you will not have to wait in the ticket purchase line but do not guarantee entry after 8:30 PM. A limited number of chairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so feel free to bring a chair, pillow, or blanket, along with a light sweater or jacket. Advance ticket holders who arrive after 8:30 PM but are not admitted to the screening (in the case of a sell-out) may exchange their tickets for another Top Down screening. There are no refunds or exchanges for arrivals after the film begins (c. 9 PM) or for entirely missed screenings. We appreciate your understanding. Please, no pets or outside food or drink.

Thanks to our sponsors: Hotel deLuxe, Peter Corvallis Productions, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Portland Mercury, Yelp! Portland, KIND Healthy Snacks, PDX Pipeline, and Artslandia.

Advance tickets are available at nwfilm.org: $9 general; $8 student/senior/Portland Art Museum member; $6 Silver Screen Club Friend.

Tickets at the door are $11 general; $10 student/senior/PAM member; $8 Silver Screen Club Friend.

Paul Thomas Anderson occupies a unique position in the American film industry: a cinephile auteur working within the confines of the major Hollywood studios but making his own brand of idiosyncratic, distinctive films with an eye for art over commerce. Anderson’s films cover wide dramatic terrain, from the inner workings of American pseudo-cults in BOOGIE NIGHTS and THE MASTER, to the sprawling interrogation of family in MAGNOLIA, to the Southern California oil boom at the turn of the 20th century in THERE WILL BE BLOOD. A child of Los Angeles, his work has largely focused on the marginalia of the City of Angels, off the well-worn, glamorous path, shaping everyday lives into poetic meditations on modern existence. In addition to Anderson’s seven features we are pleased to offer 14 films that have influenced his work over the years. As all of Anderson’s films have been shot on film, most of the films in the retrospective will be screened on 35mm prints—an increasingly limited possibility in the era of digital cinema.

View The Art of Reinvention series trailer

“Life is a tragedy. There’s no happy end for any of us. We all die. But there’s a lot of comedy in it. There’s comedy and vulnerability . . . I’m trying to show what it’s like to be human.”—Roy Andersson. Hailed by the Toronto International Film Festival as “the most distinctive Swedish filmmaker since Ingmar Bergman, Roy Andersson’s biting, idiosyncratic films—droll, absurd, observational comedies—delight as they surface both the nightmare and joy of human existence.” Leading up to the Portland premiere of his newest film, A PIGEON SAT IN A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, we are pleased to offer an Andersson primer, a retrospective of three of the four meticulously crafted features that have established his singular place in international cinema. Though his output of only five feature films over 45 years may be considered modest by one standard, the achievement is grand and singular. Thanks to Magnolia Pictures, Kino International, and the Co-production Office for providing the films.

Drive, bike, or take the streetcar to our drive-in under the stars—and the striking Ross Island Bridge—at Zidell Yards. The gates open at 7 PM and films start at dusk, with food and drink for sale by local food-cart vendors. If you don’t have a car, bring a chair and warm, cushy blankets and find your spot in front for some pop cinema classics.

The Zidell Yards entrance is at 3030 SW Moody Avenue, a few blocks north of the tram and streetcar stop at OHSU. 

Admission: $8; tickets available exclusively at the gate. Payment options: cash or card. Please, no outside food or drink. Sound will be broadcast via FM radio transmission and outdoor speaker system.

Co-presented by Zidell and the Northwest Film Center.

For up-to-date event information regarding weather and the Drive In at Zidell Yards, please visit the event's Facebook page. Please assume the show is on unless otherwise noted.