Portland Film Festival

  • CHASING CHILDHOOD, Documentary Explores the Changing Landscape of Childhood and Parenting

    Chasing Childhood directed by Margaret Munzer Loeb and Eden Wurmfeld
    Chasing Childhood directed by Margaret Munzer Loeb and Eden Wurmfeld

    Following the world premiere at DOC NYC, the documentary Chasing Childhood will screen at upcoming film festivals across the country in March and April, including Portland International Film Festival (March 5-14) and Sonoma International Film Festival (March 24-28).

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  • 44th Portland International Film Festival Announces First Wave of Films + Events

    The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs
    The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs

    The 44th Portland International Film Festival (PIFF 44) taking place March 5 – 14, 2021, announced the first wave of films and special events. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, PIFF 44 will be held as a hybrid event with a combination of virtual and drive-in screenings.

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  • Portland International Film Festival Announces Winners of 2020 Future/future Competition

    The Fever, directed by Maya Da-Rin
    The Fever, directed by Maya Da-Rin

    The Fever, directed by Maya Da-Rin and This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese are the winners of the 43rd Portland International Film Festival’s Future/future competition.

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  • 8th Portland Film Festival Winners – PRINCESS OF THE ROW and FIRE ON THE HILL Win Top Awards

    Princess of the Row
    Princess of the Row

    Princess of the Row was named Best Narrative Feature and Fire on the Hill took home Best Documentary Feature at the 8th Annual Portland Film Festival. Princess of the Row is director Max Carlson’s inspiring tale of a runaway foster child who will stop at nothing to get back to the only family she knows: her homeless, mentally ill veteran father who lives on the streets of LA’s skid row.

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  • STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN to Open 8th Portland Film Festival

    STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN directed by Matt Ratner
    STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN directed by Matt Ratner

    The 8th Annual Portland Film Festival, will screen more than 100 independent films, with more than half directed by women, from October 14 to 20, 2019 at the Hi-Lo Hotel in downtown Portland.

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  • #PIFF41 2018 Portland International Film Festival Announces Lineup

    41st Portland International Film Festival The Portland International Film Festival (PIFF 41) has revealed the lineup for this year’s 41st edition of the Festival, which begins on Thursday, February 15th and runs through Thursday, March 1st. The Opening Night selection is the new comedy The Death of Stalin from writer/director Armando Iannucci (Veep, In the Loop). The film, adapted from the graphic novel by Fabien Nury, stars Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Jason Isaacs, and Michael Palin. In addition to the Opening Night film, the Festival will host the Portland premiere of a handful of Oscar-nominated films, including Ildikó Enyedi’s On Body and Soul (Hungary), nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, Laura Checkoway’s Edith & Eddie (United States), which is in competition for the Best Documentary (Short Subject) Oscar, and Reed Van Dyk’s Dekalb Elementary (United States), nominated for the Best Short Film (Live Action) Academy Award. Also present in the lineup are multiple Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award submissions, including Tatiana Huezo’s Tempestad (Mexico), Jonas Carpignano’s A Ciambra (Italy), Deepak Rauniyar’s White Sun (Nepal), Ryôta Nakano’s Her Love Boils Bathwater (Japan), Lucrecia Martel’s Zama (Argentina), Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson’s Under the Tree (Iceland), and many others. Submissions for the Best Animated Feature Film Academy Award in the festival include Kenji Kamayama’s Napping Princess (Japan), Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero’s Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Spain), and Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert’s The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales (France). As in past years, the Festival features an abundance of short films. This year’s lineup boasts eight discrete short film programs, including two blocks devoted entirely to films made in Oregon, an animated shorts program, a collection exploring innovative experimental short form works, and a program of short films by Charlie Chaplin featuring live musical accompaniment by silent film composer and pianist Robert Israel. Israel has performed solo, and with orchestras, worldwide, in addition to past performances at the festival. Other highlights of PIFF 41 include screenings of Andrew Haigh’s (45 Years) Lean on Pete, Morgan Neville’s (20 Feet from Stardom) Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Valeska Grisebach’s (Longing) Western, Portland-based director Sky Fitzgerald’s (50 Feet from Syria) 101 Seconds, the late Abbas Kiarostami’s (A Taste of Cherry) final film 24 Frames, Thomas Riedelsheimer’s (Rivers and Tides) Leaning Into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy, Joseph Kahn’s (Detention) Bodied, Xuan Liang and Chun Zhan’s animated debut Big Fish & Begonia, Sergei Loznitsa’s (My Joy) A Gentle Creature, former Portlander Aaron Katz’ (Cold Weather) Gemini, a trio of features (Claire’s Camera, The Day After, and On the Beach At Night Alone) from South Korean director Hong Sang-Soo (The Day He Arrives), Christina Costantini and Darren Foster’s documentary debut Science Fair, Michael Matthew’s debut feature Five Fingers for Marseilles, Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki’s (People’s Park) El Mar La Mar, Rungaro Nyoni’s debut feature I Am Not a Witch, Ben Russell’s (A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness) Good Luck, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s (Spring) The Endless, Neïl Beloufa’s (Tonight and the People) Occidental, Samuel Maoz’ (Lebanon) Foxtrot, Warwick Thornton’s (Samson & Delilah) Sweet Country, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s (Amer) Let the Corpses Tan, Milad Alami’s (Nordic Factory) The Charmer, Cory Finley’s feature debut Thoroughbreds, and many others.

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