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Distressed Tape
MICHAEL LIGHTBORNE 00:07:00 VHS / Digitally Captured Birmingham, UK Ruin your favorite VHS and play it loud! This contemporary meditative film invokes the inner turmoil of the inconvenience all around us. Distressed Tape plays before each session, when it plays: SETTLE IN, SHUT THE FUCK UP, & ENJOY THE DAMN SHOW |
Friday October 13th
Night session - Doors 6 - Show 7
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Cat Call
CASSIDY DeMARCO & TYLER FERGUSON 00:04:12 Digital Portland, Oregon, USA Not for the faint of heart! Be aware of the feminist acts from the future. Watch out men of the world, it's a changing place and he better respect it or lose IT. Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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San and the Oakman go to Las Vegas
STEPHEN CERVANTES 00:09:48 Digital New York, New York, USA A buddy picture filled with atypical tropes created in the vain of an experimental narrative. Jusssst kiddiiiing, as soon as that alimony check comes in, San and The Oakman go to places way better than Navadaaaaasssss. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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Troll: A Southern Tale
MARINAH JANELLO 00:11:40 Digital / Super 8 Boston, MA / Ocean Springs, Mississippi, USA Filmmaker Marinah Janello returns with her work Troll: A Southern Tale. Encrusted in ambiguity and irony, Troll stars a Mississippian anti-heroic internet troll begging the audience to decipher truth and fiction in a distorted paradise landscape. A favorite among The Unknown judges, Troll offers insight on a subculture many struggle to understand. |
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We Still Together
MARQUETTE JEFFERSON 00:04:16 Digital Genuine and with heart, a super relatable four minute gem. We Still Together’s authenticity is the perfect embodiment of this festival’s core values. |
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Laughter Far Away
EWAN GOLDER 00:26:26 Digital Romney Marsh, Kent, England Maybe a little too real, or maybe a bit farfetched, maybe existing in a space right in between. This is a story told only the way a British filmmaker can. Ewan Golder combines humor, sex, beer, drugs, and most of all violent hallucinations to create a horrifying internal spiral of hero, Colin. Laughter Far Away is a film that makes us wonder what is here? What is beyond? And what is right in front of our eyes? |
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When will my hands become roots?
LUCIANA FREIRE D'ANUNCIACAO 00:03:40 Digital Recife-PE, Brazil / Vancouver, Canada When will my hands become roots? pulsates with a beat and images to drown the viewer in the rhythmic beauty of the Pacific Northwest. |
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Psychotropical
LIZ TABISH Best Form and Editing 00:14:10 Digital Austin, Texas, USA A psychedelic fantasy laced in a mysterious new drug. We are pulled into the depths of one woman using her intellectual and sexual power to control men. Filmmaker Liz Tabish carries us on a trip through the physical and mental levels of love, desire, and corporate greed. |
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Scream King - a porn stud blood bath
KELLY HUGHES 00:09:18 Digital Port Orchard, Washington, USA Last years proud winner of Worst Film creates another Pacific Northwest jewel. A meta b-film horror spectacle packed with dark humor that can only explain itself. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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Song for Awe and Dread
TOMMY BECKER 00:06:55 Digital San Francisco, California, USA Filmmaker Tommy Becker creates a wonderfully quirky and catchy tune. We learn that all good things must come to an end. THE END |
Follows Friday Night Session
Music Video extravaganza
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Immediately following the Friday night session The Unknown's music video extravaganza will debut to delight folks on opening night.
Session attendees will have a chance to dance and mingle with filmmakers as selected music videos from independent artists are projected all around them. |
Saturday October 14th
Afternoon Session - Doors 2 - Show 2:30
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Dear Jayne
BRETT HARVEY 00:2:58 Digital Falmouth, Cornwall, UK Some bloke has a fucking awful holiday, and his travelmate keeps eating hashbrown sandwiches. |
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Decoding Dark Matter
CRYSTAL WATERTON 00:21:53 Digital Brooklyn, New York, USA A documentary exploring art and artists from a mostly unseen and unheard portion of our diverse world. Decoding DarkMatter celebrates the marginalized and unique as the group DarkMatter create honest, real life poetry and performance art. Director Crystal Waterton reminds us all that individuality is what keeps the world beautiful. |
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Pedra
GONÇALO ROBALO 00:06:47 Digital Lisbon, Portugal A slow patient film about isolation, love, mortality, and pushing buttons. |
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Long Life Sutra
KOSTAS CHRITIS 00:26:12 Digital Thessaloniki, Greece Graphic Warning. This film is very real. It depicts the strong differences in the way animals are treated within in a single culture. Shot from an unopinionated viewpoint, Kostas Chritis allows the audience to watch various interactions between animals and humans in life and death, and decide. By tugging at our contemporary American sensibilities, this film makes us wonder who we are, and where we stand in the web of life. |
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Sign of the Whale
NOAH WEISEL 00:16:16 Digital Point Arena, California, USA A wonderfully Pacific Northwest film set on the mysterious North Coast. Delightfully developed characters and small town quirk, trap an unsuspecting man in local lore and suspicious oddities. Sign of the Whale combines charming folk artistry and mature filmmaking to create an other worldly tale. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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memory of a green world
NICOLE BAKER 00:02:53 16mm / Digital Stills Portland, Oregon, USA Created by last year’s winner of The Joe Couch Award in Experimentation, Nicole Baker. Devotees will witness growth of a filmmaker in form and function, as she creates another memorable experimental film. Baker’s digital quilt envelops a 16mm world through a contemporary gaze, pulling audience members into euphoric wilderness space only vaguely aware of its human overlords. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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Be Cute, Now!
MEGAN HATTIE STAHL 00:04:00 Digital / VHS / Found Footage Portland, Oregon, USA The throbbing angst of overbearing parents and lost childhood hits with full force with a pinch of humor. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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UNBUCKLED
TESSA RIBITSCH 00:10:24 Digital Portland, Oregon, USA Assless gown on crisp white crinkly paper, blinding fluorescent lights, legs supported by stirrups, insert speculum here. Using articulate voyeuristic cinematography and strongly developed characters, filmmaker Tessa Ribitsch poignantly depicts the horrifying and oh-so-real adventure of receiving an intrauterine device. Ribitsch and her cinematographer will be present for an intimate discussion following the film. *Discussion with filmmakers to follow screening. |
Saturday October 14th
Evening session - Doors 4:30 - Show 5
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PINK BOX
JAVAD EMAMI 00:03:00 35mm Tarzana, California, USA Food, sex, virtual reality, repeat. |
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Seasons Greetings From Terriorate
GONZALO NOSAL 00:13:33 Digital Outerspace Dear Yakitori, We’re sitting here trying to write a synopsis of your film but are having trouble figuring out which parts have deeper meanings. Will you write one for us? Also, where is Terriorate? Sincerely, The North Portland Unknown *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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She Loves Me, or, the Throbbing Glands of America's Youth
SANDY MAHAR Best Art Direction 01:15:00 Digital Portland, Oregon, USA This roman-esq comedy with a dark Portland twist belongs to local filmmaker Sandy Mahar. The story follows hero (fool), Teeny, as he seeks inebriated love in the most seedy of Portland’s spaces. Littered with articulate characters and screwball art design, She Loves Me is here to remind us all about the dangers of friends and Shibby. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
Saturday October 14th
Night session - Doors 7 - Show 7:30
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Staring at the Ceiling
COLTON SMRZ Unknown Masterpiece 00:08:12 16mm Film / 8mm Tape / iPhone / Digital New York, New York, USA 2017 Unknown Masterpiece was awarded to film student Colton Smrz for his film Staring at the Ceiling. Chaotically driven by being, Smrz uses a variety of shooting formats (16mm Film, 8mm Tape, iPhone, Digital) to express his existential fear of separation from himself and reality. A participatory picture perfectly capturing the intensity and absurdity of an intricate world. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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What Comes From a Swamp
TYLER MACRI Top Ranking Student 00:16:28 16mm Ithaca, New York, USA Such beauty is found in such dark places. Winner of the Top Ranking Student Award, Tyler Macri uses gritty production value, 16mm film, and a jarring tale from the deep, to pull you into an unimaginable world entirely funded from poor college pockets. What Comes From a Swamp is a peek into an adolescent’s heart. |
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from this side of space to the other side of the signal
BENJAMIN ROSENTHAL Prize Soundscape 00:09:54 HD Video / SD Analog Video and Real-Time Analog Signal Processing / 3D Animation Kansas City, Missouri, USA A high art digital experimental film straight from the galactic expanse. Winner of Prize Soundscape, this soundtrack forces the audience into a state of insecurity and chaos with the deep rumblings from some unearthly being. Paired with complex digitally created imagery, This Side of Space is an unmatched contemporary experience. |
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Happy
JOY RISK Trans"format"ive Best 00:18:18 Found Footage Sebastopol, California, USA Winner of 2017 Trans”format”ive Best is an exploration in found footage and what it means to be happy. Filmmaker Joy Risk uses a rare opportunity to look back at a documented life and demonstrates how we are all shaped by our experiences. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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lavirra
JESSICA DAUGHERTY 00:06:33 Digital Portland, Oregon, USA A Portland born film browsing the beauty of our waters to show the cyclical nature of human beings and planet earth. Featured player Cypress Copse bends to the rumbling of our rocks and twists with the viscosity of the Pacific Ocean. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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GUN
HAVEN NUTT The Folk Award 00:10:00 Super 8 Nashville, Tennessee, USA Winner of The Folk Award for the 2017 season. Gun is a peek at innocence retained through tragedy while the pillars around crumble under the inability to cope. Haven Nutt depicts the strength and naivety of children in this film straight from the soul. *Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
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Born Dead
CAITLIN DRISCOLL Joe Couch Award in Experimentation 00:14:25 Hi-8 Northampton, Massachusetts, USA A throwback to early experimental film by way of Maya Deren and Sergi Eisenstin, Born Dead adds much needed sexuality and feminism to the story of the crucifixion. Riddled with blood and ritualism, filmmaker Caitlin Driscoll takes us down a Hi-8 journey from wine to resurrection. This year’s winner of The Joe Couch Award in Experimentation depicts “a torrid affair between good and evil, flesh and death.” |
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das Eichhörnchen
THE OLSON BROTHERS 00:06:06 35mm - 24fps Portland, Oregon, USA Who knew that the life of a squirrel could so closely resemble that of many today? This stop motion rodent can do it all; he smokes, drinks, jerks it, and is subject to his own self loathing. This little squirrel may be the most relatable character in this years festival. Filmmaker(s) in attendance. |
Saturday October 14th
2-minute film festival
Doors 9 - Show 9:30
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Buy Tickets Early! This event will sell out!
This year we have 1 hour and 45 minutes of films under 120 seconds. All films were automatically accepted for this interactive screening where the audience will rejoice, jeer and ultimately judge the films. Three films will win the honor of being 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 2-Minute competition! |
