Oregon Film History Invitational/May 8, 2015

by Anne Richardson

Buster Keaton, Cottage Grove 1926 (Photo: Basil Wolverton)

On May 8, 2015, Oregon Movies, A to Z is holding a one day Oregon film history conference specifically designed for educators, historians and museum professionals.

Sheldon Renan, Pacific Film Archives 1970

What is the history behind, and the meaning behind, Oregon’s regional strength in creating independent film artists?  Where does this longstanding strength fit within the overall intellectual and cultural identity of the Pacific Northwest?

Three examples, among many others: Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson, twelve time Emmy award winner Matt Groening, and two time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton. All three artist-entrepreneurs move between film and print cartooning/comics, and are part of the history covered in Oregon Historical Society’s upcoming exhibit, Comics City, USA, in 2016.

The conference is very low key and conversational. The point is just for people to hear about the wide variety of work being done.

Here is the list of presenters.

The day is split into two halves: Silent Era in the morning/Sound Era in the afternoon.

Silent Era

Steve Stone & Gary Lacher, authors of Theatres of Portland
Electrified, movie mad Portland: Mapping the 1910’s/1920’s streetcar/movie theater infrastructure

Gus Frederick, Homer Davenport Project
The political connections of Oregon’s first cartooning superstar, Homer Davenport, contradict his self description as “country boy”

Ben Truwe, Southern Oregon Historical Society
Voice artist Pinto Colvig, one of Oregon’s earliest pop culture practitioners, directed an early feature length animated film (now lost, save a handful of archived 35mm frames), in San Francisco in 1916

Walt Dimick, filmmaker
Second generation filmmaker/inventor Walt Dimick describes the business strategy of Norm Dimick, one of Portland’s first full time film entrepreneurs.

Lunch

Sound Era

Dennis Nyback, Dennis Nyback Film Archive
George Olsen, Del Porter, Louis Kaufman, Mel Blanc, Phil Moore (pictured above), Johnnie Ray, Jane Powell: Portland talent hits sound era Hollywood

Anne Richardson, Oregon Movies, A to Z
James Ivory & James Blue: the Third World debuts of Oregon’s first sound era directors

Sheldon Renan & Brooke Jacobson, filmmakers/educators (the above photo is of Brooke Jacobson and Bob Summers, found on Heather Petrocelli’s wonderful @ReelPDX)
Portland’s film community in 1970-71: The birth of Northwest Film Study Center

Richard Blakeslee & Tom Chamberlin, filmmakers
Teknifilm Lab nurtures the return of Portland independent film

We will limit the length of each presentation to leave lots of time for Q & A and discussion.

It will be a whirlwind of information, but that would be the point. To bring everybody up to speed with each other’s work (in a rough way) within one day.

The conference is by invitation. It is designed for educators, historians and museum professionals.

Seating is limited.

Contact me if you feel you have been left off the invitation list by mistake.

 Dennis Nyback, co-founder of Oregon Cartoon Institute, will show a Portland film so rare that when we contacted the people who made it, they said it didn’t exist.

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This conference was inspired by the deluge of new information unleashed during the recent Mid Century Oregon Genius screening series which was supported by Kinsman Foundation and Miller Foundation, and fiscally sponsored by Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission.

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The first one day Oregon film history conference was made a success by the following presenters and participants.

Laura Berg, writer-editor
Richard Blakeslee, filmmaker
Richard Blue, James and Richard Blue Foundation
Bill Bowling, film locations consultant, founder of the Deinum Prize
David Bryant, filmmaker
Libby Burke, Bonneville Power Administration Archives
Mac Burns, Oregon Film Museum
Tom Chamberlin, filmmaker
John Concillo, Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission
Laurence Cotton, writer-filmmaker
Walt Dimick, filmmaker
Bill Failing, Oregon Historical Society
James Fox, UO Knight Library
Gus Frederick, Homer Davenport Project
Kohel Haver, Swider/Haver
Brooke Jacobson, educator
Jerry Ketel, Leopold Ketel
Gary Lacher, film preservationist
Taz Loomans, Blooming Rock
Frann Michel, Willamette University
David Milholland, Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission
Dennis Nyback, independent archivist
Elizabeth Peterson, UO Knight Library
Ingrid Renan, Exploding Green
Sheldon Renan, writer
Anne Richardson, Oregon Cartoon Institute/Oregon Movies, A to Z
Patrick Rosenkranz, author/historian
Jennifer Stoots, art historian/appraiser
Steve Stone, historian
Randall Stuart, Cerimon House
Ben Truwe, Southern Oregon Historical Society
Eric Underwood, City of Oregon City
Kate Wagle, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, UO

Thank you, all!