It was another sold out night when Zak Margolis, Joanna Priestley, and Rose Bond stopped by last week. They also continued what is fast becoming a BHMC tradition when they conducted their post-screening Q&A while seated amongst the audience. One of the ideas discussed was why Portland has such a rich tradition in the production of animation. Besides the humerus (and likely somewhat accurate) stock answer ‘the weather,’ Rose and Joanna agreed that the presence of Teknifilm (an accessible and affordable film lab), the resources offered at the NW Film Center, and the freedom offered by working outside of a traditional media hub like NYC or LA all combined to allow a foundation of vigorous animation community to form in the early 80s- a community that would go on to create world-renowned commercials, award winning music-videos, Emmy-winning television shows and Oscar-nominated films.
Four shows into this project, it is exciting to see enthusiastic audiences coming together to share, ingest, and discuss local, independent cinema. Thanks again to the filmmakers and everyone who showed up!
