Experimental Filmmaker Karaoke hosted by Roger Beebe
In 2008, Boathouse Microcinema was not even a glint in founder Matt McCormick’s eye, but he was running the Portland Documentary and Experimental Film Festival (PDX Fest), and that year they debuted their Experimental Filmmaker Karaoke Throwdown. Filmmakers were invited to make their own karaoke videos, and attendees could sing along.
Now in 2026, filmmaker Roger Beebe still has all the original files and he is following the lineage and bringing them to Boathouse Microcinema. The selections run from classic karaoke jams (Hall & Oates, They Might Be Giants) to borderline un-karaoke-able experiments (Gertrude Stein, Steve Reich). The program includes several dozen recent videos made by Roger Beebe and Jesse Malmed as well as the original roster of avant-garde all-stars from the fabled 2008 & 2009 PDX Film Festivals including Bill Brown & Sabine Gruffat, Michael Robinson, Jeanne Liotta, Matt McCormick, Bryan Boyce and more. And yes, this is really karaoke, so come prepared to sing!
