Small town, big screen
Jesse Andrew Clarke, director of “Free to Grow”
Celebrating the vibrant spirit of independent filmmaking from across the Pacific Northwest, the inaugural Manzanita Film Festival, debuts at the historic Pine Grove Community House this Saturday, Oct. 4.
The festival will showcase a curated selection of short films in three categories: live action, animated and documentary.
Featuring a diverse group of filmmakers from throughout the Pacific Northwest, the festival aims to spotlight both emerging voices and established creatives telling stories rooted in place, community and imagination.
“We’re excited to bring together filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate storytelling and the rich film culture of the Pacific Northwest,” said festival director Justin Graham.
Audiences can expect thought-provoking documentaries, engaging live-action narratives and imaginative shorts — all in a single-day, community-driven event just steps from the Pacific Ocean.
The festival will include 24 films ranging from 57 seconds to 25 minutes in length, including shorts from Portland and Manzanita filmmakers.
The award-winning animated short “Les Bêtes” by Michael Granberry is a dark stop-motion fantasy in which a mysterious rabbit with a set of magic keys summons a host of strange creatures to entertain a wicked king.
The festival will feature the premiere of Emmy award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer Jesse Andrew Clark’s powerful environmental documentary “Free to Grow.” Rural Oregon families have taken up the fight against aerial herbicide spraying by the forestry industry for more than 50 years — but has public safety around these substances even improved?
Also on offer is the mind-bending live-action short “Controlling the Narrative.” directed by Eva Moss, who is a co-founder of Catalyst Film Collective, a non-profit dedicated to supporting underrepresented people in film. A cutthroat Hollywood producer develops a "cinematic dissociative disorder” after her estranged mom dies. To avoid getting stuck in a rom-com, she must learn the only way to control her narrative is to let go of what she can’t control.
- The documentary “The Invisible Enemy” directed by Mark Shapiro and Douglas Brian Miller, with executive producer Matthew Modine. During tours of duty in Nevada, enlisted men and women were repeatedly exposed to lethal radiation at the world's largest nuclear test site. But because exercises were “top-secret,” the government continues to conceal official records of their ever having served there. Now cancer-stricken and ineligible for benefits because of their classified designation, veterans are mobilizing to prove they served and to secure basic healthcare for themselves and their families.
Saturday’s screenings will run from noon to 5:30 pm at the Pine Grove Community House, 225 Laneda Avenue. Tickets are $10. For more information and tickets, go to manzanitafilmfestival.com.