Oregon Movies, A to Z

Ever wonder why Portland is such a film friendly town?

Dutch documentary filmmaker Andries Denium was blacklisted in 1955 for refusing to cooperate with the House on Un-American Activities Committee. He arrived in Portland two years later, in 1957, and spent the rest of his life making Portland safe for film lovers and filmmakers.

Brooke Jacobson, one of the founders of the Northwest Film Study Center, the precursor to the Northwest Film Center, is writing a book about Denium. Her Oregon Encyclopedia entry about Denium gives a brief overview of the accomplishments of this adoptive Portlander, who among other things co-founded Film Quarterly Journal.

Read the rest of Jacobson’s article to see the many fronts on which Deinum was active as an educator, lover of film, and defender of freedom.