Oregon Movies, A to Z

Brian Lindstrom ( on the pavement) researches Alien Boy, his James Chasse documentary.

If, like Michel Gondry,  you are an A list Hollywood director, you already know that you can wake up in the morning, look at Cameron Diaz, Seth Rogen and Christoph Waltz and realize that what you really want to do is direct a doc.  That’s why Gondry came to Portland to appear in person with The Thorn In The Heart.

Portland is full of documentarians. Gondry may not be from Portland, but that night he was coming home.

Here is a run down of just a few Portland docs and documentarians. Not at all a complete list!

Peter Wiedensmith documents the life crisis of a Unitarian minister who realizes that once she retires from her job she has nothing.

Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher traveled to Mosher’s hometown in upstate New York to create a portrait, Mosher says, not of his family, but of how he feels about his family.

Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm immersed themselves for five years in the lives of the families uprooted by the bulldozing of an aging housing project in North Portland.

Brian Lindstrom examines the medical, legal, and social issues which intersected when a mentally ill Portland man, guilty only of running away from police, died in police custody.

Lois Leonard directed the first feature length documentary about the Scottish explorer David Douglas. Larry Johnson is raising money to finish his personal doc about his relationship with his father.

Portland is so doc crazy, we have three organizations helping documentarians keep it all together – Northwest Film Center, Film Action Oregon, and  Northwest Documentary Project.

As Michel Gondry likes to say “Every great idea is on the verge of being stupid.” James Longley of Eugene went to Iraq with a camera and no press pass, and all he ended up with were two Oscar nominations.

Speaking of which, Brian Lindstrom will be screening two of his documentaries, Old Town Diary and To Pay My Way With Stories, this weekend at the Hollywood Theater. If you don’t understand why Portland is so doc drenched, go see this double bill.