PUFF 2008

Damn the skies...

After a few days of dreary, almost winterlike weather - the 12th started slowly, and grew into a smmmer day. Sadly, that co-incided with the opening of the Portland Underground Film Festival.

Opening night featured "Double Born", an adapted Bram Stoker story from director Tony Randel (Hellraiser 2: Hellbound). While the audience was small, they were very engaged - and the Q&A following the screening was full of good interaction.

Afterwards, everyone sped over to the Aalto Lounge for opening night party. The back deck was the place to be. Tony held court with fellow filmmakers, and the vodka/tonic flowed. Fun times. Director James Westby leaned in to dispense lessons learned from Tribeca - where his latest "The Auteur" (which features almost the entire staff from the CST) was screened. He said something about Michael Moore walking into one of the screenings by accident - and then laughing at one of the jokes.

Grindhouse after hours

Last week, I was doing a 16mm screening over at the 5th Avenue Cinemas. At the exact same time, Grindhouse maven Dan Halstead was breaking loose with a collection of trashy movie trailers at the Hollywood. Just dandy. Luckily, Dan was game for a private after-hours screening with a few friends.

After a gathering and pre-game warmup at the Aalto Lounge, we bolted over to the vacant Hollywood to take in this rarity. Hilarity ensued.

There is nothing like trashy exploitation and ultraviolence in 35mm.

QDoc 2008

QDoc was here for a fantastic second year.

Much like the debut festival, every night was well attended - and sold out for the closing night screening of "The Times of Harvey Milk", which was attended by Oscar-winning director Rob Epstein (The Celluloid Closet, Paragraph 175). I've been trying to book this at the Clinton, so it's great to finally see it screened here - and a nice print, as well. The Q&A with Rob was solid and full of stories from about the making of the feature. Additionally, there was some discussion about Gus Van Sant's dramatic adaptation "Milk", which is slated for release in December. Van Sant was supposed to participate in the Q&A, but test screenings in New York prevented him from attending.

Also in attendance was our new mayor-elect Sam Adams.