By Sam Schrader
Even before the 43rd Portland International Film Festival, or PIFF (immoderately titled “Cinema Unbound”), began, there was buzz in the community regarding their rather unusual opening weekend selection. There is usually an understanding that one will encounter, at a film festival, what might be considered a “festival film.” This is typically something independent, often international, and dealing with underrepresented subjects — something that would fly under the radar of most casual filmgoers. While the festival did provide audiences with the usual festival fair on the opening night: a collection of indie shorts and features (all from the United States, some from Oregon), the big film of the weekend seemed to be Pixar’s Onward, which was released that same weekend all over the country.
This year, as part of a larger campaign to redesign PIFF, the number of total screenings was reduced, in part to facilitate more events and workshops. This new level of engagement with the film community at large is, in my opinion, a good thing for elevating PIFF to a higher status, despite less programming. However, the choice to give two of their limited programming spots to a film made by the biggest, baddest film production company around (D*sney), which will be seen by millions of people and make millions of dollars, ruffled a few feathers.
As a lifelong Pixar fan, I was torn. On one hand, I think that the complaints leveled at PIFF for this programming choice are entirely valid, they are not supporting Pixar or D*sney in any meaningful way by showing the film at the festival, and they are certainly not supporting the typical, adult festival community by taking up spaces in the limited programming schedule. On the other hand, the way in which they presented the first of the two screenings is admirable. Unlike the majority of the festival fare this year, and the second screening of the film, which happened later the same day, the first screening was billed as a “free community screening” at the Whitsell Auditorium (the Northwest Film Center/Portland Art Museum’s own venue).
By the time the auditorium was full (and it was full), there seemed to be about a 3:1 ratio of kids to adults. While this isn’t a surprise for a new Pixar movie, there seemed to be a real sense of community, more than I would have expected to see at a Regal or something similar. Strangers were engaged in conversation, kids were making new friends, and we all seemed to have the feeling that we were here for more than just a film. Perhaps it was just the labeling of the event as a community screening, but there was a level of camaraderie among us that I don’t usually see at this kind of movie.
Before the film began, a woman affiliated with PIFF took the stage and gave an introduction in which she thanked D*sney for allowing the festival to put on a free screening of their new film — which struck me as somewhat absurd since they probably couldn’t care less what PIFF does. After this she went on to plug the classes and camps that the Northwest Film Center offers, particularly those aimed at young children. This made me reflect on my own experience as a kid growing up in Portland taking various film related camps and classes, some of them offered by the Northwest Film Center. I didn’t realize it at the time, but these camps and classes had a profound impact on my own career as a filmmaker and scholar. I thought Onward was a really wonderful film too — when it ended I wasn’t sure whether to sequester myself away for a week and cry, or start the best DnD campaign ever written. If the screening and the NWFC can galvanize even one of those kids in the audience to go on and become a filmmaker or film scholar, then I think it was absolutely worth it. The film was totally different than the usual festival fare, but so was the intention.
PSU School of Film @ PIFF 