8th Annual Portland Film Festival Announces Award Winners

Portland Film Festival Announces 2019 Award Winners

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 8th Annual Portland Film Festival, presented by Comcast NBCUniversal, announced awards from its 2019 program, which wrapped on Sunday, October 20, 2019.  Princess of the Row was named Best Narrative Feature. It is director Max Carlson’s inspiring tale of a runaway foster child who will stop at nothing to get back to the only family she knows: her homeless, mentally ill veteran father who lives on the streets of LA's skid row.

Fire on the Hill took home Best Documentary Feature. Director Brett Fallentine’s film paints a vivid portrait of the little-known urban cowboy community in South Central L.A. This genre-bending documentary combines the iconography of the American film western with South Central’s urban landscape to depict Los Angeles like it has never been seen before.

Gavin Michael Booth took the inaugural Best Director prize for his feature, Last Call, the gripping story of a wrong number with life-saving implications, shot in innovative split-screen and played out in real time. Best Short was awarded to Jane. Written, directed and produced by Kathryn Prescott (Skins), Jane is the story a young woman suffering from heroin addiction who receives an invite to her estranged 4-year-old daughter's birthday party.

Audience Award Winners included: The First and the Last Time, an Austrian documentary about supermarket apprentices whose unusual training project is a performance of Romeo and Juliet; Ashes to Ashes, a documentary short about the only living survivor of a lynching; and Colour Code, a music video from prolific TV actress Maria Doyle Kennedy (Outlander, Downton Abbey) that places her real-life daughter inside a personal narrative about keeping her kids safe in a world where the color of their skin could be a trigger for sudden violence.

The Portland Film Festival created two new awards for 2019, Best New Director and Best Midnight Feature. Eugene, Ore.-born Tim True won the inaugural Best New Director prize for his feature, Here Awhile. Shot in Portland and tapped as the Festival’s Closing Night film, it’s the story of a terminally ill woman who returns to Oregon to reconnect with her estranged brother while simultaneously making the heart-wrenching choice to end her life under the Death with Dignity Act. Best Midnight Feature went to Crack House of the Dead, director Jason Toler’s retro genre romp about a group of misfits who hunker down in a crack house to survive an onslaught from rampaging zombies.

“We congratulate our winners, who set the bar for what can be accomplished with a story and a camera in 2019,” said Josh Leake, Portland Film Festival co-founder and executive director. “We are proud that these films represent a diverse set of perspectives, and that two of our thematic tracks -- Portland and Veterans -- were represented among the winners. We are now accepting submissions for the 2020 Portland Film Festival.”

“It is thought-provoking independent films like these that remind us of the importance of providing a platform for these voices to be heard,” said David Tashjian, Regional Vice-President of Comcast Oregon/SW Washington. “As the presenting sponsor of the Portland Film Festival, we salute all the filmmakers and thank the thousands of attendees at this year’s festival who showed their appreciation for these creative efforts.”

More than 120 independent films screened from October 14 – 20, 2019 at the Hi-Lo Hotel in downtown Portland for the 2019 edition of the Portland Film Festival. The event’s programming included films, workshops, educational panels, and parties throughout a six-and-a-half-day schedule designed to immerse attendees in all aspects of the filmmaking process.

2019 Portland Film Festival Awards summary:

Best Narrative Feature: Princess of the Row

Best Documentary Feature: Fire on the Hill

Best Director: Gavin Michael Booth, Last Call

Best Short: Jane

Audience Award: The First and the Last Time

Audience Award: Ashes to Ashes

Audience Award: Colour Code

Best New Director: Here Awhile

Best Midnight Feature: Crack House of the Dead


About Presenting Sponsor Comcast NBCUniversal:
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company with three primary businesses: Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast Cable is one of the United States’ largest video, high-speed internet, and phone providers to residential customers under the Xfinity brand, and also provides these services to businesses. It also provides wireless and security and automation services to residential customers under the Xfinity brand. NBCUniversal is global and operates news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures, and Universal Parks and Resorts. Sky is one of Europe's leading media and entertainment companies, connecting customers to a broad range of video content through its pay television services. It also provides communications services, including residential high-speed internet, phone, and wireless services. Sky operates the Sky News broadcast network and sports and entertainment networks, produces original content, and has exclusive content rights. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

About the Portland Film Festival
The Portland Film Festival is one of Oregon’s largest film festivals, and was named “one of the coolest film festivals in the world,” by MovieMaker Magazine in 2014. It is a non-profit, year-round organization dedicated to nurturing filmmakers and audiences, and to celebrating the power of a good story. The festival focuses on the people, ideas, technology, skills and artistry behind filmmaking, and provides both entertaining and educational opportunities for the public.

Comcast NBCUniversal was the festival’s presenting sponsor in 2019, and was joined by supporting sponsors: Koerner Camera, SAG-AFTRA, Oregon Film, Portland Film Office, PepsiCo, Pacific Grip & Lighting Inc., Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Gearhead Production Rentals, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland, Tito’s Vodka and others.

Hashtag: #pdxff19
Twitter: @portlandfilm
Instagram: @portlandfilm
Facebook: facebook.com/PortlandFilmFestival

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TwoMorrows Announces Bio of "Captain Marvel Jr." Artist, Mac Raboy

Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics looks at the life and career of the Golden Age artist of Captain Marvel Jr.

(RALEIGH, NC) Now shipping is Roger Hill's new biography of Captain Marvel Jr. artist Mac Raboy, the "artist's artist" of comic books.

Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics examines the life and legend of one of the fine artists of comics. Beginning with his WPA etchings during the 1930s, Mac Raboy struggled to survive the Great Depression and eventually found his way into the comic book sweatshops of America. In that world of four-color panels, he perfected his art style on such creations as Dr. Voodoo, Zoro, The Mystery Man, Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Green Lama and his crowning achievement, Captain Marvel Jr. Raboy went on to illustrate the Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strip, and left behind a legacy of meticulous perfection.

Through extensive research and interviews with son David Raboy, and assistants who worked with the artist during the Golden Age of Comics, author Roger Hill brings Mac Raboy, the man and the artist, into focus for historians to savor and enjoy. This full-color hardcover includes never-before-seen photos, a wealth of rare and unpublished artwork, and the first definitive biography of a true Master of the Comics.

Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics
(160-page full-color Hardcover) $39.95
(Digital Edition) $14.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-090-8
Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: APR192022

A free preview of the book is available at the publisher's ordering link.

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Movie Review: "Hobbs & Shaw" a Good Start for a Spin-Off Series

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Running time: 135 minutes; MPAA – PG-13 for prolonged sequences of action and violence, suggestive material and some strong language
DIRECTOR:  David Leitch
WRITERS:  Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce; based on Chris Morgan (based on the characters created by Gary Scott Thompson)
PRODUCERS:  Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Morgan, and Jason Statham
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jonathan Sela
EDITORS:  Christopher Rouse
COMPOSER:  Tyler Bates

ACTION

Starring:  Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren, Eiza Gonzalez, Eddie Marsan, Eliana Su'a, Cliff Curtis, Rob Delaney, and Lori Pelenise Tuisano,  with (no screen credit) Kevin Hart and Ryan Reynolds

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is a 2019 action movie from director David Leitch.  It is a spin-off from The Fast and the Furious movie franchise.  Hobbs & Shaw focuses on a federal agent and a mercenary who are forced to work together to keep a super-human villain from obtaining a deadly virus that could lead to human extinction.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw opens in London where Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby) and her team of MI6 agents attempt to retrieve a virus, known as “Snowflake.”  This virus can be programmed to decimate millions of people, and the mysterious terrorist and tech organization, “Eteon,” wants it.  Brixton Lore (Idris Elba) is an Eteon operative with advanced cybernetic implants inside his body that allow him to perform superhuman feats.  Eteon has assigned Lore to obtain Snowflake, but before he can do so, Agent Shaw escapes with the virus.  So Lore uses Eteon's media sources to brand Shaw a traitor who killed her team.

Lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is a federal agent working for the DSS (Diplomatic Security Service).  Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is a former British Special Forces assassin-turned-mercenary.  Hobbs and Shaw are both informed of the missing Snowflake virus and are assigned to work together to find it and Hattie Shaw, who is Deckard's estranged sister.  Hobbs and Shaw have a troubled history together and refuse to team-up.  However, Brixton Lore's advanced cybernetic implants give him strength and speed far beyond that of normal humans.  He is practically a “Black Superman,” and if Hobbs and Shaw want to stop him, they will have to stop him together.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is not a great movie, but it is an entertaining action movie.  If you, dear reader, like the crazy car chases offered by The Fast and Furious franchise, Hobbs & Shaw offers wreck-filled automobile chase scenes that recall the great Mad Max: Fury Road.  Luxury sports cars, souped-up trucks, military vehicles, motorcycles, drones, and more tear across roads, onto walls, and over buildings.  This is a non-stop thrill-machine of car chases, crashes, and wrecks.

I do have to be honest.  I think Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham's screen chemistry seems forced.  It will probably get better in potential sequels.  Personally, I am not crazy about actress Vanessa Kirby; she just doesn't work for me.  Idris Elba delivers a good performance, but he could have made Brixton Lore a remarkable villain is this film's screenwriting were better.

Hobbs & Shaw also offers some surprise appearances by actors who are not featured or emphasized in any of the film's trailers and previews:  Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Hart, and Helen Mirren.  Reynolds and Hart are actually quite good in their supporting roles; Mirren's role (as Magdalene Shaw, Deckard and Hattie's mother) feels contrived and forced.  If there is a sequel to this film, Reynolds and Hart must return in bigger roles.

I do think that Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw runs too long by about 15 or 20 minutes.  The last act is mixed – exciting action set pieces, but the family reunion melodrama is forced.  Maybe the thing that keeps Hobbs & Shaw from being as good as the best Fast & Furious films is that too much of it feels forced.  The filmmakers want this movie to be “2 fast, 2 furious,” but the movie often feels too forced and too contrived.  They need 2 relax.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw has the ingredients to start a quality action movie franchise.  Warts and all, this first movie is a good start.

6 out of 10
B

Saturday, August 3, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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