Today marks day two of the five-day Cinema Pacific Film Festival, now in its fourth year of delivering hand-picked films centered on Pacific Rim countries. This year, Mexico and Singapore are the primary focus with the festival screening 16 films, both short and feature length, in addition to lectures and discussions by filmmakers, artists and professors.
Director and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, best known for writing 2006′s “Babel” and 2003′s “21 Grams,” is showcased in this year’s festival. Yesterday, Arriaga screened “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” a 2005 Western about the death of a Mexican immigrant in Texas. The film was directed by and starred actor Tommy Lee Jones, and Arriaga wrote the screenplay.
Still to come, Arriaga will accompany the screening of “The Burning Plain,” his 2008 drama about the intertwining lives of two families in New Mexico, Thursday at 9:15 p.m. at the Bijou Art Cinemas. Arriaga will also give two free talks, “The U.S.-Mexico Border Through the Eyes of a Writer” at 4 p.m. today at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and he will discuss screenwriting and directing at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 19 at Oak Hill School.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” festival Publicity Coordinator Stacey Green said. But Arriaga isn’t the only filmmaker showing quality work at this year’s festival, according to Green.
Also in attendance is guest filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, hosting the screening of his 2013 documentary “Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse.” The film analyzes the events leading up to and after the controversial death of James Chasse, a Portland man with schizophrenia who died after injuries sustained during his arrest by Portland police in 2006. The Bijou will hold two screenings on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.
The film festival will also host the Adrenaline Film Project, an intense filmmaking competition and workshop that occurs over the course of three days, culminating in the screening of the final products Saturday, April 20 at 9:30 p.m. in PLC 180. The film writing, shooting and editing began yesterday, and student and community filmmakers are working to win the Kalb Jury Award provided by Ben Kalb Productions or the viewer’s choice award, where audience members vote for their favorite film, after Saturday’s screening.
Other films featured include Portland filmmaker Steve Doughton’s hosting of his film “Buoy,” a drama focusing on an 80-minute phone conversation between a pregnant woman and her estranged brother; the documentary film “Canicula” about the Totonac people of Veracruz, Mexico; “Singapore Dreaming,” a narrative film following a Singaporean man who wins the lottery; along with many others.
The festival ends at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Bijou with the screening of the documentary “Inori,” which delves into the lives of the aging residents of a remote Japanese town.