Portland filmmaker Matt McCormick is known for quiet films that unfold unexpectedly. He started a film distribution project for independent films that wouldn't see the screen otherwise: Peripheral Produce; he started a film festival for films that would not fit into the big budget titles, credits formula: the Portland Documentary and eXperimental Film Festival. He was an early proponent of the films of Miranda July who narrated his film The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal.
McCormick's work is an example of the same imagery presented in the sit down theater, in a museum, in an art gallery, in a nightclub, paired with McCormick's live music, broadcast, photo-vidblogged and even as still art prints.
Tonight he shows recent work. Included are music videos for The Shins, YACHT, and Sleater-Kinney; experimental public service announcements; two longer works: The Problem of Machines That Communicate and Future So Bright. Worldwide people want to live together in cities, leaving behind abandoned places. Future So Bright captures the West's abandoned ghost towns. Sometimes they were built on unsustainable natural resources mined out. They can be viewed with sadness or as a triumph of the land. The Problem of Machines that Communicate follows 3 characters' alienation and the unexpected results of their attempt to communicate.
At the NW Film Center Whitsel Auditorium in the Museum 8PM $7/6/4 Adult/Museum/Film Center Member
