EUGENE, Ore. – (April 2, 2014) – The fifth annual University of Oregon Cinema Pacific film festival returns April 23-27, with a wide array of films, exhibitions, receptions and performances in both Eugene and Portland.

This year’s featured guests include Taiwanese dancer, musician and filmmaker Wen-shing Ho, whose visit is part of a special focus on Taiwanese cinema. In addition, a focus section on Chile will include a live play reading and also a film by playwright and screenwriter Guillermo Calderón and a mini-retrospective of work by Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky. Other special guests include Korean-French comics and animation artist Jung, performance artist Deke Weaver and Portland-based media artist Vanessa Renwick. Weaver and Renwick will deliver live multimedia performances and Seattle band Tennis Pro will perform following the Eugene premiere of the new film in which they star, “Big in Japan.”

Cinema Pacific will also pay tribute to the work of James Blue, a University of Oregon alumnus and award-winning independent filmmaker renowned for his socially engaged documentaries and teaching. On April 23, an event will commemorate the archive donation from the James and Richard Blue Foundation to the UO.

Christina Kovac, supervisory motion picture preservation specialist at the National Archives, will discuss her work in preserving Blue’s films made for the U.S. government. Also, ethnographic filmmaker and scholar David MacDougall will introduce and discuss “Kenya Boran,” the film he co-directed with Blue in 1970.

In Portland, Cinema Pacific will join with the “What Is Documentary?” conference organized by the UO School of Journalism and Communication for a series of plenary talks, panels and screenings devoted to Blue’s career and legacy. Cinema Pacific will also host screenings April 24-26 at the Northwest Film Center in Portland, featuring guest artists MacDougall and Jung.

Other Cinema Pacific highlights include:

Art for Endangered Species

On April 26, Portland-based video artist Vanessa Renwick will present her three-screen film of wolves in the wild, “Hope and Prey,” with live accompaniment by musician Daniel Menche. The same night, performance artist Deke Weaver will present his multimedia performance of “Wolf.” Both artists will be joined by UO faculty members Ted Toadvine and Carla Bengtson for a panel discussion on the subject of “Art for Endangered Species” on April 27 at 2 p.m. at the museum.

Renwick’s interactive, animal-inspired video installations, “Hunting Requires Optimism” and “Medusa Smack,” will be on display at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art from April 25-June 29.

Fringe Festival

Video remixes and an interactive Kinect game based on the Taiwanese classic film, “Brother Wang and Brother Liu Tour Taiwan” will be on display at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on April 25, with the museum’s public opening reception for its spring exhibitions. Taiwanese music and dance will also be performed, along with a preview of “Godzilla Smash 3,” a game developed by Eugene-based Pipeworks.

Focus Taiwan with Visiting Artists Wen-shing Ho and Hwang Ouchul

Wen-shing Ho is a dancer, musician and filmmaker from Taiwan. She and her codirector, Korean visual artist Hwang Ouchul, will present their experimental romantic adventure “Takao Dancer” April 26 at the Bijou Arts Cinema. Ho will also talk about “Musical Composition and Experimental Digital Cinema” on April 25 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Other Taiwanese films in the Cinema Pacific program include recent releases “Touch of the Light” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” The festival’s final film, “The Raw and the Cooked,” will be accompanied by Taiwanese food prepared by the Taiwanese Association of Eugene.

Focus Chile featuring Guillermo Calderón

Guillermo Calderón is considered to be Chile’s preeminent contemporary playwright. The screenplay he co-wrote for the Chilean film, “Violeta Went to Heaven,” won the World Cinema Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Festival and will be shown April 24 at the Bijou Arts Cinema. In addition, actors will perform a live reading of Calderón’s play, “Villa,” at the Bijou on April 24.

Guest Comics and Animation Artist Jung

French-Korean graphic novelist Jung will talk about his comics work on April 25 at the Knight Library, and present the film he animated from his autobiographical comic, “Approved for Adoption,” April 25 at the Bijou and April 26 at the Northwest Film Center in Portland.

Adrenaline Film Project

The Adrenaline Film Project is the 72-hour filmmaking workshop that culminates in a public screening at 9:30 p.m. in Prince Lucius Campbell 180 on April 26. Between April 23 and April 26, local-area student teams, mentored by professional filmmakers Jeff Wadlow, Omar Naim and Leigh Kilton-Smth, will write, cast, shoot, edit and premiere their short films. The Adrenaline Film Project assigns genres, provides a prop and one line of dialogue for teams as a starting point.

Ticket information
Tickets for all Eugene shows are available online through April 21 at cinemapacific.uoregon.edu/schedule and through the UO Ticket Office, 541-346-4363, located in the Erb Memorial Union on campus. For Portland events at the Northwest Film Center, tickets are on sale at the door and online at nwfilm.org/screenings.

Matinees (before 6 p.m.), students and seniors: $6
General admission (after 6 p.m.): $8
Adrenaline Film Project and afterparty: students and seniors $7; general $10

Cinema Pacific is sponsored by the UO Arts and Administration Program and UO Academic Extension, with support from Academic Affairs, Cinema Studies, University Advancement and the School of Journalism and Communication. Cinema Pacific also receives major support from the Oregon Arts Commission and the Chambers Family Foundation.

MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Brown, UO communications, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu

SOURCE: Richard Herskowitz, Cinema Pacific Film Festival, 541-729-4516, rhersk@uoregon.edu

LINK: For photos and more details, http://cinemapacific.uoregon.edu/press

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