The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts welcomes the Wandering Reel Film Festival for the screening of “Ocean Shorts,” a curated series of films to be shown from August 2 to September 28 in the media room at the Newport Visual Arts Center. The Wandering Reel is a traveling festival with a focus on bringing meaningful films to communities with a limited or no access to compassionate, thought-provoking cinema.
The “Ocean Shorts” program will have a public opening on August 10th, as part of OCCA’s larger project “Art 363: Representing the Oregon Coast,” with an introduction by Wandering Reel director and curator, Michael Harrington, at 4:15pm. Harrington is a filmmaker and film educator who has found a passion for bringing powerful, thought-provoking films to small towns and rural communities all over the country. He lives in Portland but grew up in Lincoln City and Depoe Bay.
“Ocean Shorts” features ‘Ocean’ a 12-minute experimental short filmed at Agate Beach by artist and professor Stephanie Maxwell. In this film, sunlight on moving water and bottom sand reveal the infinitely animated and ever-changing world of visual compositions and events that have a charged, emotive power when presented as distinct variations and themes interwoven with the musical score.
Additionally, ‘A Tangled Tale’ tells the story of two fish hooked by an angler’s line via artist, Corrie Francis Park’s revolutionary approach to sand animation, a seamless blend of traditionally handcrafted imagery and technological innovation. Along with these two films, the program will feature several shorts that mediate on themes of the ocean, sand, and the preciousness of the natural environment in different cinematic styles and mediums.
The media room is open Tuesday-Saturday, noon–4pm.