Welcome to the Mercury‘s regular rundown of local arts & culture news. We jammed a lot of art stories into the Mercury‘s Spring Arts Preview—on stands around town now!—along with hilarious horoscopes and sandwich obsessions. But the culture scene grills developments up pretty quick. We’d better keep snacking!
• On March 18, beloved women’s sports bar the Sports Bra announced it was partnering with QDoc and the Idea Factory to launch an International Women’s Sports Film Festival (IWSFF) right here in Portland. Even better, it’s going to be held at the criminally underutilized Judy Kafoury Center for Youth Arts. We’re such earnest stans of QDoc that it’s great to see them in the mix for the May 1-3 three-day weekend of film screenings, panel discussions, workshops—all centering nonfiction stories of women and nonbinary athletes.
• In another March 18 info drop, the city auditor released a study on municipal management of funds from the hotly controversial arts tax, leading with “the City has not historically managed the tax effectively” in the press release. This result was perhaps foreshadowed by reports in February, revealing that the Arts Education and Access Income Tax fund had kept $8.5 million in reserve when it had not been authorized to hold such reserves. According to OPB, the lump came primarily from the first year of the tax. Other major points in the auditor’s report stated that the city continues to award more funds to organizations with larger budgets than those with smaller ones. And the city has left measurements for determining improved arts access vague. One thing has improved: A higher percentage of Portlanders appear to be paying the tax.
• The second year of Portland Panorama Film Festival is looking stacked with interesting screenings and showcases. An initial release only revealed the opening night feature Abril—a Costa Rican drama in which writer and director Hernán Jiménez co-stars with Heated Rivalry’s François Arnaud—but the whole schedule is live now, and every night has something making that festival pass sound more and more worthwhile. It took me an hour to write this blurb because I started reading about all the creators involved in the Black Anime showcase (April 12, 1 pm) and kept finding local favs in the fest’s varied Northwest filmmaker showcases. There are horror shorts, documentary shorts, international shorts, several interesting features, and even a special environment created at Zidell Yards (they’re calling it the Old Moody for some reason) to show virtual reality works that “cannot exist on a traditional screen.” They’ve set up the festival site so you can’t link to individual shows, but find the whole categorized/organized program here.
• This will be a calendar add for most. Sticker makers and stationary designers may want to make moves if they’re interested in tabling or teaching at a dedicated Northwest Stationery Fest, organized by Reggie’s Manga Shop. Currently scheduled to boldy overlap with Portland Book Festival, the first-ever vision of this fest is planned for November 7-8 at Olympic Mills Commerce Center. TBH, the lack of stationery at Books Fest has always been a huge gripe of mine. Vendor applications are open now and close May 14.
• Long-running LGBTQ+ electronic dance party Blow Pony saddles up for the last time on Saturday, March 28, calling it quits after 19 years of glorious gay revelry. Mercury contributor Andrew Jankowski spoke with the event’s founder on why nearly 20 years of planning electro ragers is probably plenty. Read more about Blow Pony’s last rodeo in Jankowski’s piece.
• Blanchett House sent out a call for submissions to its annual On the Ledge art show, which benefits both the artists in the show and the organization. Like previous years, curators are accepting “all mediums that can be reproduced as postcards and larger prints of similar dimensions.” The show is populated by print and postcard versions of the works, with the idea that the show should remain affordable and accessible to a wide audiences.This year, for the first time, the curators will also consider ceramics, sculptures, and fiber arts pieces. Submissions are open until May 31.
• Not sure if this counts as news, but it definitely count as a snack. Reed Zine Fest took a step forward in zine fest evolution by inviting some baller local bakers to table their treats. (If you haven’t spent a long time at a zine event before, the community snack table is always destroyed by noon.) Come March 28, tablers and attendees can look for Filipino sweets from Shop Halo Halo, unique treats from Kukki PDX, and the offerings of “Portland Cookie Dealer” JBae.kry.
Let’s close out the column with a snack-sized review of Project Hail Mary from the Mercury‘s film critic, Dom Sinacola:
I recently called Ryan Gosling a “ceaseless banter machine,” in the roundup of promising movies I wrote for the Spring Arts Preview. And though I meant it pejoratively, in Project Hail Mary Gosling’s banter feels like a sustained act of grace. Coincidentally, that’s the name author Andy Weir (The Martian) gave Gosling’s character: Ryland Grace. (Haha, come on.) In all seriousness, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have given dulcet life to Weir’s sci-fi novel with this adaption. The premise: A genius science teacher wakes up alone on a space ship, speeding light years from Earth, without a memory of how or why. As the past comes back to him in visions of Ryland’s superior Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) doing karaoke or caulk tube bowling at the hardware store, Grace realizes he must save his planet from apocalypse, and the distant star to which he’s been flung may hold the key to that survival. Big stakes for a big sci-fi fable, but Project Hail Mary is best as a series of intimate moments, especially after Grace makes contact with another life form (think “boulder-crab muppet”) and the film shrinks into a wonderful buddy-comedy. It’s less about the indomitable nature of the human spirit than the indomitable charm of America’s best A-lister, Project Hail Mary is an enchanting spectacle built around the power of witnessing a fat tear roll down the cheek of a man with a face a public school teacher could never afford. (Project Hail Mary opens in wide release Friday, March 20—including in 70 mm at the Hollywood Theatre, 156 minutes, rated PG-13). DOM SINACOLA
