About Us

The Northwest Film Center is a place where individuals find and cultivate their personal voices as storytellers and image makers, and audiences explore our region and the world through the big screen. Our theater, classrooms and facilities welcome a diverse cross-section of community members for film appreciation, skill- and community-building and technical support.

Established in 1971, the Northwest Film Center is a regional media arts resource and service organization founded to encourage the study, appreciation, and utilization of the moving image arts, foster their artistic and professional excellence, and to help create a climate in which they may flourish.

The Center provides a variety of film and video exhibition, education, and information programs primarily directed to the residents of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.

Films

The Film Center conducts an active year-round exhibition program of foreign, classic, experimental, and independent works that showcase a wide array of regional, national, and international cinema and video art. Thematic series, special retrospectives, and visiting artist programs highlight major contributions to the art form. Annual film festivals include:

• Northwest Filmmakers' Festival (November), a juried showcase of new work by regional artists, including Fresh Film NW youth-made films

• Portland International Film Festival (February), an invitational survey of new world cinema

• Reel Music Festival (January), exploring the lively interplay between sound and image, music and culture

• Global Classroom brings the best in new world cinema to high school classes through free screenings.

Classes

The Northwest Film Center’s education programs provide learning opportunities and  to working filmmakers, aspiring video storytellers, creatives and youth 4th-12th grade through classes, workshops, studios and camps.

The Film Center's programming in filmmaking, video production, animation, and screenwriting and more serves makers who wish to develop their personal vision as a film artist, offering classes and workshops that emphasize media aesthetics in a hands-on context. Film Center faculty are working artists who devote a portion of their professional lives to teaching.  

Outreach & Filmmaker Services

The Northwest Film Center serves as a hub for filmmakers around the greater Portland, OR area and across the region. Through

• circulates traveling exhibition programs featuring work by regional artists to other arts presenters throughout the Northwest

• administers the Media Arts Fellowship

• serves as a fiscal agent for independent producers in need of non-profit sponsorship

• offers low-cost equipment access to community producers, as well as a variety of consulting services

In partnership with local arts councils and other arts, education and industry partners, the Center works to develop media arts audiences and opportunities for artists and organizations.