Theaters on SW Broadway, 1950s
On Saturday, May 31st 10:30am Know Your City and Experimental Film Festival Portland will host Dennis Nyback’s Film Tour of Portland. The two-hour downtown tour will only happen once – covering Portland’s film history from Dennis Nyback’s personal perspective. Be sure to get your tickets now – space is limited! We asked Dennis to provide some background on the tour to give us as taste of what to expect.
KYC: What are some of the sites we can look forward to visiting on the tour?
DN: The sad thing is many of the sites have no evidence of there being a wonderful theater there. A good thing is the earliest theater site I have found is next door to one of the few remaining very early Portland theaters.
KYC: What is your favorite story that you’ll be telling on the tour?
DN: It is hard to pick a favorite. I will be talking about the theater that gave me nightmares as a toddler. I will also talk about the fortuitous event at a theater that led me to my career as as projectionist, movie theater owner, and later world traveling found footage filmmaker. I will also talk about the fabulous Oriental Theatre, although we will not walk across the Morrison Bridge to see the parking lot where it was.
KYC: How have you seen the film community in Portland change over the years? What do you miss? What might be something new that is an improvement?
DN: There is a lot to miss. Someone put out a list of 100 great movies to see how many of them people have seen. From the list; I had seen almost all of them made before 1970. Oddly, I had seen them all on the big screen. I miss revival theaters that only showed great old movies to big crowds. The biggest change I have seen in the film community is that most of that community have grey hair. From my generation to the new generation the big change is that it is no longer seen that movies are a very special thing. For most now film is just one of various entertainment options. The best thing I have seen recently is the Hollywood Theatre came up with an idea to get people to show up. They are now often filling the theater that just a couple of years ago was often empty. I will talk about that idea on my walk. I am also very happy the Clinton St. Theatre is doing well under the new owners Lani Jo and Roger Leigh. I guess an improvement would be a new generation realizing that movies are a very special thing. It would help if more movies were made that are very special things.
KYC: What (besides your own tour!) are you looking forward to at this year’s EFF?
DN: I have been too busy working on the tour to look at the schedule. Last year I was really happy to see Devon Damonte’s show. I first met Devon when he had me as a guest at the Olympia Film Festival in 1995. I understand that Devon will be again at EFF. Don’t miss his show!
Catch Dennis Nyback’s Film Tour of Portland Saturday May 31st and check out the schedule for the Experimental Film Festival, May 28 – June 1. Check out the promo video from Dennis’ talk at Know Your City’s “A Place Called Home” Lecture series from a couple years ago.
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