Words and Pictures

For the past 30 years, the Cascade Festival of African Films has brought

African films and African filmmakers to Portland, with screenings and events

at Portland Community College, the Kennedy School, and the Hollywood Theatre.

 But with the Covid-19 shutdown, the festiv...

Writer David F Walker is known for his work on such comics titles as Shaft,

Luke Cage, and Power Man & Iron Fist.  In Portland, he covered the film

scene for Willamette Week as well as his self-published blaxploitation zine

BadAzzMoFo, and curated the Longbaugh Film Fest...

Animator Nina Paley is one of the most independent of filmmakers.  Her two

feature films, Sita Sings the Blues and Seder Masochism, tackle patriarchal

themes in religious narratives, and reimagine them from a feminist point of

view.

A fierce advocate of copyright abolit...

In this encore episode from 2009, we visit two award-winning independent

animation directors at their Portland studios.

Joanna Priestley is a filmmaker, teacher, producer, and festival organizer.

 She’s best known for her abstract animation, most notably for North of

Bl...

The 2016 U.S. presidential election was the first to showcase the power of

internet memes, and no meme was more powerful than Pepe the Frog.  Created

by Bay-area artist Matt Furie for the 2006 cartoon collection Boy's Club,

Pepe suddenly found himself in the midst of a b...

Over half a century ago, the UPA animation studio was a haven for misfit

geniuses struggling to create relevant cartoon films in the face of political

and cultural repression.  Gambling the future of the company on an hourlong

television special featuring their most popu...

Marice Cumber is the Founder and Director of Accumulate, a non-profit art

school in London, England, which focuses its services on homeless youth.

 Their latest project is The Book of Homelessness, a compilation of

artwork, stories, and graphic memoir by the program's pa...

Jonathan Hill is an illustrator, educator, and author who has been

instrumental in making the art form of comics more visible through his work

with Literary Arts' annual Portland Book Festival.  He's taught at the

Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest Col...