Doors 6:30 p.m.; Event 7 p.m.

The South Sound Experimental Film Festival (SSEFF), is an accessible platform for showcasing experimental filmmaking from local artists in the Pacific Northwest.  Since its inception in 2021, SSEFF has provided an annual space for unconventional, queer, and intermedia films – supporting filmmakers whose works might otherwise be marginalized due to identity, lack of resources, or unconventional techniques. This ENCORE screening will bring together artists from Portland and the Pacific Northwest, offering a cross-regional platform that celebrates the region’s vibrant cultural landscape. In addition to screening experimental films, SSEFF also serves as an essential venue for interdisciplinary arts, mentorship opportunities, collaborative projects, and most importantly, friendship. SSEFF is not only a key cultural event for Portland but also contributes to the broader international network of filmmakers pushing the boundaries of cinema. 

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THE EXPERIENCE

CRT and the Search for God is an analog installation set up in the auditorium by Portland-based video artist Lenny Beach. Using CRT monitors and old televisions, Lenny’s interactive television sculpture invites audiences to participate in both the media as well as what they are presented on!

The Patchwork Girl of Oz with live score by SQWYRM.

Poor Ojo just wanted to do the right thing and give the patchwork girl intuition and personality, rather than live the life of a servant. Now they find themselves in a fantastic adventure through a surreal land in search of a cure for petrification. The long overlooked Patchwork Girl of Oz silent film was created by L. Frank Baum, the writer of the curiously unique Oz books. Complete with outstanding creatures, elaborate costumes, and world class acrobats, this surreal classic with gender bending aspects takes many stabs at social norms with grace & in surreal fashion. The film is illuminated respectfully by the curious hardware electronic stylings of SQWYRM, creating a whimsical sonic atmosphere for this unique film to be shown and experienced. A dream since childhood, SQWYRM visits Portland to provide us with a sonic reverie for The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914).

ON SCREEN: South Sound Experimental Film Fest ENCORE Edition Short Films

At Captain Daniel David’s on the Coast

2024. Directed by Jeffrey Sundin. Runtime: 10 minutes. 

The Never Ending Passion Boys Crew present songs from their debut release. (Portland, OR) 

,,,so thee lilac never wilt alone,,,

2023. Directed by Elijah Jamal Asani . Runtime: 14:36 minutes. 

under every garden, lies a ritual. within this ritual, a blaq flora grieves for their long lost flowers & a desire to create forever blooms. created by elijah jamal asani & shot/edited by Jonathan Woods, “,,, so thee lilac never wilt alone ,,,” is a short film accompaniment to the experimental album “ephemerals’ forever(s)” by ẹ̀bà. (Portland, OR)

Origins

2024. Directed by Konya . Runtime: 8:09 minutes. 

This project studies the non-linear odyssey of shadow tending through embodied movement. (Olympia, WA)

Mechanical Eye

2023. Directed by Deb Sietz. Runtime: 5:30 minutes. 

A representative piece about women’s beauty standards. Constructing oneself to the eye of media and the need to alter ourselves to fit into societal standards. (Portland, OR)

Oh Then Until

2024. Directed by Hawk Ferdig. Runtime: 10 minutes. 

Oh Then Until is a short film that depicts a candid moment of the film maker becoming grounded in her own body through material connection, queer heritage, and a much needed bath. The audience is allowed into an otherwise private moment of bathing, exploration and relaxation where Hawk Ferdig is able to find the absurdity of queer materials, her own body, and historical context. This work is simultaneously a powerful means of portraying her own identity, as well as demonstrating the dissociative self objectification required to exist within her body on a day to day basis. (Portland, OR)

Eulogy, Elegy

2024. Directed by Lily King. Runtime: 13:12 minutes. 

eulogy, elegy is intended to be understood as a private conversation between myself and the viewer. During the course of our conversation I relate stories about the loss of my mom, about finding trans-identity and about the ways that our actions make lasting meaning for the people they touch. (Portland, OR)

Siren’s Song

2024. Directed by Blue Jaye Corvidae. Runtime: 3:53 minutes. 

The siren ponders the fish in the aquarium. Like the fish existing in their tank as though it was the wild, existing in their tank as though they are existing how they would in the wild, the siren performs authenticity. The siren performs intimacy like the fish looking out as we look in. Do they see us? Do we see them? The fish perform naturalness as the siren does; in voyeuristic proximity the expectation of performance is apparent as the expectation of the natural to lack performativity is also apparent. The fish perform wildness as the siren does, perceived as uncaged yet sensing the weight of gaze. The siren sees themself within. (Portland, OR)

i was never the siren

2024. Directed by Moonyeka. Runtime: 27 minutes. 

This film is the first installment of the overarching audio-visual performance work, Harana for the Aswang. Harana is a Filipinx serenade form rooted in courtship and grief rituals. The project reimagines and centralizes the narratives of Aswang—an umbrella term for various shapeshifting, mythological, animist, folkloric, “evil” spirits and creatures in Filipino folklore—through the lens of their queer and trans descendants. This excerpt in particular challenges and re-myths the Siren archetype, creating a polyphonic experience of voice, aspects of harana, poetic-intimacy, wrath, and states of kilig. This film is in honor of the sacred transsexuality and queerness through all timelines, a place for us to be swooned. To be seen in the defiant (im)possibilities of love and all that died in order for it to exist. (Portland, OR / Seattle, WA)

ON STAGE: 

Lenny Beach is a Portland based Inter-media major at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. She recontextualizes technology through her experimental video work, performances, and immersive installations. She prefers to work with physical and analog forms of technology. Often incorporating CRT’s, vintage camcorders, VHS tapes, DVD’s, and having them be a crucial part of her work. By choosing to work with digital relics, she asks the viewer to be present with the physical objects that are the frames and containers for her art.

SQWYRM is the hardware electronics project of Elm Outcault.  Originally from Oakland, CA and artist active since 2010. SQWYRM builds intentional projects upon electronic sets focused on the live experience and attuned to the specific event they are unfolding in by providing a one of a kind atmosphere and approach that feels unique and evolutionary to the audience each time. Elm has been involved in a variety of multimedia projects including the surrealist performance group, Gyre V, and assisting in the analog video feedback and noise project Lingua Lucem. Elm composed the score to the full length film, In void of Reverence (2005), as well as being the co-director of the debut film by Gyre V, mistakes will be made (2024).

Note: We do not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, and films exhibited don’t necessarily reflect the views of PAM CUT, the Tomorrow Theater, or the Portland Art Museum. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on sites likeCommon Sense Media,IMDbandDoesTheDogDie.com.