Festival Data:

• Established: 2001
• Genre: General
• Total Number of Films Submitted: 500
• Total Number of Films Screened: 89
• # of Shorts Screened: 81
• # of Features Screened: 8

• Competitive

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

In 2001, Peripheral Produce began organizing the annual Portland Documentary and eXperimental Film Festival (PDX Film Fest for short) , a five day event that showcases non-narrative film and video from around the world. The Festival was founded and organized by local filmmakers, the festival will showcase provocative,  artistic, and firmly uncompromising films from around the globe.  

The PDX Film Fest screens new innovative works of film and video, focusing on non-narrative works that go against the grain of mainstream entertainment, the PDX Film Festival looks for artistic, underground, quirky and challenging work that reflects contemporary culture, documents historic oddities, and is otherwise generally unclassifiable.

An annual festival, special guests have included Jem Cohen, DeeDee Halleck, Elisabeth Subrin, David Gatten, and Garrett Scott

The festival is an offshoot of Peripheral  Produce, a video distribution label and screening series was founded in Portland, Oregon by filmmaker Matt McCormick with the intention of creating an outlet for experimental film and video to be purchased and collected by the general public. Peripheral Produce is a video label that started distributing experimental film and video compilations in 1996. Born out of a screening series of the same name, Peripheral Produce currently represents 26 artists and has released 14 titles. 3 are multi-artist compilations and the remaining feature the work of one artist or collective. Artists whose work can be found on Peripheral Produce releases include Bill Brown, Miranda July, Deborah Stratman, Brian Frye, Matt McCormick, Animal Charm, Vanessa Renwick, Bryan Boyce, Naomi Uman, Sam Green, Jim Trainor, Negativland, and many others.

Peripheral Produce  With small independent record labels serving as a model, Peripheral Produce compiles the work of selected artists and packages it for easy consumption.

Since it’s inception, Peripheral Produce has grown from a small, DIY project into an internationally respected venue and outlet for contemporary experimental cinema.  PDX Fest continues this tradition by bringing Portland an annual dose of top quality experimental and documentary film from around the globe.

Film Submissions:

• Accepts direct submissions
• Call for Entry: PDX Fest will be on hiatus for 2010