Arts & Entertainment
Community Invited to Participate in 2013 Vanport Oral History Film Festival
Former Vanport residents and their families meet with NPMTC videographers to
record oral history
T
he North Portland Multimedia Train-
ing Center (NPMTC), a project of
The Skanner Foundation, announces
its 2013 Vanport Oral History Film Festival.
The Festival will run from January 2013
through September 2013 and will accept
monthly submissions of oral history inter-
views documented on video.
NPMTC Administrator, Naomi Pierce,
says this contest is different from last year’s
NPMTC “Life in Vanport” Film fest, which
focused on producing videographed oral
history from individuals who had lived in
Vanport, Oregon. “This year we are broad-
ening the topic and expanding the techno-
logical device requirements to film the
productions.” Productions may now be
about any topic or individual that is of inter-
est to the producer, as long as it fits into the
oral history genre. Although the film fest’s
oral history topics will not now be exclusive
to Vanport, NPMTC will keep Vanport in
the name of the annual film festival to honor
munity living in North Portland: Lack of
visibility and access to relevant news from
mainstream media; lack of access to tech-
nology and technology training; and the
need to increase activities that provide pos-
itive community involvement. Pierce says
The Vanport Oral History Film Festival
contest creates a platform for community
members to participate through outreach
and feedback about times and places in his-
tory from their own unique perspectives.
The film festival encourages members of
the community to come forward with their
stories and encourages the use of technolo-
gy to record these stories.
Videographers are invited to submit a 3-5
minute video oral history which will be
viewed via the NPMTC website and voted
on by the public. Videos are submitted
monthly and at the end of the film festival
contest (September 31, 2013) all monthly
winning submissions will be viewed by a
panel of independent judges to pick 1st,
2nd, and 3rd place cash prize winners.
For complete information and contest
submission
registration,
visit
www.npmtc.com , email npmtc@com-
cast.net, or call 503-381-0330.
those who once lived in the lost city.
Another change, Pierce notes, is that film-
ing can be done on any recording device as
long as the production can be disseminated
electronically. Last year’s contest encour-
aged use of professional HD video cameras
and included NPMTC training for partici-
pants on these devices. NPMTC may offer
training again in the spring, but for now,
Pierce hopes allowing use of other types of
recording devices and broadening the topic
will generate more submissions throughout
the year. Currently three producers trained
by NPMTC on professional HD recording
equipment are completing their “Life in
Vanport” productions soon to be posted on
the NPMTC website for viewing and vot-
ing. Last year’s contest blends with this
year’s to include all productions to date.
The contest, funded in part by The Mount
Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, is
intended to address three areas of need
experienced by the African American com-
February 13, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 5