thenationofartists.com

By Elliot V. Kotek
(Oct. 14, 2010)

Opening with Scott Rosenbaum’s “The Perfect Age of Rock ’n’ Roll,” the seventh installment of the BendFilm Festival (Oct. 7 – 10) boasted a solid line-up of features and shorts that pleased and challenged the small town’s arts-n’-culture crowd in like measure.

While awards and honorable mentions went to the narrative features “True Adolescents,” “Children of God,” “Littlerock” and “Hello Lonesome,” documentary honors went to “Do No Harm,” “A Life Ascending” and “Dive!”

In the shorts category, the Irish Film “Bye Bye Now” scored for Best Short, Jamie Travis picked up a Best Directing nod for “Armoire” (his third film in the “Saddest Boy” trilogy), “Down in #5″ picked up Best Student Short, and “Jeremy” was honored for its young lead actor.

“Prayers for Peace” beat out all comers of all lengths for Best Animation.

With a new artistic director at the helm, filmmaker Orit Schwartz, and the community opening its doors to house filmmakers, the festival has enjoyed city of Bend’s population (80,000) truly rallying around their festival, often selling out screenings, and engaging enthusiastically with their visitors.

Gourmet coffee roasts and micro-breweries (Deschutes, Boneyard Beer) go hand in hand with art here. If that’s not an incentive to plan your Oregon trip for next year, I’m not sure what else I can tell you.