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Notes from the Director:
In my younger days in Portland, Oregon, growing up on Cook Street between 7th and Union Avenues, where every house had young people running and playing during all four seasons, there was always a place to run and play.
But let me take you inside my memories: Saturday afternoons at the once majestic Egyptian Theatre on NE Union and Russell Streets, with its exotic pillars, pyramids, cast stone panels, ornamental urns and lotus flower motifs! As a youngster, this was the place
I would come to see people run, laugh and fly (without an airplane)! For me it was partly a dream (oh, to fly without that plane!) but overall, it was this young black man making a
mental list of people and places he wished to see, and things he would like to do.
Now you may ask what this has to do with the PDX African American Film Festival. Well, those very Saturday afternoons in the dark in the Egyptian Theatre put me on the course to be a filmmaker and to host two international film festivals---one in my home
town of Portland, Oregon, the *PDX African American Film Festival---and the other in Astoria, Oregon, the Astoria International Film Festival, which just completed its fifth year.
I would like to dedicate this year's Festival to all those young people on Cook Street, and you know who you are.
Sincerely,
Ron Craig - Executive Director
*PDX African American Film Festival is a non-profit organization.
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