Portrait of Matt by Andrew Kosinski, at DINCA.org.
Anne: Matt, this Saturday, Aug. 4 you are screening films from your legendary Auto Cinematic Video Mix Tape at the Hollywood Theatre. Is this program the same exact group of films as the original tape?
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Matt McCormick: there will actually only be a couple videos from the DVD. The DVD contains (mostly) Portland/Northwest work made circa 1997. Since it has been so long since I have set up a Peripheral Produce show, I thought it would be more fun to include newer work and younger filmmakers- so the show is essentially a retrospective of Portland made experimental film from the past 15+ years.
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Anne: Were all the filmmakers known to you as personal friends when you conceived the festival/curated the mix tape?
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Matt McCormick: Pretty much, though some I only knew through correspondence. I think in those pre-internet/email days we were all very eager to meet each other and network- so direct communication was really the only option when you’re talking about such a small organization.
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Anne: Vanessa Renwick explained to me that Peripheral Produce pushed her into becoming a serious filmmaker. She hadn’t sought audiences for her work before. You sought audiences for her and gave her deadlines to work against. She gave you and PP total credit for her decision to begin to think of herself as an artist.
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Matt McCormick: I am honored that she said that. I think in those early days of PP it was like that for a lot of us- at least the idea of a schedule with deadlines. A LOT of local work premiered at PP shows. Most of Miranda’s video works and performances premiered at PP shows- at least in rough draft versions. It was sort of our testing ground. Eric Ostrowski, Jon Raymond, Johnne Eschleman, myself- we’d make things specifically for a PP show, not really thinking about the project’s potential life afterwards.
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Anne: Had you done a festival elsewhere before you moved to Portland?
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Matt McCormick: no. i was 21 years old when i moved to Portland. i had set up some very small music and film ’shows’ in Albuquerque, but nothing really significant.
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Anne: Vanessa explained to me that there had been a scene – live theater, I think – which was centered at the Rexall Drug storefront space on Mississippi. ( Ed. note from Anne: I had this wrong. She meant the Rexall Rose on Alberta.) How did this scene overlap with the experimental film/art film scene, in terms of makers and audience?
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Matt McCormick: The Rexall Rose- that was pretty much the first/only coffee shop on Alberta street in the mid 90s- back when Alberta street looked and felt nothing like it does now. The Rexall Rose was this punk/lesbian hangout that was super cool. they had a back room where all sorts of shows happened (film, music, performance, etc- some early PP shows there) – the Rexall Rose, along with a number of punk houses in the neighborhood, was probably the first wave of the gentrification that has so swept that neighborhood today. But obviously businesses like the Rexall Rose and punk kids can no longer afford that neighborhood either.
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Anne: Does the mix tape represent the work of people who participated in that scene?
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Matt McCormick: yes, the mix tape is 100% people who were showing in PP shows 1996-1998
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Anne: Did you know of Jim Blashfield/Jim Blashfield’s work before you moved to Portland?
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Matt McCormick: i did, but didn’t realize it. I had most definitely seen music videos he had made, but it was some time before i actually met him and put it all together. when i moved here and got PP started was about the time that the local animation scene was really taking off commercially. I pretty much missed the early days of that scene’s formation and I naively thought they all just did commercial work. it wasn’t until a few years later i learned about their cool history.
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Anne: Did you have any pre-conceptions, coming here, about the film scene at the time? If so, was that pre-conception part of the draw?
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Matt McCormick: I never planned on moving to Portland- i was on a desperate 3 month coach surfing road trip, and this is pretty much were I ran out of money. A long story in itself, but while staying here and trying to make some money I became very interested in the city and excited about what i was seeing. The NW Film Center seemed really great, knowing Gus was from here, and a great local music scene convinced me that I should stick around and check it out. 17 years later here I am.
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Anne: Did you work for Jim or Will Vinton or Gus or any Portland filmmaker?
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Matt McCormick: no. i washed dishes for the first year i was here. my first ‘film’ job was video taping city council meetings for the local cable access channel. i eventually started getting hired as a production assistant on commercials and hollywood movies, and worked my way up to art director. i worked mostly through Food Chain Films. when my short films started getting national attention that led to me getting some commercial and music video directing jobs, but those have always been few and far between.
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Anne: How did you view NWFF? Was PP a “Slamdance” alternative to NWFF’s “Sundance”?
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Matt McCormick: the relationship changed over the years. early on we were very much in reaction to them- the film center seemed oblivious of local experimental filmmakers. In the late 90s jon raymond, vanessa renwick, miranda july, and I were all rejected from the NWFF multiple times- while often having the same work accepted to much larger film festivals in other cities. But i do give them credit for catching up quickly- I think the success of PP made them realize they needed to pay closer attention to the local scene, and they definitely did. by 2004 the NW Film Center became a vital colleague in helping put forward the PDX Film Festival
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Anne: Was PP ever self sustaining, in terms of funding?
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Matt McCormick: it really comes down to how you define self sustaining. it at least broke even, was able to pay artists (very small) screening fees, and paid me a very modest salary. but it also relied on me being willing to work a full time schedule for part time pay. it relied on lots of volunteer effort.
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Anne: What would you say is the biggest difference, in terms of filmmaking, between the Portland of today and the Portland of 1996?
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Matt McCormick: digital. we could write a book about how different it is. back then we were cutting film, editing video at Portland Cable Access, or using our VCRs to make movies. We called each other on the phone or sent actual letters to each other. most of us didn’t even own computers. computers have changed how we make movies, watch movies, communicate with each other and promote and show our work.
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Anne: I see a big parallel between the scene you facilitated here and the No Wave scene in NYC during the early 80’s. In both instances, the boundary between musicians and filmmakers was almost invisible (Jim Jarmusch, John Zorn), DIY ruled, and people were working way way way off the grid, and not with an eye to mastering Hollywood narrative.
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Matt McCormick: I think I agree with that. It’s more just about creative culture- music, film, art, writing. when you are that far off the grid (and in pre-internet days) it was harder to find your people, so creatives stuck together- communities were formed based on creative personalities as much as genre or artistic medium. especially for the stuff in a more avant garde direction. as an experimental filmmaker i often find more in common with an experimental musician then i do a mainstream/hollywood type filmmaker.
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Thank you, Matt! See you at the Hollywood on Aug. 4!
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Here’s Matt, giving a Dill Pickle Club lecture on May 27, 2012:
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http://www.vimeo.com/45560627
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Fans of underground Portland filmmaking take note! A DVD of the original Auto Cinematic Video Mix Tape will be available for sale at the event.
1 response so far ↓
1 Rob Lyons // Jul 30, 2012 at 4:55 pm
ah, Portland Cable Access – those were the days!
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