With the relaunch of the Portland Women’s Film Festival tonight at the Hollywood Theatre, the Oregon city continues to push to become the film festival capital of the world. Some say it already is. Like me. I list the PDX, Portland Underground and 10 Or Less festivals alone here on the Underground Film Journal. Now I’m adding this one even though it’s not quite an “underground” festival because I appreciate the fest’s aims.

The fest was originally held just once back in 2003, but it’s back with a vengeance this year. The Guest of Honor is filmmaker Allison Anders, who will be in attendance for the screenings of several of her feature films, including Gas Food Lodging, one of my personal favorite films of all time. The rest of the festival, from May 15 to 18, is crammed full of features, shorts and lots of workshops and panels. The Closing Night film is the directorial debut of actress Mary Stuart Masterson, The Cake Eaters. And there is an “experimental” shorts program on the 18th, so maybe that’s where one can get her underground “fix” at the fest.

Also, on the Underground Film Journal, I normally list brief descriptions of the feature films, but I’m getting this up so late, I don’t have time to write those up. But, here’s the full lineup of films:

May 15
7:00 p.m.: “Local Shorts Showcase”
Losing 1983, dir. Ali Cotterill
Nora, dir. Grace Carter & Holly Andres
person, place or thing, dir. Elle Martini
Perversion of Justice, dir. Melissa Mummert
Small Movements

9:00 p.m.: A Sentence For Two, dir. Randi Jacobs
Plays with Bio-Diesel, dir. Ida Gearon

May 16
7:00 p.m.: Gas Food Lodging, dir. Allison Anders

May 17
1:00 p.m.: Big Dreams In Little Hope (aka MOM), dir. Erin Greenwell
Plays with I’m In The Mood For Death, dir. Carolyn London; and A Girl and a Gun, dir. Melissa Bruning

1:15 p.m.: This American Gothic, dir. Sasha Waters Freyer
Plays with The Water Carriers, dir. Jaime Jelenchick; and Gator Armstrong Plays With Dolls, dir. Krisy Gosney

3:00 p.m.: Rachel: a perfect life, dir. Fiona Cochrane

3:15 p.m.: “Animation Shorts”
Zoologic, dir. Nicole Mitchell
Dinner Table, dir. Song E Kim
Ruby Rocket, Private Detective, dirs. Sam Niemann & Stacey Hallal
When I Grow Up, dir. Michelle Meeker
PK Granny, dir. Jo Meuris
Fish, But No Cigar, dir. Tara White and Lyn Elliot
Vizen (On Water), dir. Fruzsina Gaal
Sole Mates, dir. Susan Hebert
Streetcar Named Perspire, dir. Joanna Priestley
Once Upon a Tide, dir. Gesine Krätzner
Sun King, dir. Gesine Krätzner

5:00 p.m.: Katrina’s Children, dir. Laura Belsey
Plays with Canada, dir. Anjali Sundara

5:15 p.m.: “Many Faces of Womanhood Shorts”
I Always Do My Collars First, dir. Connie Castille and Allison Bohl
The Good Mother of Abangoh, dir. Nadine Licostie
Like a Ship in the Night, dir. Melissa Thompson
Daughterhood, dir. Evan Briggs
Granny D Goes to Washington, dir. Alidra Solday

7:00 p.m.: Border Radio, dir. Allison Anders

7:15 p.m.: Special Circumstances, dir. Marianne Teleki

9:00 p.m.: The World Unseen, dir. Shamim Sarif
Plays with To Spiti me tis Elies (House of the Olive Trees), dir. Thouly Dosios

9:15 p.m.: “Don’t Bring the Kids”
Why We Wax, dir. Kimberly M. Wetherell & Amy Axelson 2007
MAN, dir. Myna Joseph
La Llamada, dir. Paulina Galvez
Way, dir. Elizabeth Pasieczny
Succubus, dir. Alison Reid
Size Matters, dir. Stacia Black

11:30 p.m.: The Shadow Within, dir. Silvana Zancolo
Plays with The Masquerade, dir. Natalia Garcia

May 18
11:00 a.m.: “Young Filmmakers Shorts Showcase”
Soliloquy, dir. Olivia Motley
The Jump, dir. Taisia Reshetnikova
Obsession, dir. Sophie Scott
Laughing Silently, dir. Iemi Hernandez-Kim
Not The Song You Expected To Hear, dir. Brittany Rich
The Other Side Of The Story, dirs. Baily Copeland, Talisa Heward and Bianca Maldonado
The Wealth Of A Penny, dir. Molly Nemer

11:15 a.m.: Women Behind the Camera, dir. Alexis Krasilovsky

1:00 p.m.: JUMP!, dir. Helen Hood Scheer

1:30 p.m.: “Experimental/The Artist Within”
Repetitive Acts, dir. Danielle Lessovitz
Cents a Peek, dir. Vanessa Woods
two dogs, a cat and a baby, dir. Pam Kuntz
Whirlybird, dir. Danielle Corches
Secret, dir. Meredith Heil
Your Whole Body Is a Target, dir. Eileen Cowin
The Greeting From My Mother, dir. Katja Straub
Oyster, dir. Treva Wurmfeld

3:00 p.m.: THREAD, dir. Laurie Chock
Plays with Africa’s Daughters, dir. Natalie Halpern

4:00 p.m.: Going On 13, dirs. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Dawn Valadez
Plays with First Period, dir. Allyson Schwarz

5:00 p.m.: Sync or Swim, dir. Cheryl Furjanic
Plays with The Home of Split Pea Soup, dir. Amy Adrion

7:00 p.m.: The Cake Eaters, dir. Mary Stuart Masterson

For more info, please visit the official POW! Fest website.