Thursday, December 9, 2010

When It Rains It Rarely Pours

Today was our first day off on the Westcoast and we definitely lived it up! The film enthusiast/programmer/creative director Richard Herskowitz (who brought us out here for our screening and was also responsible for our recent performances in Houston) spent the day with Brent & I exploring the coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest, after narrowly missing a disaster involving us coasting into a gas station on fumes! Richard (pictured after filling gas tank) hasn't been in the area for too long so today's exploration included some new heights for him as well as we climbed to the peaks of a waterfall and drank some coffee at new & exotic waterside locales!

Richard has been programming the Cinema Arts Festival in Texas for the past two years now and has really been able to capture the (underseen) artistic community of Houston while still managing to bring in some (progressive) big names of the screen! I really think this festival is so unique and I can't wait to see it grow like it no doubt will! If that wasn't enough, Richard also runs Cinema Pacific a sort of interdisciplinary arts/film festival in the area of Eugene featuring works coming out of countries bordering the Pacific Ocean- an interesting concept with just as interesting content! Overall it has been a lovely filmic trip to this beautiful area, full of short film watching, trips to the ocean, wonderful food and all with the best of company! More Oregon tomorrow, followed by....home!!!