If you happened to stroll through Lithia Park or the Southern Oregon University campus this weekend, you might have caught a glimpse of a short film production in progress in Ashland. Filming continues this weekend on Sunday, Nov. 10, at various locations, and at Calle Guanajuato on Monday, Nov. 11, depending on weather.
After the AIFF opened the doors to their newly remodeled center, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leading the festival to go virtual. Now, the AIFF is up and running with their first in person event to be held since 2019.
Audiences at the premiere of the documentary “Including Us” during the Ashland Independent Film Festival 2024 were clearly moved by the film, with some tears shed to the accompaniment of applause and a standing ovation on Oct. 5.
Ashland’s Richard Seidman, a screenwriter turned filmmaker, has taken matters into his own hands after years of unproduced scripts in the hope a crowd-funded short film will bring his vision to life: “Schmendrick: The Thirteenth Disciple.” Seidman plans to submit the movie to film festivals and competitions, including the Ashland Independent Film Festival.
Oregon’s energy landscape is charging into the future, and Southern Oregon PBS is capturing every watt of it with “Energy Horizons,” a new six-part documentary series premiering this fall. Directed by Keegan Van Hook (“Us As We Are”) and filmed by longtime collaborator Tripp White, both Ashland residents, the series takes viewers on a powerful journey across the state, spotlighting Oregon’s renewable energy breakthroughs, cutting-edge technologies, and the challenges of storage and transmission.
A locally made short film entitled “I AM FINE” that centers on the experience of a gay man named Ryan as he grapples with his religion and sexual identity will make its premiere on Dec. 6 at John Pugh’s Big Dog Studio in Ashland.
The Ashland Independent Film Festival kicks off its four-day run Thursday, Oct. 3, with the centerpiece film for the festival, ‘Including Us,’ set for its world premiere Saturday. The film, made by local director Brandon Givens, is about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Hairspray: A Broadway Musical” in 2019. The story focuses on four actors with disabilities who starred in the musical, along with the rest of the cast.
AIFF held a preview night for the upcoming film fest on Sept. 18. The arts, environment, and social activism are three of the main movie themes making up the list for AIFF 2024, coming up Oct. 3-6. The 2024 lineup includes more than 60 movie premieres, many with in-depth Q&A discussions with filmmakers, guest artists and actors in attendance.
The Ashland Independent Film Festival will unveil its full lineup of films for this year’s festival at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, in the SOU Music Recital Hall.
Southern Oregon University was recently named a top 30 film school for its digital cinema program in the U.S. and Canada by MovieMaker Magazine, a widely read independent film magazine. Alongside big-name schools such as the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, SOU was chosen for its hands-on education and networking opportunities.
Poetry Corner: It’s that time of the year for organizing end-of-year tasks and thinking about turning the calendar page to a new year. If you have a poem for any holiday that celebrates with light, even if not at this time of the year — Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Lantern Festival, Lunar New Year, New Year’s, or any other festivity where light plays a significant role — please, consider submitting to the Poetry Corner.
A woman’s in the hospital and a man is in jail on charges of attempted murder following a shooting Monday evening in Ashland, according to an Ashland Police Department news release issued Tuesday afternoon. Cory A. Davison, 49, of Ashland is being held without bail at Jackson County Jail on charges of attempted murder in the second degree, domestic violence assault in the second degree, and unlawful use of weapon in connection with an incidence of domestic violence.
A rash of break-ins over the past few days resulted in about $5,000 damage at two Ashland low-income houses under construction by Rogue Valley Habitat for Humanity. No suspects have been arrested. Food and drinks for volunteers who were building the house near North Mountain Avenue in the Beach Creek subdivision were eaten.
Obituary: Donald Richard Montgomery passed peacefully on Nov. 27, 2024, aged 94, at his home in Ashland, Oregon. He became Director of Ocean Services at NOAA, and he authored several articles and co-authored a book about the Surveyor spacecraft. His work took him around the world, from Kenya, Australia and the South Pacific, to the arctic regions of Iceland, Greenland and Norway.
The Ashland Daily Tidings — established as a newspaper in 1876 — ceased operations in 2021 (its parent company, Rosebud Media, held on until 2023), but if you were a local reader, you may not have known. Almost as soon as it closed, a website for the Tidings reemerged, supposedly boasting a team of eight reporters who cranked out densely reported stories every few days. The reality was that none of the people allegedly working for the Ashland Daily Tidings existed, or at least were who they claimed to be. The bylines listed on Daily Tidings articles were put there by scammers using artificial intelligence, and in some cases stolen identities, to dupe local readers.
The amount of reporting produced in Oregon has been declining for decades — a fact that is likely unsurprising to Oregonians who have seen their newspapers thin and local coverage shrink. It’s a trend that has been playing out across the country as the business of producing journalism has faltered alongside the rise of the internet.
(It’s free)