Événement

Alain LeTourneau & Pam Minty: Empty Quarter

For over a decade, the duo of Alain LeTourneau and Pam Mintyworking together under the name 40 Frames have been tireless advocates for the vitality of 16mm exhibition and production, maintaining a comprehensive directory of filmmaker resources, managing a film archive and curating regular screenings of independent and underground film in their native Portland, Oregon. Their first feature-length film, Empty Quarter, is a subtle and complex portrait of the lives, landscapes and industry of southeastern Oregon, a seemingly remote region that, while comprising one third of the state's landmass, holds only 2% of its population (a surprisingly diverse population, including East Indian and Japanese families, ancestors of Basque sheepherders, Paiute tribes people and Latinos who have come to help work the land). Placing local voices describing the region's history and daily life in counterpoint to stunning black-and-white cinematography and an ambient rural soundscape, Empty Quarter emerges as a complex and subtle studyin the tradition of Benning's California Trilogy and Barbash & Castaing-Taylor's Sweetgrassof a seemingly mundane yet highly politicized landscape. (Steve Polta)