Wild Rivers Film Festival: Redwood Theater

Posted on by Thor

After the Wild Rivers Film Festival was a wrap, I explored Brookings, Oregon with sketches. I went back to the Redwood Theater which was the theater with the biggest screen. The theater was built in 1909 and just recently was purchased by new owners.

I liked the Theater’s mission statement, which was a commitment to free speech. “It is the commitment of the Redwood Theater to encourage free expression of ideas. We respect all viewpoints and do our best to be the vehicle for free speech and expression in our community, and to not judge the various views of perspective presented. We believe censorship has no place in free society.” Considering the position of the present administration to control free speech and limit journalists from asking questions to get to the truth. The theater’s stance is brave.

It was early in the morning when I sketched the theater. I put a bunch of colored pencils in my art kit in part because of this sketch. It would have been nice to draw white letters over the dark red sign, rather than painting around each letter. If nothing ese the pencils will offer an excuse for more playful application of color and texture.

I had to cross the main street of Brookings to find this sketching spot. The cross sections have buttons that you can push which actually stop traffic. One car rushing through the town didn’t respect the flashing sign to stop. I am glad I didn’t trust that vehicle to abide by the signage.

One pickup parked near the theater and a guy got out and changed the plastic bags in the public trash can. The biggest distraction while sketching was the huge 16 wheeler’s that roared through the town regularly carrying large tree trunks that were about two feet thick and the length of the flatbed. I remember these menacing trucks from my cross-country bike trip way back in 1982. When biking in the shoulder of the road, the wind gusts from these giants would almost blow me over. Now I just lament all the trees being sacrificed. That feeling is rather hypocritical since I am sketching on paper, which was once a tree as well.

COVID Dystopia is an official Selection at the Wild Rivers Film Festival

Posted on by Thor

COVID Dystopia is an official selection at the Wild Rivers Film Festival on August 15th to 18th, 2025. The festival runs in four theaters, one of which is the Redwood Theater, 621 Chetco Ave, Bookings, Oregon. There are two other venues as well, The Chetco Live Theater and the Chetco Public Library. It would be just my luck for COVID Dystopia to screen in a library to disturb patrons who just want some peace and quiet.

Wild Rivers Film Festival  is a competitive exhibition for domestic and international feature films, documentaries, shorts and screenplays. It is a film festival that had not crossed my radar, but I was asked to submit by the festival executive director, Daniel Springen. This is the second year that the festival has been running.

The Wild Rivers Film Festival is an immersive four-day experience that includes screenings in four venues, industry panels, and workshops that are all geared toward indie filmmakers and adventurous movie lovers.

The festival has nightly parties and a variety of professional activities which encourage important networking opportunities for all.

Brookings, Oregon is nestled right on the breathtaking Pacific coastline. The people are friendly, the seafood is fresh, and the film history is prolific. Bookings also was the only place in the contiguous United States to be bombed by air in WWII. Since I am deeply entrenched in researching WWII history right h=now, that fact fascinates me.

On September 9 and September 29, 1942, Imperial Japanese Navy pilot Nobuo Fujita, flying a float plane launched from the submarine I-25, and dropped incendiary bombs near Brookings with the goal of starting large forest fires. The forests were moist from a recent rain and the fires died out quickly on their own. The goal to create massive forest fires to draw U.S. military resources away from the Pacific Theater and demoralize the American public was a failure.

The festival culminates with an award ceremony featuring cash & prizes.