2019 Bend Film Festival

Written and directed by Laura Jean Gallagher

Clementine follows Karen, 29, a heartbroken woman unable to let go of her failing relationship with an older and more successful woman. In a desperate plea for attention, she steals away to her estranged lover’s lake house in a remote and beautiful forest in the Pacific Northwest. Here she meets Lana, a provocative young girl hell-bent on moving to California and cultivating an identity that lives up to her expectations of the world outside of her small town.

Directed by Joy E. Reed & Dan Hunt

Little Miss Westie follows two transgender siblings as they navigate puberty, family and transitioning during the Trump era. Ren is competing in the Lil Miss Westie Pageant as perhaps, the first out trans girl; coaching her is her older brother, Luca, who knows his stuff because he competed when he was Ren’s age and living as a girl. Whether Ren wins or loses, this experience will change the family forever offering a rare window into the lives of two very young gender pioneers.

Directed by David Hambridge

With the northern white rhino species on the brink of extinction, two ranger recruits are mentored by a seasoned ranger with an unorthodox approach to caring for the last northern white rhino male – “Sudan.” Spanning over the course of the recruits’ first four years on the job, Kifaru allows viewers to experience the joys and pitfalls of conservation firsthand through the lens of the men that look into the eyes of extinction on a daily basis.

Written and directed by Haroula Rose

Set in rural Michigan in the 1970s, Once Upon A River is the story of Native American teenager Margo Crane, who is forced to journey on the Stark River in search of her estranged mother. As Margo uses the skills she was taught by her father to survive, she meets many characters along the way. Despite the challenges, Margo is able to stay true to herself as she discovers what it means to live.

Directed by Sergio M. Rapu

Native Rapanui (Easter Island) filmmaker Sergio Mata’u Rapu narrates to his son the modern dilemma of their people who risk losing everything to the globalizing effects of tourism. The film follows four islanders, descendants of the ancient statue builders, who are working to tackle the consequences of their rapidly developing home.

Directed by Catharine Axley

ATTLA tells the story of dogsled champion George Attla, from his childhood as a TB survivor in the remote Alaskan interior, through his rise as ten-time world champion and mythical state hero, and finally as a village elder resolutely training his grandnephew to race his dogs one last time.

Directed by Tim Keenan Burgess & Lawrence Johnson

Indigenous scientists and elders from several Oregon interior tribes, including the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Reservation, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde share observations of their changing environment, natural resource issues, and the beauty of tribes’ traditional arts, music and storytelling.

Directed by Marshall Curry

THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW tells the story of Alli (Maria Dizzia), a mother of young children who has grown frustrated with her daily routine and husband (Greg Keller). But her life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street and she discovers that she can see into their apartment.

Inspired by a true story, the film was written and directed by three-time Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker, Marshall Curry. Starring Tony-nominated Maria Dizzia (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, 13 REASONS WHY, WHILE WE’RE YOUNG); Greg Keller (LAW & ORDER); and Juliana Canfield (SUCCESSION).

Directed by Stefanie Abel Horowitz

Fran is thinking about dying, but a man in the office might want to date her.

Directed by Michal Pietrzyk

In a gentrifying New Orleans, Demond sacrifices to be Big Chief in a secret 200-year culture known as Mardi Gras Indians: African-American men from the city’s roughest neighborhoods spend all year sewing feathered suits they’ll wear only once in a battle to decide who’s “the prettiest.”

Directed by Vern Hass (University of Southern California)

A one word journey through an unsuspecting freshman’s sexual trials, tribulations, and revelations during her first semester of college.

Directed by Amy Bench

Separated from her mother by smugglers at the border, a determined 12-year-old sets out across a desert with only a plastic sack for protection from the cold, survives starvation on the streets of Ciudad Juarez, and escapes kidnappers to find her mother and a place where they can be safe again.

Directed by Geoff Marslett

Loneliness is a trucker who calls out on his CB radio waiting for a reply that never comes; A ghost that haunts the deserted highways; and a whale that sings at a frequency no other whale can even hear.

Directed by Marga Laube

A poetic exploration of what it feels like to step out into the unknown, something highliners do every time they walk the line.

Cinematography by Andres Karu

Clementine follows Karen, 29, a heartbroken woman unable to let go of her failing relationship with an older and more successful woman. In a desperate plea for attention, she steals away to her estranged lover’s lake house in a remote and beautiful forest in the Pacific Northwest. Here she meets Lana, a provocative young girl hell-bent on moving to California and cultivating an identity that lives up to her expectations of the world outside of her small town.

As Karen grapples with her past and expectations for the future, her relationship with Lana oscillates between that of friends, mother/daughter, sisters, lovers, beholder and beheld. Equal parts psychological drama and sexual coming-of-age story, Clementine is a tense rumination on who to love and how to let go.