Ben S.
Google
NW Film Center IS AMAZING! I took a few film production classes here while I was living in Portland for awhile when I took academic leave from Hampshire College back east in Massachusetts in between my second and third years there. A friend (and frequent collaborator during my time in Portland) also lived in the apartment building across the street from NW Film Center so we'd do a lot of screening/editing dailies in her place out of convenience.
I ❤️'d Oregon, and Portland is a VERY nice, beautiful and clean city (or at least it WAS back then in the mid-90's) and it was VERY culturally vibrant for such a small city. I fell SO MUCH in ❤️ with Portland that I STRONGLY considered transferring from Hampshire to Reed.
I'm sure I would have continued studying and working with NW Film Center as well if I'd ended up attending Reed to finish my degree; in fact I'd planned on it. That was one of the MAJOR detractions about Reed versus Hampshire actually: the film program.
Hampshire has one based on campus with full production facilities, Reed doesn't. However, at Reed you can still study "Cinema", BUT, you have to find production opportunities within the city itself (which was fine with me) such as at NW Film Center.
Their screening theater in the basement of the Portland Art Museum was REALLY COOL though. PIFF was an amazing event too, and rivaled the film festivals I'd grown up with in NYC.