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Filmmaker Sean Baker, who won four Academy Awards earlier this year for the movie Anora, is coming to Cinema 21 later this month. After a screening of his 2015 film Tangerine, Baker will have an onstage conversation with author and former Oregonian film critic Shawn Levy.
The event is the grand finale of the Northwest Portland movie theater’s centennial celebration, which will run Sept. 19-28.
“This September, Portland’s beloved Cinema 21 reaches a milestone few theaters ever achieve: 100 years of cinema, community and cultural impact,” said the press release announcing the 10-day festival.
Tickets for the Sept. 28 Sean Baker event are $40, still available and on sale here, but act fast. Tangerine, famously shot on iPhones, is about a working girl searching Los Angeles on Christmas Eve for the pimp who broke her heart.
The festival kicks off with an opening night party Sept. 19 with a cocktail hour, raffle, guest speakers, auction and an onscreen presentation.
Cinema 21 opened in 1925 as the State Theater, showing silent films with live organ and had an orchestra pit for musical accompaniment. It’s gone through many iterations over the years, including the Vista, 21st Avenue Theater and, as of 1962, Cinema 21.
Cinema 21 isn’t the only independent theater hitting its triple-digit birthday this month: Southeast Portland’s historic single-screen Moreland Theater also turns 100 in September.
GO: Cinema 21 Centennial Celebration, 616 NW 21st Ave., cinema21.com. Sept. 19-28. $21 for opening night party, $40 for Tangerine and Q&A with Sean Baker.
