Home Grown

Jonah Loeb stares out the window of his Southwest Portland office, trying not to look stressed. He's always trying not to look stressed, which may be why his face seems permanently set that way.

There are many things running through his mind; most of it the day-to-day stuff that plagues many entrepreneurs. But not everything he's thinking about is negative. Some of it is positive--and that's what keeps the 29-year-old businessman going.

Loeb is the president and co-founder of IndieDVD, a small home-video distribution company based in Portland. The company was started three years ago as a means to help independent filmmakers get their movies into video stores. And it's been a struggle every day since. The world of home video distribution is cut-throat. With major studios such as Warner Bros. and Disney battling for valuable shelf space and consumer dollars, there's very little of either left for small labels like IndieDVD.

And make no mistake, IndieDVD is small. With fewer than 20 films currently available or scheduled for release in the next 12 months, IndieDVD is the home-video equivalent to one of those small record labels that specializes in underground punk and hip-hop. But as the company struggles--sometimes to keep the phone connected--it is slowly carving out its niche. Part of that niche is movies by local filmmakers, now more than half of the IndieDVD film library.

"I never intended for such a big chunk of our catalog to be movies by Portland filmmakers," says Loeb. "It just sort of happened that way."

When Loeb first started IndieDVD, it never occurred to him to look locally. "We spent so much time chasing after films all over the nation," he says, "that we ignored what was going on in our own back yard."

What's going on, according to Loeb, is a "wealth of filmmaking talent that is on the verge of being discovered." Over the next year, IndieDVD will release seven titles by such local filmmakers as Penny Allen and James Westby. This is in addition to the other four titles the company has already put out, including Hellchild, a collection of shorts by Nick Lyon, and Plymptoons, featuring the work of animator Bill Plympton (Plympton's animated feature Mutant Aliens was released earlier this month by IndieDVD). One of the company's biggest sellers to date is Unhinged, a far-from-great 1980s horror film by Don Gronquist that features audio commentary by smart-ass film critics--including Kim Morgan and me--who do nothing but poke fun at the movie.

Next month will see the release of Pop, a romantic comedy set in the 1960s that stars Peter Paige of Showtime's Queer as Folk and is directed by local filmmaker Brian McDonald. And in the months to follow, there will be other Portland films arriving in video stores nationwide courtesy of IndieDVD, including Westby's critically acclaimed Bloody Mary and Mike Prosser's The Dividing Hour (co-written and produced by yours truly). Loeb is especially excited about Rob Taylor's Evil Cult, a low-budget horror flick shot deep in the wilderness of Oregon City. "Evil Cult is going to rewrite the myth of the digital filmmaking revolution," says Loeb with childlike glee. "It's part cable access, part eye-popping, jaw-dropping action. You have to see it to believe it."

Die-hard fans of independent cinema will have reason to rejoice when IndieDVD releases Property and Paydirt, two films by director Allen and director of photography Eric Edwards. Both films are part of the wave of independent filmmaking that came into its own during the '70s and '80s, representing part of its heart and soul as well as the burgeoning national scene. Each will feature audio commentaries by Allen, Edwards and Gus Van Sant, who was the soundman on Property.

Judging by the films offered by IndieDVD, Oregon is a wellspring of independent film talent nearly three decades deep. Much like the music scene in Seattle that erupted over a decade ago, the Portland film scene is teetering on the brink of larger, national recognition--which leaves IndieDVD poised to become the Sub Pop Records of home video. And although he doesn't like to make the comparison himself, Loeb can't help but be amused. "I suppose there are worse things to be compared to," he says with a smile.

WWeek 2015