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Mid Valley Film Festival
By Kate Snyder
J-Lab Staff Writer
As an event that labels itself “Fiercely Independent,” the Mid Valley Film Festival offers the city of Salem an annual event that would make any movie lover swoon. Between Feb. 15 and 24, Northern Lights Theater will showcase all films featured in this year’s film festival, with over 100 films total.
As a showcase for independent Northwest filmmakers, the festival was founded in 2004 to celebrate Oregonian culture and art. The festival includes films made strictly in the Northwest or that feature topics that are specific to northwest residents. While the filmmakers and film topics are reserved for Oregonians, the audience includes a wide variety of independent film enthusiasts from across the country.
With many of the films entered in the festival being satirical in nature, the political undertones of Oregonian culture are widely displayed.
One movie entitled, “Blood Car,” is a political satire regarding the increased prices for oil and the nation’s dependence on the resource. The film depicts a world in which gasoline is priced at $40 a gallon, and to meet the demand for automobile fuel, a system is created in which human blood provides the same services as gasoline. “Blood Car” explores the chaos that occurs as a result of this discovery and examines to what lengths American society is willing to go to fuel cars and other machinery.
The Mid Valley Film Festival provides a great opportunity for film lovers and political enthusiasts alike to enjoy the work of independent artists, while at the same time supporting Oregon’s local economy.
The festival ends Feb. 24, and movie schedules can be found at www.mdfest.org.
