Thursday, August 3-Sunday, August 6, OMSI hosts the 2023 Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation and Technology (PFCAT) featuring 119 films from 22 countries with 110 world or regional premieres. The animated projects include stop-motion, rotoscope and hand-drawn animation, as well as a range of features, documentaries, sci-fi shorts and projects that focus on VFX and cutting edge technology. The experience is enhanced with panels, presentations and parties.
All festival screenings before 5 pm are family friendly with content designed to appeal to both kids and adults. Alice in Cyberland tells the story of Alice, a girl who is one of the biggest YouTubers in the country, famous for her videos and personality, although in reality she’s a spoiled and arrogant girl. As she closes in on the mark of reaching 40 million followers, she intends to create a special event on her channel to celebrate “The Rabbit Hole.” Everything changes when she is sent to the digital world and needs to face all her fears to save the day and return home.
Return to Kellogg is about what happens when a postman, a penguin, a mad scientist, two French Canadian farmers, a man in a cheese costume and a C league hockey team (among others) return to their hometown to steal an off ramp to save it from being bypassed by a new highway. What follows is an impossible heist from a well-meaning ragtag team of unforgettable characters.
Titania, seen through the eyes of the street dog that became the world’s first four-legged celebrity who traveled to the North Pole in a Zepplin, tells a true-ish story of glory and defeat.
There’s also a full line up of content geared toward adults with multiple short films, animation for adults, films where the filmmaker will be in attendance and more. The festival’s award ceremony and closing night party takes place August 6, 8 pm. Tickets and additional information for all festival events available at tickets.omsi.edu/events.