Sunshine Mill chosen for Film Festival
Sunshine Mill will host the Oregon Short Film Festival next week.
The Sunshine Mill Winery and Drive-Up was chosen for the seventh edition of the Oregon Short Film Festival that will take place from February 25 through February 28, 2021.
“We are thrilled to have a space for them,” said the Sunshine’’s Molli Martin on Friday. “We’re highly supportive of the arts.”
Film Festival Circuit is presenting the week of short films.
“We are so excited to be able to continue putting on film festivals in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mikel Fair, Director of Film Festival Circuit, LLC. “We’re grateful spaces like Sunshine Mill have found a unique way to continue our passion of bringing films to the big screen.”
Loren Westlund Davis
Martin said she also got a surprise before it was announced, noting her step-sister from Los Angeles, Lorin Westlund Davis, who hails from The Dallas, directed a movie that was selected for the festival.
Her film is titled Braveo and was born out of the lockdown. It’s about “A young girl tries to be brave when her father disappears during a global pandemic.”
“It’s a small world,” Martin said, noting she was also inspired that Wasco County was looking to reopen restaurants, minimally, to 25 percent capacity in time for the event.
“We hope to have customers and festival-goers come in and see the place,” she said. “It’s exciting for us to bring people to The Dalles and to the community and show them what we have.”
The winery recently converted their parking lot into a drive-in movie theater, referred to as Drive-Up Movies at The Mill, screening movies three nights a week in the wake of COVID-19. With retro drive-in movie theaters making a comeback, companies like Film Festival Circuit are able to continue hosting events that are safe and socially distant.
Film Festival Circuit is a partnership of eight different Film Festival Events in the United States, which accepts film and screenplay submissions from international independent filmmakers.
Up until the pandemic, the festival was held at Revolution Hall in Portland.
200 independent short films of all genres have been selected to be screened this February and the price for tickets is $35 per car, per day. Tickets can be purchased online through Eventbrite.
