2025 Amplify Portland Grant Awardees
In partnership with Travel Portland, the Portland Events and Film Office is excited to announce the three recipients of the Amplify Portland: Local Filmmakers Production Grant. The Amplify Portland Grant is intended to create opportunity for filmmakers utilizing local talent, crew and vendors during production. Our aim was to contribute to productions that build professional development of the local industry and have the potential to bring exposure to Portland through unique stories with diverse representation both in front of and behind the camera.
“This grant is all about telling a unique-to-Portland, relevant-to-Portland story. There is no better time like the present to do just that. These three films evoked nostalgia, sparked conversation, and gave us hope. All brilliantly made by Portland’s finest crafters of filmmaking. I cannot wait to see the projects on the big screen very soon”. Elyse Taylor Liburd, Film Industry Project Manager.
After an extensive screening process, a grant panel made up of industry professionals, community members, and staff awarded the top three scoring productions $10,000 each.
Please join us in congratulating the three award recipients:
Taste Black Portland-
Taste Black Portland is a feature-length documentary celebrating the chefs, farmers, restaurateurs, and entrepreneurs shaping Portland’s Black culinary scene. From soul food to fine dining, backyard gardens to food carts, the film explores how flavor, creativity, and culture come together to tell a deeper story of community and belonging in one of America’s top food cities. Taste Black Portland is directed and hosted by Jared Leaf and executive produced by Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Dru Holley, in partnership with Black Bald Films and Ninety Third Story .
Are We Cool-
"Are We Cool is a coming-of-age, coming-out, political, punk rock, romantic, high school hangout movie about finding your people and loving who you love. Set in 1994 Portland, Oregon, at a small alternative high school where the students make the rules, weird is the norm, and education is not one-size-fits-all." This project is directed by native Portlander, Aaron Katz, known for his award winning film “Gemini", and produced by Oregonian Kyle Eaton, who recently worked on “Pig” and “Sometimes I Think About Dying”.
Unmatched: The Team that Changed the Beautiful Game-
Unmatched: The Team that Changed the Beautiful Game tells the untold story of the 2005 Portland Pilots: Megan Rapinoe, Christine Sinclair, and the greatest college soccer team of all time. It’s about greatness on the field, changemakers off the field, and a city that supports women’s soccer unlike anywhere else in the world. Through interviews with the players, Portland sports icons, journalists, academics, soccer legends, and others – this film explores how a team from the smallest school to ever win a national championship changed soccer forever.
