The Reel Music Festival in Portland, Oregon - January 7-18, 2011

"Every sound has a story. Every story has a sound." That's the opening line on the website of Reel Film Festival sponsor KINK FM. The Portland area radio station was a sponsor of the 28th Annual Reel Film Festival, which took place January 7 - 18 at various venues.

"Reel Music embraces films exploring a variety of musical genres-jazz, blues, rock, classical, opera, and avant-garde-and fuses them into a unique cinematic celebration." KINK describes.

Another sponsor, KBOO FM, asks us to enjoy the show and find our pleasure.

"We hope that something in this year's eclectic lineup will perk your curiosity and warm your soul. Sing along!"

That was easy enough to do, the sheer volume of entries assured anyone willing to delve into the offerings wouldn't be let down. There was a strong international flavor to Reel Music, with entries from Estonia, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and The Netherlands.

I had planned to attend the first evening, but a sick child dictated otherwise. I wanted to see the film based on Canadian artist Leslie Feist, known simply as "Feist." The opening night after-party at the School of Film on Salmon Street was on the list too. My wife has acted in a couple of productions through the School of Film, so we were looking forward to going there, but had to cancel.

I did finally get to in the Reel Music Festival on Sunday, Jan 16, to see something that used to be readily available on MTV - good music videos. Hosted by Mississippi studios and sponsored by Oregon Music News, the collection of music videos ran the gamut from the familiar to the wonderfully unfamiliar.

Some personal favorites were the Dandy Warhols with "This is the Tide," Red Fang's "Prehistoric Dogs," and Y La Bamba's "My Love is a Forest Fire." It was extremely refreshing to see music videos when promised, instead of tuning to a so-called music channel and seeing what passes for programming. Anyone else miss when MTV actually meant music videos?

Reel Music Festival is a project of Northwest Film Center. Most screenings were held at Whitsell Auditorium, in the Portland Art Museum. A few showings took place elsewhere. Tickets were 9 dollars for general admission, 8 dollars for Portland Art Museum members, students, and seniors. An additional 3 dollar charge was applied to double features.

Reel Music also sets the stage for the big event of the year for Northwest Film Center, the Portland International Film Festival. See information on Reel Music, The PIFF, and other events at the Northwest Film Center site.