Raymond Carver & Tess Gallagher Creative Writing Festival

08/16/2025

Pre-sales available now!💜

01/23/2025

A three-time Academy Award-winning film with ties to Port Angeles, Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) will play at Field Hall this Friday at 7 PM. But that is not all. Antonio Sanchez, who wrote and performed the musical score, will perform the soundtrack live along with the film. Port Angeles' own, Tess Gallagher, will speak briefly about working with the director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who later thanked her in his Academy Award acceptance speech.

The film is set in a theatre on Broadway in New York where former action movie star (with tongue-in-cheek casting of Michael Keaton who played Batman) seeks artistic redemption as an actor again after playing "Birdman". How does he seek redemption? By playing a dramatic role in his own stage adaptation of Raymond Carver's short story "What we Talk About When We Talk About Love."

If you are not familiar with the film itself and the reasons it is considered to be such a cinematic achievement, you might peek at this link from the New York Film Academy which discusses how the director and cinematographer achieved a modified one shot or one take style: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/best-cinematography-look-birdman/

Birdman winning an Academy Award for Best Picture wasn’t much of a surprise. Earlier in the ceremony, it had already picked up Oscars for Best Screenplay, Best Directing, and Best Cinematography.The Cinematography award went to the film’s director of photography, Emmanuel Lubezki, giving him a record-tying two Oscars in a row in the cinematography category.

www.nyfa.edu





You might also consider how the film's director went in an innovative direction with the musical score as well, recruiting drummer Antonio Sanchez to perform and record the soundtrack, which amounts to one brilliantly executed (at times tender at times bombastic) two-hour drum solo.

While watching the film, you might not notice the one-shot approach or the drum-heavy soundtrack as both are so fluent and (at times) subtle, but if and when you realize what is happening, your appreciation of these techniques will take your viewing experience to another level. And tomorrow night, with Sanchez performing live, you will have every opportunity to enjoy the trademarks of this fine film and its score.

I hope to see you there!

If you are interested, here is a brief interview I conducted with the director regarding his use and appreciation of Raymond Carver's work...

https://raymondcarverpodcast.pencol.edu/s1e4-birdman-with-director-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/

05/09/2024

Selected Shorts at Field Hall ... Dion Graham, Kirsten Vangsness, Tess Gallagher, and Zach Genier at the final show of the festival. Photo credit: Roger Briggs

05/08/2024

An interview with TC Boyle after his reading here by Peninsula College Alumnus Elijah Sussman...

On April 25, novelist TC Boyle took the stage at Field Arts and Events Hall for the first night of The Raymond Carver and Tess Gallagher Writing Festival.

05/01/2024

Thank you Diane Urbani de la Paz for sharing these photos from the Pie and Poetry reading for Ray...Gary Copeland Lilley, Tess Gallagher, Billy Collins at Ocean View Cemetery.

05/01/2024

Sure, we have wrapped up the festivities here in Port Angeles for 2024, but Clatskanie, Oregon is ready to host you for more writing fun May 17th and 18th!

04/29/2024

Festival Pictures Wanted:

We would love any photos of the festival you are willing to share. A local reporter needs a picture of the TC Boyle reading if anyone has a good one. Please message Michael Mills and post pictures in the comments below.

04/25/2024

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/entertainment/famed-writers-performers-arriving-in-port-angeles-for-festival/

Twenty-three events slated at Field Hall, Peninsula College

04/24/2024

Get some sleep festival attendees! You are going to need all your energy for three straight days of back to back lit events. See you tomorrow at 9 AM.

04/22/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Q9zy10JD4&t=157s..a YouTube version of the podcast's detailed advertisement for the festival.

04/20/2024

The welcome packet for the festival is assembled, thanks to our awesome volunteer team, C C Stern Foundary, and our graphic designer Christina Ballew.