| 7/30/19 - The following is provided by Anne Richardson, submitted to the SHPO in conjunction with Oregon Heritage's spotlight on Women's History and the places associated with their contributions to history and culture. The passages below recognize Brooke Jacobson, for her contributions in the fostering and support of independent film in Oregon and acorss fo the country. Portland State University's Lincoln Hall, specifically Room 75, is identified as a significant place to this story.
On and around 1969 to 1971, a group named the Portland State Film Committee held regularly scheduled screenings of rented 16mm films in the basement of 1620 SW Park Avenue, a building which also held PSU's Center For The Moving Image, the first film school in the Pacific Northwest. From 1965 to 1967, the Portland State Film Committee was led by undergraduate Brooke Jacobson (who was then going by "Denise", who had enrolled in 1962.
In 1971, Brooke Jacobson was approached by the National Endowment of the Arts about the possibility of receiving NEA support to start a regional film center. Brooke Jacobson and Bob Summers applied for and received a $15,000 NEA grant to found the Northwest Film Study Center, initially located on Culpepper Terrace in NW Portland. Fiscally sponsored by the Portland Art Museum, Northwest Film Study Center eventually relocated within the museum proper before moving into its current home on Salmon Street. It is now Northwest Film Center.
In 1974, Brooke Jacobson founded The Media Project, a non profit organization which supplied networking and distribution to independent regional filmmakers. The Media Project, later renamed Northwest Media Project, produced a regional directory of film professionals offering services, a project currently central to the mission of Oregon Media Production Association, a membership organization which networks Oregon's thriving media industry statewide, and advocates for the needs of Oregon's film industry in Salem.
In 1977, The Media Project, renamed Northwest Media Project, was the fiscal sponsor for a CETA (Concentrated Employment Training Act) grant which provided federal funding for Penny Allen's first feature, PROPERTY, which was selected for the first Sundance Film Festival (then called Utah/US Film Festival) as an example of outstanding independent filmmaking. Allen became the first Oregonian to write/direct/produce a feature length live action narrative film who was NOT a member of a family in control of Portland's largest movie theater chain (two previous independent writer-directors, John Parker Jr and Tom Moyers Jr, shared that background). The existence of the Northwest Media Project, founded by Brooke Jacobson, made Allen's move to filmmaking possible.
By 1977, Brooke Jacobson was in graduate school at USC, where she wrote her dissertation on independent film. Again she was tapped by the NEA, this time to serve on a committee undertaking a nationwide survey of resources available to support independent film, and to co-author the commissioned report.
Brooke Jacobson's leadership, in co-founding the Northwest Film Study Center (becoming Northwest Film Center) and in founding The Media Project (paving the way for Oregon Media Production Association) changed Oregon. She led the way in envisioning creative ways for the community to welcome and support regionally based independent filmmaking, and for filmmakers to help each other. Her journey began at Portland State College, where she studied film. Her role as leader within the film community began when she served as head of the Portland State Film Committee, 1965-1967.
The Portland State Film Committee screenings were attended by future Oscar nominees Bill Plympton and Gus Van Sant, future Oscar winner Will Vinton, future Cannes Golden Lion winner Jim Blashfield, and future multiple Emmy award winner Matt Groening.
When Matt Groening came to Portland to speak at Oregon Cartoon Institute's UNDERGROUND USA symposium in 2016, he asked me if I would introduce him to Brooke Jacobson. Portland State Film Committee screenings were his only film school. He wanted to thank her for them in person.
After receiving her PhD at USC, Brooke Jacobson returned to PSU where she taught courses in film for the rest of her career.
I nominate Room 75 in Lincoln Hall as the site to commemorate Brooke Jacobson's multiple contributions. This auditorium, which still serves PSU as a lecture hall and recital hall, seats 220.
In Brooke's own words:
"I enrolled in Portland State College in 1962 after having taken two film classes offered by the Continuing Education Center in 1959. I may have become active in the Film Committee in 1963, and took another film class in 1964. The Portland State Film Committee operated out of Student Activities on the 4th floor of Smith Center. I graduated in 1967, and Bob Summers followed me as chair of the film committee. He was followed by others in the 1970s..... Room 75 in Lincoln Hall was remodeled to use for the film committee's screenings after I left the Committee, although I recall talking with Tom Taylor (ed. note: Tom Taylor was a Center for the Moving Image faculty member) when he was trying to get the illumination calibrated and make sure the sound system was improved. We had presented programs for years using standard classroom facilities like 71 State Hall (ed.note: now known as Cramer Hall) or Smith. It was due to the success of all those years, and the growing audience that supplied the pressure to get an improved auditorium."
Room 75 in Lincoln Hall was improved to accommodate Portland State Film Committee screenings. Brooke Jacobson's lifelong film advocacy began with leadership of that committee, 1965-1967. |
