(reprinted with permission from our friends over at Portland Film Festival)

With the departure of former Director of Programming, Don Andrews, to shoot and develop his TV series pilot, “The Winnebago Man” in New Mexico, long-time festival volunteer and “Encore IndieFilm Showcase” Director and Founder, Jason de Parrie-Turner is stepping up to fill the vacancy. De Parrie-Turner is the owner of Heliorana Filmworks, a boutique production house specializing in live performance & tv spots—notably one of Portland’s premiere live event producers including Portland Design Week’s “Creative Mornings.”

An experienced film producer and director, De Parrie-Turner is currently in post-production on two documentary features including “One Week Job:USA,” which has been featured on CNN, and “Rewind/Play,” produced in Portland, LA, SF, Austin & NY. He has produced several reality and outdoor series including “Inside Passage” which aired from 2005-2007 on Cable TV.

De Parrie-Turner is not new to the Portland Film Festival. He has programmed for the festival in its partnership with Clinton Street Theater for its monthly screening series for the last year—The “Encore IndieFilm Showcase.” The screenings hosted several directors, producers, cast and crew of independent films including last months special screening of, “21 Years of Linklater,” a feature documentary about Richard Linklater, director of “Boyhood,” “Bernie,” “Slacker,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Before Sunrise,” among other films. De Parrie-Turner has introduced many independent films to Portland that may not have screened theatrically without him.

“I love independent cinema,” said De Parrie-Turner, “and my whole family digs it too. It’s not unusual to find all of us watching movies together. And I’m loving the films being submitted so far—and I’m extremely excited to see what else comes in.” The festival has received over 700 entries with less than two months remaining for submissions.

De Parrie-Turner will be watching and curating more than a thousand films submitted to the Portland Film Festival this year with his programming team of over 95 screeners, interns and traffic coordinators. Luckily, he holds degrees in art, film, psychology and an MA in media studies. As a filmmaker, de Parrie-Turner shot, co-edited & produced the documentary “Veer,” which screened internationally including at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City, New York. De Parrie-Turner added, “Getting your film into a theater outside of our your home city always feels amazing, but when the audience connects, it brings a whole new sense of pride. And I’m excited to show directors how supportive the Portland audience is and how they love independent film.”

“Jason is one of the most giving people I know—during last year’s festival, he stepped up—we could not have had such a success without him. His contribution really helped us with our winning MovieMaker’s “top 25 most creative film festival” designation. It’s rough to lose someone as integral as Don was to the festival, but you have to support your friends following their dreams. And Jason brings a lot of management experience that will help our organization grow, while insuring the quality of our films and programming remain at the highest level.”

Submissions for the 2015 Portland Film Festival are still being accepted until May 22nd. April 14th is the Regular Deadline offering filmmakers the cheapest cost to submit. The festival is accepting film projects of all lengths and genres as well as screenplays. Click here for more info on submitting your project. The Portland Film Festival is Oregon’s largest filmmaker festival that hosted over 240 directors, cast and crew from the over 145 screened films at 2014 festival. The 2015 festival is scheduled for September 1-7, 2015 and will be spread out over 8 theaters in the Portland Metropolitan area.