Arriving in Portland, James Westby discovered the Northwest Film Center, where he quickly enrolled to study filmmaking.

With cinephile obsession, grit and a DIY spirit, Westby began making very low-budget 16mm feature films. He embraced the indie ethos with a run of festival favorites throughout the 1990s, including the cult comedies “Subculture,” “Bloody Mary” and “Anoosh of the Airwaves.”

The 1990s were a renaissance for new indie cinema coming from creators across the country. DIY feature films shot on shoestring budgets by film students and their friends were introducing fresh voices to American cinema, including Richard Linklater’s “Slackers,” Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” and Gregg Araki’s “The Doom Generation.”

It was in this milieu that Westby began crafting his own worlds and discovering his voice as a filmmaker. Like many creators manifesting ambitious personal projects in their own backyards, unique communities and collaborations coalesced. For Westby, it came in the form of his collaboration with friend and actor Melik Malkasian.

When embarking on his first feature film, “Subculture,” Westby put up a flyer at Portland State University in search of actors. Malkasian, a theater student at the time, was the first person to call. What evolved from there was a friendship and defining collaboration throughout the ’90s, spanning into the next century as a new technological revolution was about to change the indie game.

The digital revolution and the birth of the micro-budget movie

In the late ’90s, as digital consumer video cameras became more accessible, filmmakers began experimenting with the new medium that promised to make filmmaking accessible to anyone.

Independent and established filmmakers alike took on more experimental projects, giving way to a new wave of digital films such as Lars von Trier’s “The Celebration” (1998), Hal Hartley’s “The Book of Life” (1998) and Mike Figgis’s “Timecode” (2000).

At the same time, microbudget creators were now able to shoot with even smaller budgets and greater flexibility.

In 2004, with a budget of $3,000, Westby teamed up with actor Malkasian once again and set out to make his fourth feature, “Film Geek,” a comedy about an awkward video store clerk who, after getting fired, becomes a sensation as an online film critic.

Westby’s modest micro-budget movie struck a chord. “That movie got into Tribeca, and played at major festivals. And I’ve continued to be a very low budget filmmaker ever since.”

After two more narrative features, “The Auteur” and “Rid of Me,” Westby embarked on several documentary projects, including “At the Video Store,” a bittersweet documentary and loving ode to the once ubiquitous social spot in every community, the video store. This film features reflections and insights by Bill Hader, John Waters, Gus Van Sant, Thelma Schoonmaker and many others.

Mysterious forces in rural Oregon and a new indie feature

Unknown to Westby, bestselling crime author and former high school classmate Chelsea Cain wrote a screenplay with his youngest daughter, Cleo, in mind.

“I came up with this scheme that I would write this movie for his daughter to star in, and then he would have to direct it, and he fell for it hook, line and sinker,” Cain recalled.

“The Bend” follows a family who travels to a vacation house in Central Oregon, where their daughter goes missing after sleepwalking into the woods. When she mysteriously returns, things get weird.

“Cloe likes to say ghosty things start to happen, and they do,” Westby said.

Westby and Cain agreed to join forces and make the movie with Westby and Cleo’s mom playing the parents.

“We’re not actors,” Westby said, ”but one thing that really helped cement us as a believable family is that I’m going through several thousands of home movies and still photographs, which adds production value to an otherwise very low budget film.”

“The Bend” is currently in post-production, with an eye toward film festivals and a Portland screening later this year.

You can learn more about James Westby’s films here.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/22/portland-filmmaker-james-westby-chelsea-cain-central-oregon-movie/