Brian Lindstrom
Brian Lindstrom is an award-winning filmmaker working in both narrative and documentary modes. He is best known for Finding Normal, his cinema-verite documentary following three long-term addicts trying to rebuild their lives with the help of peer counselors. Lindstrom made the film for $5,000, shooting and editing himself. Finding Normal won awards at the Astoria International and Longbaugh Film Festivals, was selected for several others, enjoyed extended successful runs at local theaters as well as screenings in Los Angeles, New York, and Michigan, and was broadcast on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Perhaps more importantly, it is the only film ever to be shown to inmates in solitary confinement at Oregon State Penitentiary.
Lindstrom has made films with at-risk youth in Portland, rural Oregon, Idaho and the South Bronx. He was awarded a Telly for work on The Visionaries, a PBS documentary series hosted by Sam Waterston.
Lindstrom directed Alien Boy: the Life and Death of James Chasse. The film examines the life of a man diagnosed with schizophrenia who died in police custody in 2006. Production began in 2007[1] and ended in 2012. City of Portland attorney Jim Rice was denied a change of venue by Federal judge Garr King for Chasse v. City of Portland, blaming the unfinished film for adding "another layer of sensationalism that would inhibit a fair trial."[2]
Since 1994 Lindstrom has taught in the Northwest Film Center’s Young Filmmaker’s Program, using video as a tool of empowerment for at-risk youth. Lindstrom is married to the American writer Cheryl Strayed. They have two children and live in Portland, Oregon.
Lindstrom attended Lewis & Clark College, receiving a degree in Communications in 1984. The young graduate then became friends with retired Lewis & Clark professor Stuart Kaplan, who inspired Lindstrom to pursue a career in film making.[3]
Filmography
- Alien Boy: the Life and Death of James Chasse (2013)
- To Pay My Way With Stories (2012)
- Finding Normal (2007)
- Kicking (2004)
References
- ↑ Giving 'Alien Boy' help across the finish line The Oregonian, published February 08, 2011, retrieved December 7, 2012
- ↑ All Portland wants is a fair fight in Chasse case The Oregonian, published January 20, 2010, retrieved December 7, 2012
- ↑ "Alien Boy," by Drew Lenihan, THE PIONEER LOG - Lewis & Clark College's Student-Run Newspaper, Vol. 76, Iss. 4. Feb. 18, 2011 ed.
External links
- Brian Lindstrom official site
- Alien Boy: the Life and Death of James Chasse