Five creators with Portland connections honored at rousing Cinema Unbound Awards

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — At the 2024 Cinema Unbound Awards, the Portland Art Museum’s Center for an Untold Tomorrow sang the praises of five honorees that are no stranger to the Rose City or the creativity it holds.

For the fifth year, PAM CUT — the museum’s multimedia storytelling hub — celebrated creators who can’t be limited to just one discipline.

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The event kicked off in Downtown Portland’s Mark Building at 5:30 p.m. on Friday evening. Attendees were met by greeters who wore eye-like art installations on their head — a nod to the “unbound visionaries” of the night.

Once the main event commenced around 7 p.m., host Ron Funches spoke about how Oregon shaped him and his comedy career when he moved to Salem from Chicago as a teenager. He also made it a point to boast about his role in the No. 1 film in the world right now, animated film “Inside Out 2.”

But it wasn’t long before the first awardees of the night, Peter Cho and Sun Young Park, had their moment. The husband and wife duo behind trending Korean restaurants Jeju and Han Oak were honored as “Tastemaking Trailblazers.”

Cho told KOIN 6 News the joint award was “long overdue.”

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“I think it’s due time because I feel like I get a lot of credit for a lot of this stuff, just being the chef of the restaurant. But really, the creative force is Sun and she’s the one that’s sort of made it happen to begin with,” Cho said.

He and Young Park also curated the menu for the event’s four-course dinner. Throughout the ceremony, there was anything but silence as attendees’ forks hit their plates to enjoy beef short rib, banana-leaf-wrapped sticky rice, a whipped sweet potato pie and more.

Next, Mickalene Thomas was recognized as an “Astonishing Artist.” The multidisciplinary creator has made a stamp on the art world with her collages, photography, paintings and sculptures.

According to the honoree, her first PAM experience — a Carrie Weems show about 20 years ago — is what changed her life.

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“Receiving this award acknowledges my own journey and my path from the moment that I stepped into the Portland Art Museum in 1994,” Thomas, who is now based in New York, said.

Following the artist’s remarks, museum leaders began the auction-style fundraising portion of the evening, with donations ranging from $500 to $25,000. The funds will benefit PAM CUT’s multitude of artists and programs.

Afterwards, Celine Dion made a virtual appearance to present the “Creative Powerhouse” award to Vermillion Films founder Irene Taylor. Most recently, she directed “I Am: Celine Dion” starring the pop star.

The documentary — which premieres on Amazon Prime on Tuesday, June 25 — focuses on Dion’s experience with rare disease, stiff person syndrome. According to the singer, Taylor became her friend through the filmmaking process.

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“Irene entered my life quietly and skillfully, following me as I settled into this new phase,” Dion said. “Having watched her beautiful and thoughtful films, I knew I could trust her rein, to respectfully and artistically portray what I was going through.”

The director told KOIN 6 News the filmmaking process was just as positive for her, despite original assumptions that it could be difficult for a public figure like Dion to be themselves.

“She was so accustomed to being documented that she truly could forget the cameras were there with me and I think that was the best thing that could have happened because she gave me her authentic self,” Taylor said.

The final honoree of the night was Sterlin Harjo, who has built a following as the co-creator of “Reservation Dogs” alongside Taika Waititi. The series that centers on Indigenous youth in Harjo’s home state of Oklahoma ended after three seasons just last year, and there’s been an online campaign for it to earn one final Emmy nomination.

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Harjo’s next show “The Sensitive Kind” will star Ethan Hawke, who also made a virtual appearance to present his award.

“He’s a champion of other artists — something that’s just so magnificent — and he uses other people’s creativity to help push all his friends along,” Hawke said. “It’s an honor to be one of those friends, and I just have to say, I think ‘Reservation Dogs’ is one of the great accomplishments of anyone.”

Hillsboro animation studio Laika, Portland production studio Shadowmachine and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation were among the event sponsors.

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