Competing against some of the best gonzo filmmakers in the world, McCormick walked away with the Best Experimental Film award for The Virotonin Decision , a hilarious and surreal collage of discarded 1970s TV footage. Meanwhile, McCormick continues as curator of Peripheral Produce, a Portland-based collective that promotes, screens and distributes top local and national experimental film. Although Peripheral Produce began in warehouses, clubs and living rooms scattered across the city, a recently forged partnership with the Northwest Film Center has given McCormick's collective a chance to emerge from its underground roots and reach wider audiences thirsting for alternatives to Hollywood. On the heels of this spring's showcase of Texas filmmaker Bill Brown, Peripheral Produce is back with a collection of works by some of McCormick's colleagues on the film-festival circuit. It's a great scene.
People meet and get inspired by each other's work.
That's what made me want to do this show. I wished that I could be the one to make it. The evening also includes work from a variety of other filmmakers whose work showed with McCormick's around the country. Other films include Baltimore filmmaker Martha Colurn's Spiders in Love and the latest video from Negativland, the brave and brilliant multimedia sampling artists who have vexed everyone from Casey Kasem to U2. For the people making this stuff, there's no money and no commercial motivation.