The C.C. Stern Type Foundry is partnering with other area institutions to bring a screening of Pressing On:The Letterpress Film to Portland. Co-presenters include Oregon College of Art & Craft, Pacific Northwest College of Art, the American Amateur Press Association, and the Independent Publishing Resource Center. The film will be followed by a panel discussion/Q&A with area letterpress printers.

Pressing On: The Letterpress Film
September 19, 2017
7:00-10:00pm
Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton Street, Portland, OR 97202
$8 advance tickets online / $10 at the door

The modern world was born on a printing press. Once essential to communication, the 500-year-old process is now in danger of being lost as its caretakers age. From self-proclaimed basement hoarders to the famed Hatch Show Print, Pressing On: The Letterpress Film explores the question: why has letterpress survived?

“Pressing On” has been reviewed as beautifully capturing the art and technology of letterpress printing and preserving important voices in this craft for generations to come. This preservation is enhanced by the exquisite camerawork, lighting and music. Steven Heller, former art director at the New York Times, wrote that “‘Pressing On’ is an essential document not just about a revolutionary means of human interaction, but to savor the passion of its practitioners.”

The public premiere of the film was held this summer at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, home of Hatch Show Print. The film is a joint collaboration between Erin Beckloff and Andrew P. Quinn, co-directors, Kevin Grazioli, producer, and Joe Vella, director of photography. Bayonet Media, an Indianapolis-based video production company, is producing the project. Beckloff, now a tenured track assistant professor of Graphic Design at Miami University, developed an interest in letterpress after receiving a historic printing press as a wedding gift. Curious and inspired, in 2010 Beckloff began to record interviews with printers in the letterpress community. Her focus then shifted to capturing their stories on film, and in late 2013, she partnered with Quinn, Grazioli, and Vella at Bayonet Media to create the “Pressing On” documentary.

Please join us for the Portland screening!