Wam, bam, thank you ma’am

Portland has done it again—another festival, this time with more beer and more movies. Wednesday marked the start of the first Beer and Movie Festival (BAM). This is yet another chance to watch movies while drinking beer—on the cheap, at that.

Co-founded by local film lover Jacques Boyreau, Willamette Week’s Aaron Mesh and Beer Northwest Magazine, the festival celebrates craft beer and cult films. The idea for the festival arose out of a passion for good beer and good film.

BAM features nine different breweries, four movie theaters and dozens of films. In a mere two-and-a-half weeks, it packs in more than enough.

While the four theater pubs in town are naturally hosting the event, some pubs and bars will be screening films as well. Hopworks Urban Brewery and the Dublin Pub are among those screening and will be hosting specials like happy hour beer prices and free samples.

Other theaters like the Academy Theater and Cinema 21 will host the festival as well.

BAM has cleverly geared itself toward a young, beer-drinking crowd that doesn’t want to spend much money, i.e., a large sum of Portlanders. Nearly all of the screenings are free, the beer prices are low and the films are admittedly cultish.

Repo Man kicks off the event tonight at the Hop & Vine. A 1980s classic, it tells a wacky tale of the underworld of repo men into which the main character is admitted. In an over-the-top combination of action, comedy, mystery and even some UFOs, this film’s meaning might be absent, but the entertainment is not.

A cult film festival is only a true success, though, when it features a number of films that aren’t as well known as Repo Man. BAM does this well. A notable BAM screening is Adventures in Babysitting, showing at the Bagdad Theater.

Chris Columbus, who also directed The Goonies and Gremlins, started his directing career with this little known film. A teenage babysitter who’d rather be hanging out with her boyfriend than babysitting has to take on an unexpected adventure as she tries to rescue her geeky best friend, and has to drag the kids along. It’s cheesy. It’s over the top. And it’s simply superb.

Other cult favorites to expect at BAM are Alien, The Wild Bunch and Labyrinth. The festival’s website features a full list of its films.

Because cult films ought not to be viewed without delicious beer, this festival doesn’t leave its audience lacking. There’s no bottom-line PBR here, either. BAM is featuring spring seasonal beers from its participating breweries. Ninkasi’s fiery Total Domination IPA and North Coast Brewing Company’s fruity Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale are among the delicious specials that will be served.

In addition to film screenings, BAM has also thrown in some pricey beer dinners, an art gallery show and a metalhaus concert. The concert will feature local bands like Tallboy Shotgun and Heathen Shrine. It’s an unusual addition to a beer and movie festival, but then again it’s BAM’s debut, so it’s certain that they’re still figuring out their motif.

Beer and Movie Festival
Feb. 10 to 26, times vary
See Web site for locations and prices
www.bamfestpdx.com
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