Steve Amen, Executive Producer/Host of Oregon Lens

Oregon Lens, OPB's annual television series devoted to showcasing the art of local independent filmmakers, provides an avenue for Northwest producers to share their work with a larger audience. Rather than solely posting their films on YouTube and other websites, Oregon Lens offers producers a way to break into broadcast television.

“Independent producers had projects, but they didn’t know where to go with them," explains Steve Amen, host and executive producer of Oregon Lens. "The community had come together and asked us what we can do, and we figured out a way to showcase this work.”

Premiering 13 years ago, awareness of Oregon Lens started small and then spread through word of mouth. Soon, OPB actively sought out a wider pool of people to contribute.

Now Oregon Lens is a weeklong summer treat in August, with nights devoted to different genres of film. Its current 10pm timeslot allows more flexibility with language and content so more films have a chance to be aired.

“The themes of some of the films are a little bit spicier than our regular viewers are used to,” jokes Amen.

Amen is always excited to receive and review entries. “Summer is like Christmas for me. Each submission is like a present I get to open,” he says.

The submissions range from professional independent work to student-produced shorts, and Amen is always amazed by the amount of creative and compelling films Oregon Lens receives each year. Even when a film is not completely ready for air, Amen will take the time to offer advice to filmmakers.

“I am willing to work with producers, if they’ll let me. If the film is not quite there yet, I'll recommend ways to tighten it up a bit so that the producer can resubmit the next year,” says Amen, who also teaches documentary production at Portland State University.

Amen is not looking for a particular type of theme or story — just good quality productions. All that's needed is for filmmakers is to be willing to share their work.

And you can see some of this work when Oregon Lens returns August 15-19 at 10pm on OPB TV.