Oregon Art Beat

Portland filmmaker James Westby teams up with author Chelsea Cain to make micro-budget movie in Central Oregon

By Jacob Pander (OPB)
Feb. 22, 2026 2 p.m.

In 1989, James Westby was just a kid in Bellingham, Washington, who wanted to make movies. Seeing Gus Van Sant’s Portland-based film Drugstore Cowboy, lit the fuse. “There was something about the look of the film and the city it was filmed in,” Westby said.


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