2020’s been a crazy year for everyone.
But Portland, Oregon has been especially crazy.
What started as part of the national and international protests against police brutality, quickly grew into a continuous multifaceted protest between civilians, police, extremist groups and federal officers. In the midst of a global pandemic as well as a natural tragedy in the wake of the widespread forest fires, Portland’s Burning Heart breaks down the escalation into three acts using a combination of iPhone footage, on-the-ground photography and haunting voice over from Emmy-winning photojournalist Beth Nakamura of The Oregonian.
Beth is the burning heart at the center of the film, and over the course of its 13 minutes we watch as she evolve from local reporter to teargas-dodging, stab-vest-wearing conflict journalist.
Commissioned by the Dutch public network HUMAN in anticipation of the 2020 US elections, the film is a collaboration between Nakamura and the Tim Hetherington Visionary Award-winning filmmaking team Jongsma + O’Neill.
