Portland’s Charlie Calabria Captures Emotional Memories on Film

By Matthew Free

“What do people have to go through to be who they are?” This is the subject matter captivating the interest of local Portland upcoming film marker, Charlie Calabria. Moving to the area a few years ago from Los Angles with his partner, Mr. Calabria was amazed and delighted to see the Pacific Northwest have such a strong independent film culture. “I had no clue before moving there was such a film culture here, but really I am not surprised because of the creative people in the arts that reside in Portland,” he shares with id Magazine. Charlie will be completing his certification in another year and half through NW Film School seeing options in movie production as “as new career at another time in my life.” Calabria aims to tell stories which are often emotionally charged, but for a good reason.

Through the lens of the camera, Charlie does not have rose colored glasses. “If you have to be graphic by all means be graphic because if that event you are telling a story about happened that way you have to show it as such.” For example, showing raw imagery of the Matthew Sheppard story would be one project Mr. Calabria would be interested in doing. Currently, he is working on a narrative documentary of a local Holocaust survivor.

“If someone is suffering, I connect. I don’t know why, but I do,” he shares fighting back tears. After pausing he continues, “I imagine it is because there might have been something in your own life which at one time taps into a deep emotion in you by seeing or hearing it on film.”

Hopefully, audiences can connect to the characters as he does as a producer. “To have the ability to connect to the character’s experience, and their emotions behind the events is powerful. I know that everyone likes happy endings, but when it is not these are emotions my audience needs to feel as well.” Through descriptions of pain, detachment, and loss there often is the silver lining for the characters in the films of strong personal lessons gained which the audience can also learn from.

Mr. Calabria’s stories are queer focused as the subject “is something of who I am,” he explains. Living in Los Angles, Charlie completed his first short film In the Game about a protagonist dealing with and moving on from a gay love lost through the music of the 1960’s. The experiences expressed in this short film mirror that of the director providing the therapeutic benefit of moving on from the loss of close friends and family–whose photos are carefully placed in the spiritual corner of the editing room of his home. As a result of creating In the Game Charlie did meet his current partner, Ardie Johnson. In the Game was part of Mid-western Big Damn Film Festival and shown in New York City at the New Filmmakers Film Festival.

Eyeing the future of his production career, Charlie has other projects on that table which deal with the experiences past and present of queer seniors and gay individuals in the military. “I would like to see more (film) productions of gay seniors. Even with this day and age, because of their age, they are still experiencing segregation and homophobia anew. They feel cut off.” Senior queers should not be forgotten as their historical accounts bridge the gap between our community’s generations. “These are individuals who have the rich history of experiences before liberation to share on camera,” Charlie acknowledges. Hopefully, future generations of queer film makers will also capture these accounts.

“Start journaling your experiences—painful and joyful–to which you can take later to create a short story, screen play, and even a movie. Join a writing group like Write About Portland.” Above all Charlie encourages future producers to create works that has the audience ‘Never Forget’.

“It is important for more queer film makers to come on the scene so that our collective voices show how we view the world and how the world views us.”