Broaden understanding
Introduce secular ethics and humanist ideas without assuming prior knowledge.
The festival
Cinema for people who would rather think together.
The Portland Humanist Film Festival was a volunteer-built cultural event that used film to make a secular, humanist worldview accessible, vivid and social.
“A film can hold an argument and a human story in the same frame.”
The festival began in 2010 as an open invitation to laugh, question, be challenged and be entertained. Its program moved freely between documentaries, independent films, animation, studio features and talks.
Rather than speak only to people already familiar with humanism, PHFF reached toward curious audiences. Its central idea was simple: cinema is an unusually generous way to encounter science, morality, belief, civil liberty and the lives behind those ideas.
The original purpose
Accessible by design.
PHFF treated entertainment and intellectual seriousness as partners. A program could be funny, moving, argumentative and rigorous—sometimes in the same evening.
Practice free inquiry
Invite audiences to examine claims, evidence and the consequences of belief.
Build community
Create a shared cultural experience where discussion could continue after the screening.
2010—2015
How the story unfolded
01
The first edition
2010
October 8–10 · Portland, Oregon
A free, volunteer-built weekend that opened an accessible window onto existence, morality, history, science and philosophy through film.
02
The conversation grows
2011
November 11–13 · Portland, Oregon
Seventeen films, guest speakers and independent-film awards brought together audiences interested in science, freethought, civil liberties and human rights.
03
Reason on the big screen
2012
October 26–28 · Portland, Oregon
The third edition focused on critical thinking, evidence, belief and the social questions that make cinema a place for public conversation.
Humanist Film Series
Free later screenings at the Lucky Labrador Beer Hall extended the original festival idea.
Pi Day program
A final documented program mixed mathematics, belief, performance and a major science biography.