Beacons of Portland

Reported by Romare Ashford

On Oct. 12, David Pascual-Matias was awarded the Community Award at the Gateway film festival for his documentary, “Beacons of Portland.” Getting to this point has been years in the making for the aspiring filmmaker. Pascual-Matias has had a passion for storytelling since high school at Benson Polytech, where Pascual-Matias was first exposed to creating.

At George Fox, Pascual-Matias  is getting ready to graduate with a degree in Cinema & Media Communications. He has spent a year making his documentary, which was originally crafted in a class taught by Dawn Ford.

Pascual-Matias wanted to focus on what was happening in Portland. His early ideas revolved around social justice in Portland and storytelling. He later settled on basing his documentary around the Portland Leadership Foundation (PLF) and the Voices Project.

“I wanted to change the narrative of Portland being so white. I wanted to focus on the part of Portland with leaders of color,” said Pascual-Matias.  

“Beacons of Portland” featured leaders from PLF and the Voices Project that are helping empower leaders of color in the greater Portland area. The documentary focuses on initiatives like the Act Six program that helps students of color make change in academics. 

“I love having conversations with Act Six cohorts and seeing how students grow over the years,” said Matias.

“Beacons of Portland,” can be viewed on Venmo under the creator’s profile: David Pasual-Matias.