“Mother of Color” Will Have Its Portland Premiere Nov. 4 at Hollywood Theatre

Mother of Color, the latest film from acclaimed local director Dawn Jones Redstone, will have its Portland premiere 7 pm Friday, Nov. 4, at Hollywood Theatre. The highly anticipated feature is about a single mother who dreams of running for office (and begins receiving messages from her ancestors on the eve of a potentially career-changing interview).

“Mother of Color wouldn’t have been made without the hard work and endless generosity of so many Portlanders who worked on and supported the project,” Jones Redstone stated in a press release. “The film uplifts our incredibly diverse cast and crew, while also telling a story that ultimately is about all the ways we take care of each other and try to heal in these fractured times. It’s an immense joy to see it all come to fruition in creating a beautiful work of art and now, to prepare to share it and show another side of Portland to the world.”

Produced by Tara Johnson-Medinger and Ashley Song, Mother of Color completed filming in July 2021. The cast includes Ana del Rocío, Kacey Tinoco, Julian Hernandez, Luz Elena Mendoza, Patricia Alvitez, Michael Mendelson, and Commissioner JoAnn Hardesty (also, the film was mostly made by women and non-binary people of color who identify as part of the LGBTQUIA+ community).

Earlier this year, Jones Redstone spoke to WW about her epic and extraordinary career, which, in addition to filmmaking, has included working as a carpenter for Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. She also discussed interconnectivity between the worlds of art and activism.

“I always prioritize the telling of the story first, but by the story I choose to tell, and how, is a form of activism,” she said, adding, “There are things about every film I’ve made that are subconscious, that I don’t notice until later that’s about something that happened to me. I don’t always understand it until after the process of editing.”

Tickets for Mother of Color are available at hollywoodtheatre.org.