Local Aliens

An alien contacts an aspiring influencer. Could this catapult the influencer to the next level in a world dominated by personal brand? That’s the premise of CONTINUATION!, a 20-minute sci-fi thriller, premiering Dec. 13 at Caffé Pacori. Produced and filmed in Eugene by CowDog Productions, Thor Slaughter wrote and directed the film with cinematographer Daniel Martinez, inspired by old-school practical effects from movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “I made it in conversation with those old classic films,” Slaughter says, “but then you put this modern post-COVID subversion on it.” The movie stars Los Angeles-based Mason Shepherd, along with local actors, and an animatronic alien created by Webster Colcord, an animator and motion-capture artist from Eugene who now works in Hollywood. Slaughter describes Colcord’s creation as a “ramshackle steampunk robot almost operated with gears and wood and pegs and things,” with blinking eyes and moving limbs, and the audience will be able to look at it up close at the premiere. In the movie, once the wannabe influencer learns he’s not so alone in his contact with the extraterrestrial, “what would you do with that, in today’s world, when everyone’s so obsessed with trying to make a career out of themselves?” Slaughter asks. Along the way, the character goes through an “intense emotional downward spiral, and the deeper the rabbit hole goes, the more overwhelming and over the top and surreal everything sort of becomes,” Slaughter says.

CONTINUATION Premiere! is 6 pm Saturday, Dec. 13, at Caffé Pacori, 255 Wallis Street, Suite 3. A making-of featurette screens after the film, followed by a filmmaker Q&A session. Food and drink will be available from Only Yolking and Viking Brewery, as well as non-alcoholic beverage options. Free.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

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