Prosper Portland announces Post-Production Grant Awardees

June 10, 2026

The Portland Events and Film Office at Prosper Portland, in partnership with Travel Portland, is excited to celebrate this year’s Post-Production Grant recipients. Four feature films have been selected to receive funding aimed at supporting the completion of locally made projects and empowering Portland filmmakers to grow toward larger, more resourced productions.

From a competitive pool of more than 30 applicants, four projects were selected to each receive $7,500 in post-production funding: Dragathon: Meeting Hate with Joy, Sansei Sensibility, Albina Music Trust: Echoes of Albina, and Are We Cool.

Grant funds are directed toward Portland-based post-production services, keeping dollars local and supporting the creative community here at home. Eligible services include sound, picture editing, color grading, closed captioning, distributor tech specs, VFX/animation, and music clearances, all completed through local post-production houses and talent.

“In a post-production landscape where work has slowed considerably, this investment puts meaningful dollars into the hands of local talent at a time when it’s needed most,” said Eden Dawn, Executive Producer of Dragathon: Meeting Hate with Joy.

Projects were selected based on their commitment to diverse representation both on screen and in production, the film’s potential impact on local talent and the broader economy, the significance of the funding to the project and the applicant’s career, and the film’s ability to bring Portland’s vitality and creative spirit to wider audiences.

“The depth of talent represented in this year’s applicant pool is a reminder of why this grant matters and why Portland’s film community continues to inspire,” said Elyse Taylor Liburd, Film Industry Project Manager. “Thank you to everyone who applied, and congratulations to this year’s recipients.”

Dragathon: Meeting Hate with Joy 

In 2023, there was an ambitious attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the longest drag show in history. Dragathon: Meeting Hate with Joy, follows this event from conception to its 48-consecutive-hour run at the historic Darcelle’s cabaret in Portland’s Old Town.

At a time when drag had become increasingly politicized, friends Emma McIlroy and Eden Dawn decided to fight back with joy by organizing the show while also attempting to raise $300,000 for The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ charity known for its suicide prevention work with queer youth.

Though this is Executive Producer Eden Dawn’s first feature-length film, she holds a Guinness World Record for her producing skills. As a longtime local journalist, Dawn has produced over 100 photo shoots and dozens of notable large-scale events, including the largest fashion show in the state, as well as fundraising events, live talk shows, and four bestselling books. Dragathon: Meeting Hate with Joy was also a recipient of the Portland Events and Film Amplify Portland Grant.

“Every 45 seconds in this country a young LGBTQ+ person attempts suicide. Our goal with breaking the world record was for those kids to see a community that will stand up for them. And now the documentary will spread that message widely, to queer kids everywhere, that Portland is a place that will show up for them and love them, just as they are, because they are perfect,” said Dawn.

Sansei Sensibility 

Sansei Sensibility is a feature documentary that uncovers the lasting impact of Japanese American incarceration through the intimate stories of three Sansei (third-generation Japanese Americans) in Ontario, Oregon—one of the few communities that welcomed Japanese Americans during World War II. Through deeply personal narratives, the film explores themes of silence, resilience, and cultural identity while connecting a little-known chapter of American history to the challenges of the present day. Both deeply personal and urgently relevant, the film illuminates how the pursuit of belonging, justice, and dignity remains an unfinished American story. 

“I am committed to centering narratives that reflect underrepresented perspectives, with a particular focus on communities whose stories are often overlooked or simplified in mainstream media. Sansei Sensibility continues that commitment by approaching its subject with cultural specificity, nuance, and care,” says Director & Producer Devin Fei-Fan Tau. 

Fei-Fan Tau is a gay Asian American filmmaker whose work explores identity, belonging, and the consequences of silence through both narrative and documentary storytelling. His films have screened theatrically across the United States, at film festivals, on PBS, Starz, airlines, and digital platforms worldwide. 

This is Devin’s 5th feature film and his second Portland Post-Production Grant (the first being for “Who’s on Top?”)

Albina Music Trust: Echoes of Albina 

Albina Music Trust: Echoes of Albina is a feature-length documentary that brings to light the untold story of the Albina district, once the heart of Black cultural life in Oregon. In the mid-20th century, Albina was a vibrant hub of Black-owned businesses, churches, community centers, and music venues. Though often overlooked by the broader music industry, Albina’s musicians defined Black culture in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, developing an ecosystem of music education, mutual aid, and intergenerational connection. This creative boom unfolded during a period of redlining, displacement, and the erasure of Black neighborhoods under the guise of urban renewal. As highways and redevelopment projects fractured Albina, music remained a constant through both the joy and the trauma of its time. 

The film tells a sweeping, intergenerational narrative through jazz, soul, gospel, hip hop, and emerging form, using rhythm, voice, and live performance as its narrative language. Today, the Albina Music Trust connects historic musicians with emerging artists in Black Portland, honoring those who built the community while affirming music as a force for memory and justice. Through its community archive programs, Albina Music Trust is restoring a unique piece of American music history. 

“As my first feature, this project represents a critical step in my career. These funds will allow me to develop a disciplined, research-driven approach to storytelling, strengthening my ability to listen, identify narrative patterns, and build stories around powerful, character-driven perspectives,” says Director Jason Hill.

Are We Cool 

Set in the fall of 1994 in Portland, Oregon, at an experimental high school where students make the rules and weird is the norm, the kids must stand up and fight back when the school’s radical egalitarian ideals are threatened. They also have to protest discriminatory ballot measures, agree on their band names, and figure out how to score beer. Are We Cool is a romantic, heartfelt, slacker political high school hangout movie that completed principal photography last November, right here in Portland, Oregon.

Kyle Eaton, producer of Are We Cool, has worked on several films: Sometimes I Think About Dying, Pig, and the award-winning Shut Up Anthony.

“[My hope] is that this entire cast and crew collectively made a film that will have a lasting impact, attracting others to look to Oregon . . . and all of the available opportunities here, from the various grant funding support, the competitive state rebates, and the exceptional cast and crew, all of which incentivize outside productions to come to town, but also supports local independent productions by allowing them to succeed with a home-court advantage of endless resources from a city unlike any other,” says Eaton.