Providence's NecronomiCon may have been the world's largest gathering of Lovecraftians, but Portland's H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon is the longest running. This year's festival marks the 19th consecutive year that Portland has hosted what has become the best known festival of Lovecraftiana in the world. Also, I'm going, which is all the more reason to head to Portland!
HPLFF is a unique event, half film festival and half literary convention, which offers enough to satisfy all sorts of fans of the weird. Here's a bit of what can be expected:
Short Films: One of the coolest aspects of HPLFF is the short films, many of which can ONLY be seen here. A few may eventually find their way onto Youtube or DVD, but the majority are exclusive to festivals. HPLFF offers the opportunity to not only see the best Lovecraftian short films out there, but to also peep them on the big screen, making this an event not to be missed. The full list (which is still growing, and will probably max out at 20-30) can be found here: http://www.hplfilmfestival.com/portland-or/2014/shorts
Feature Films: The short films aren't the only draw either. There will also be 8-9 feature films. A few are already listed here: http://www.hplfilmfestival.com/portland-or/2014/features
Guests: No convention is complete without guests, and HPLFF has guests aplenty, be they authors, editors, artists, filmmakers, or game designers. There will be all sorts of panels, as well as author readings. Some notables this year include: Cody Goodfellow, Kenneth Hite, Michael Cisco, ST Joshi, Joseph Pulver, Kelly Young, Keith Baker, Nick Gucker, Liv Rainey-Smith, Mike Davis, Mike Dubisch, Ross Lockhart, Scott Glancy, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, as well as several other notables. The full list can be seen here: http://hplfilmfestival.com/portland-or/2014/guests
Vendors: A good deal of fun at festivals consists of spending money on all the fun stuff for sale. Some notable Lovecraftian vendors will include Strange Aeons, The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, Sigh Co. Graphics, and Arkham Bazaar, as well as various artists, jewelers and small presses. http://hplfilmfestival.com/vendors-mall-cthulhu
Other: There will of course be many other fun events, including a separate ticketed dinner on Saturday night, filled with eldritch shenanigans.
How You Can Help: Festivals and Cons like this are expensive. Even if you can't attend, there are ways to donate and still reap rewards, all while helping keep the HPLFF alive for the year in which you can finally attend. There is a Kickstarter up and running with less than a week to go. There are some really cool stretch goals, a few of which have been unlocked. There is a massive amount of reward levels, and some really cool add-ons you can choose, so I recommend heading over and checking it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hplffpdx/hp-lovecraft-film-festival-and-cthulhucon-2014-por
