Visit Eugene

Eugene is a city you will come to know for its creative environment and stunning success stories. You may well become one of those legends. With a long history of filmmaking, state of the art recording studios, industry professionals and savvy students, Eugene is the place to strut your stuff.

This is a festival by filmmakers for film lovers held in a destination community. It’s your connection to a wonderful personal experience not unlike telling stories around the campfire.

• Our ratio of brewpubs to population in Eugene is lifesaving. Exploring the Whiteaker Fermentation District in Eugene with its breweries, wineries, distilleries, meaderies, food carts and restaurants is delightfully indulgent.
• The legend of “Animal House” lives on in this community where many of the most memorable scenes were staged. A shrine commemorates the location of the “Delta House” where much of the action took place. Alas, the actual fraternity serving as the location has been replaced by a new building. What were they thinking?
• You can still dine at the restaurant where Jack Nicholson’s character tried to order toast, an item not on the menu. He ended up ordering a chicken salad sandwich, asking the waitress to hold the chicken between her knees and serve him the toast from the sandwich. The film is “Five Easy Pieces.”
• If fitness is your second passion after filmmaking, go for a run on the trails and track where Steve Prefontaine trained and set his world records, as seen in “Without Limits.” Nike’s famous athletic shoes were invented and tested here by the world’s greatest athletes.
• Eugene’s Royal Ave. is where Kiefer Sutherland’s character in “Stand by Me” played mailbox baseball.
• Some say Ken Kesey launched the 60’s from here when he drove across America in his bus Furthur dispensing “electric cool-aid.” He wrote the novels behind the screenplays for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Sometimes a Great Notion.” A bronze casting memorializes his artistry in the center of town. The Merry Pranksters and the Kesey family are still a part of our community. You may meet one of them at the festival.
• Does history row your boat? Check out “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” and “Rachel and the Stranger,” filmed in Eugene in 1939 and 1947 respectively. Before that there was the 1929 independent film “Ed’s Coed” and a Eugene produced wild river documentary featuring the then isolated Deschutes River in rugged Eastern Oregon.
• Cottage Grove is another important movie location. In 1926 Buster Keaton’s “The General” was filmed there. The Cottage Grove Historical Society published a chronicle of its making from the pages of The Cottage Grove Sentinel newspaper. The parade scene from “Animal House” was also filmed there.
• Eugene is located in the southern Willamette Valley, famous for its wineries, mushrooms, truffles and quality of life. Having fun here is hard to avoid.

Eugene, Cascades & Coast (aka Travel Lane County) is a terrific resource. Being centrally located and served by major transportation links, you can immerse yourself in many adventures and discoveries easily within and from Eugene.

Click here to view our festival specific maps for your visit to Eugene.