Oregon Film Museum’s 2025 Selig Award Presentation

Celebrating Oregon’s Emerging Filmmakers:
The Oregon Film Museum Selig Award

The Oregon Film Museum is proud to inspire the next generation of storytellers across our state. We are thrilled to announce the third annual Oregon Film Museum Selig Award, an honor presented each year to a young Oregonian making a meaningful impact in the local film industry.

In partnership with Outside the Frame, we are proud to recognize Carmelo “Melo” Charistil as the 2025 Selig Award recipient. Charistil directed Geneva, a short film created during the Spring 2025 Outside the Frame Filmmaking Intensive—his first collaboration with the program, which empowers youth to tell their stories through film.

Drawing from personal experience, Charistil worked closely with Outside the Frame staff to craft a compelling narrative about two very different individuals finding common ground. The film reflects his vision of “neutral ground”—a space where people can come together in peace despite the chaos of the world around them.

Through the filmmaking process, Charistil not only brought his creative vision to life but also celebrated a major personal milestone: his first year of sobriety.

Join us for the award presentation ceremony and screening of Genvea, which is free and open to the public, on Friday, November 14, at 7:00 PM at the Liberty Theater in Astoria.

Our partner, Outside the Frame, is a dynamic Portland-based nonprofit that empowers homeless and marginalized youth to become directors of their own films—and their own lives. Through filmmaking, OTF provides creative expression, job skills, a supportive audience, and a renewed sense of dignity and possibility. Their mission is simple yet powerful: If youth experiencing homelessness can make films, they can do anything.

The Selig Award is named in honor of William Selig, founder of the pioneering Selig Polyscope Company. Selig’s innovations helped shape the early film industry, including the creation of Hollywood, cliffhangers, multi-reel films, and travelogues. In 1909, his company filmed The Fisherman’s Bride in Astoria—the first commercial narrative film shot in Oregon.

For more information about Outside the Frame, visit: www.outsidetheframe.org
To learn more about this event or other programs hosted by the Clatsop County Historical Society, please call 503-325-2203 or email info@astoriamuseums.org.