The Cinema Unbound Awards is an annual event that honors artistic innovators and celebrates multi-faceted folks working at the intersection of art and cinema who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
Proceeds from the Cinema Unbound Awards benefit PAM CUT’s year-round youth programs, artist services, and exhibitions—directly supporting the programs that embrace artistic exploration and contribute to a more vibrant, accessible, and diverse media-arts ecosystem.
Past Awards
Discover past Cinema Unbound honorees
Past honorees include:
2024
- Mickalene Thomas (Award-winning multidisciplinary artist)
- Sterlin Harjo (Award-winning filmmaker, co-creator and showrunner of Reservation Dogs)
- Irene Taylor (Oscar-nominated, Emmy, duPont and Peabody-winning filmmaker; Hear and Now; I AM: Celine Dion; Trees, and Other Entanglements; Leave No Trace: A Hidden History of The Boy Scouts.
- Peter Cho and Sun Young Park (Award-winning culinary team behind acclaimed Portland restaurants Han Oak, Toki, and Jeju.)
2023
- Guillermo del Toro (Academy Award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and author; Pan’s Labyrinth; The Shape of Water; and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)
- Jacqueline Stewart (Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures)
- Gregory Gourdet (celebrated chef, best-selling author, and television personality; Sousòl; Kann; Top Chef)
- Fred Armisen (comedian, writer, producer, and musician; Saturday Night Live, Portlandia, Documentary Now)
- Jon Raymond (award-winning author and screenwriter; The Half-Life, Rain Dragon, Freebird, and Denial; Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff, First Cow, Showing Up; Mildred Pierce)
- Tessa Thompson (critically acclaimed actress and producer; Thor, Creed, Selma; Dear White People)
2022
- Carrie Brownstein (writer, director, and musician; Sleater-Kinney, Portlandia)
- Reinaldo Marcus Green (writer, director, and producer; King Richard)
- Arthur Lewis (Partner and Creative Director of Fine Arts and the UTA Artist Space)
- Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Academy Award-winning filmmakers; Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse; The Lego Movie; The Mitchells vs. the Machines;Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.)
- Shirin Neshat (award-winning artist and filmmaker)
- Roger Ross Williams (award-winning director, producer and writer; Life, Animated)
2021
- Steve McQueen (Academy Award-winning artist and filmmaker, 12 Years a Slave)
- Garrett Bradley (narrative, documentary, and experimental filmmaker)
- Gus Van Sant (filmmaker, painter, photographer, and musician; Milk; Good Will Hunting; My Own Private Idaho; Drugstore Cowboy)
- Mollye Asher (Gotham Award and Film Independent Spirit Awards-winning producer; Nomadland; The Rider)
- Alex Bulkley (Academy Award, Emmy, and Annie award-winning producer and co-founder of ShadowMachine)
2020
- Todd Haynes (Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning writer and director; Carol, Far from Heaven, Mildred Pierce)
- John Cameron Mitchell (Tony Award-winning writer, director, and actor; Hedwig & The Angry Inch, Anthem: Homunculus, Shrill)
- Julie Goldman (Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning producer of over 50 feature documentaries, including Life, Animated, Buck, Weiner)
- Michel Reilhac (Filmmaker, Experiential Artist and Head of VR, Venice Biennale)
- Rose Bond (Internationally-recognized, large-scale, site-specific animations)
- Rajendra Roy (The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, MoMA)
- Amanda Needham (Emmy-winning costume designer; Portlandia, Shrill)
Past presenters include:
2024
- Kimberly Drew
- Wes Studi and Ethan Hawke
- Celine Dion
- John & Janet Jay
2023
- Doug Jones
- Ava DuVernay
- Padma Lakshmi
- Lance Bangs & Corin Tucker
- Todd Haynes
- Boots Riley
2022
- Jeff Goldblum
- Will Smith
- Tasha Smith
- Peter Lord
- Isabella Rossellini
- Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
2021
- Charles Burnett
- Rajendra Roy
- Paige Powell, Thomas Lauderdale, Walt Curtis
- Chloe Zhao
- Guillermo del Toro