Mink River

Set on the edge of a coastal rainforest, residents of a small, working-class town come together where fog blurs the boundaries of sea and land, story and reality, loss and redemption. Characters of Tillamook and Irish ancestry are transformed by this wild coastal place, creating a mysterious merging of the past with the present. The aerial perspective of Moses, the town’s omnipresent crow, is a continuous reminder that not just humans are part of this community. 

‍History of the Project
Queer Artist/Filmmaker, Eileen Olivieri (she/her) optioned the film/TV rights in 2015. In 2016, Eileen contacted the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians and applied for and received a research permit. During this process, Eileen met Robert Kentta, the Cultural Resources Director of the Tribe and invited him to join the Mink River team as an advisor. In 2018, Eileen traveled to Ireland on a research trip and visited the Conemarra region and Newgrange World Heritage Site. During the pandemic, artist B. Brown and Eileen co-wrote a short script that is based on one of the many story lines in the novel. This concept could be used as a jumping off point for a feature and/or pilot screenplay. 

‍Artist Statement
I grew up in Corvallis, Oregon, close to the world of Mink River. As a child and adolescent, I spent significant time with my family camping on the coast, fishing on the nearby Siletz and Alsea rivers with my Irish-American father, and walking in the dense coastal forests. In my teens and early twenties the central coast and the surrounding natural environment became my refuge. Although I moved away from Oregon in my mid-twenties, I still consider it my home and make regular visits to see my 92-year-old mother in Corvallis. Although the story is fictitious, the factual Indigenous and Irish histories in Oregon creates the background from which the story emerges. Mink River will be filmed on the original land of the Tillamook People.

--Eileen Olivieri