Brian Padian is a filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon. Resisting convention and easy categorization, his films include narrative, experimental, and documentary and have screened at Dances With Films, Local Sightings, McMinnville Short Film Fest, Experimental Fiction Film Festival, NYC Webfest, Vastlab Experimental, Defy Film Festival, Oregon Documentary Film Festival, Hoffman Center for the Arts, Portland State University, and others. Recent work includes his second narrative feature SISTER/BROTHER, the short documentary GRIEF STICK, and the experimental short film DON'T OPT IN. A brain tumor survivor, Brian's films often explore the symbiotic relationship of light and darkness, impermanence and death. A project grant recipient from the Regional Arts + Culture Council and recognized as a Final Draft Fellow at Stowe Story Labs, Brian holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute where he received the Jack Oakie Memorial Scholarship. He also holds an undergraduate degree in Film & Theater Arts from Humboldt State University, where his ethos and love of tall coastal trees was forged. As photographer, Brian's images have been published in The Sun, Anti-Heroin Chic, Palisades Review, Oregon Humanities, and others. Sometimes he releases music as impermanent marker. You can usually find him watching movies, walking in the woods, and trying to get the next thing made.
latest news
september 2026 project updates and more via substack here
Freak Farm will have world premiere sept 24 at local sightings
edited a promo video for xray.fm. watch here
photo published in Palisades Review july 2026 here
petty grievance, a 5 song EP by impermanent marker can be heard here