The Hoffman Center will host the first northern Oregon screening of the independent film “Opal the Movie” Saturday, Nov. 26 at 7:30 p.m. The 2010 feature tells the story of Oregon self-taught nature writer Opal Whiteley.
Raised in a Cottage Grove logging camp, Whiteley catapulted to fame with the publication of her childhood diary in the Atlantic Monthly magazine in 1920, then to infamy when readers suspected a hoax.
The film explores the mystery behind a woman whose life sparked both admiration and controversy. It rides the tension between fact and fiction, and presents a character that embodies the possibilities of both.
Whiteley died in 1992 at age 94.
Written and directed by Diane Ciaulo, “Opal” premiered at the 2010 Mill Valley (California) Film Festival.
Following the Hoffman Center presentation, Ciaulo will hold a Q&A session with the audience via Skype.