This is Tim: a Musical Life

Acoustic, electric, onstage, in the studio—you name it, he could play it. He was the “guitar chameleon” of Portland, Oregon whose name never graced the marquee. How can one man—always the sideman, never the star—shape a community and change the face of the local music scene?

THIS IS TIM: A Musical Life is a documentary feature film that dives into the life of Tim Ellis, 2016 Oregon Music Hall of Fame inductee whose surprise Stage IV cancer diagnosis catalyzed a community and changed the face of Portland music. His daughter, director Tiffany Ellis, guides us through his story and the remarkable events that followed. Through rare archival television, a vast collection of home movies and interviews with the musicians he inspired, THIS IS TIM provides an intimate portrait of a man who continued to defy expectations and rock the foundations of his community in the face of the greatest struggle of his life.