A Strong Lineup at the Virtual 2021 Dam Short Film Festival

Like pretty much every live event for nearly a year now, the 2021 Dam Short Film Festival was held virtually, rather than in its usual Boulder City location. So much of the festival’s appeal comes from the town itself that there was inevitably something lost in this homebound edition. But the festival organizers, led by executive director Tsvetelina Stefanova, put together a lineup just as strong as any other year, and replicated as many of the typical festival activities that they could. Sitting at home streaming short films doesn’t compare to spending a few days in the Boulder Theater and mingling with filmmakers and film fans at the Boulder Dam Hotel, but it was enough to hold me over until the full experience returns next year (hopefully).

I watched about a third of the short film blocks in this year’s lineup, not as many for me as in previous years, when I’d just hang out at the Boulder Theater all day, but enough to get a sense of the breadth of the programming. Although DSFF is a community-oriented festival with general-interest content, some of the best selections are often tucked away in the offbeat, more challenging film blocks, which in a traditional year would play later at night. This year, there were two blocks devoted to DSFF’s signature Underground programming, as well as one block labeled Avant-Garde.

Among the Underground selections, I especially enjoyed the surreal animated piece “Little Pirate,” in which a tiny pirate curses an aspiring actor to constantly talk in pirate slang. It’s a goofy premise that filmmaker Sam Osborn fully commits to, making the absurdity into something strangely poignant (but still funny). Also in the Underground program was “Oyasumi,” one of a handful of films from Nevada filmmakers that were featured outside of the main Nevada programs. Filmmaker Kristina McHale finds dark humor in the story of a woman finally driven over the edge by her inconsiderate boyfriend.

Nevada filmmakers were also in the Drama: Friendship Old & New and Avant-Garde programs, with Jesserey Tugas’ “All-In” in the former and Jacob Langsner’s “Starcrossed” in the latter. Tugas puts together a low-key drama set in a Las Vegas casino cafe, as a teenage girl waits for her deadbeat gambler father to return from the tables. It’s an understated piece with strong performances, including from the late Bill Paxton’s son James. Although “Starcrossed” was labeled avant-garde, it’s a sweet and fairly straightforward story about an astronaut exploring the streets of Paris as if they’re an alien planet, and finding love along the way.

Langsner had the strongest showing of any local filmmaker in this year’s festival, between “Starcrossed” and his documentary “Vultures, Hawks, and COVID-19,” which played in the Nevada documentary program. Using the resources at hand, including some unfinished footage from a documentary about a bird sanctuary, Langsner comes up with a melancholy but humorous rumination on the current state of the world.

The winner in the Nevada category was “Sword Of!,” from longtime local filmmakers (and DSFF regulars) Jerry and Mike Thompson, and it’s another clever, funny short from the talented brothers. In just three minutes, the Thompsons take on the divide between intellect and emotion, while also throwing in an epic battle against a dragon, and maintaining their absurdist sense of humor throughout. The Thompsons also worked on the simple and sweet rom-com short “So Close and Still…,” from writer/director/star (and, full disclosure, my friend and Awesome Movie Year podcast co-host) Jason Harris.

Sword Of!

When DSFF is held in person, the Comedy program is usually the most popular, often with a sell-out crowd lining up around the block outside the theater. The comedy audience award winner, William J. Stribling’s silly time-travel short “The Speed of Time” (which actually played in the sci-fi block), takes ideas from so many serious sci-fi movies and turns them into broad comedy. Stribling gets plenty of laughs from a nebbishy computer programmer discovering that his future self is a musclebound warrior who’s traveled back in time to avert a global disaster.

The Speed of Time.

In the comedy block itself, I enjoyed the perfectly executed single-joke premise of “What Do We Do?,” about cubicle dwellers who have no idea what their company’s purpose is; the elegantly constructed rom-com “Across the Room,” in which a couple flirts via only body language; and the faux-hard-boiled “A Piece of Cake,” about a father (Rich Sommer) who goes to great lengths to get the perfect dessert topping for his daughter’s birthday cake.

A Piece of Cake.

I didn’t get the benefit of hearing a whole audience’s laughter for those movies, and the community and camaraderie of the festival couldn’t quite be replaced by virtual Q&As or live-streamed receptions. But DSFF organizers proved that they could adjust and persevere, and missing out on those crucial elements just made me more eager than ever to return to Boulder City in the future to watch some more short films.

EMAV Film Review: Sin City Horror Fest 2020

A scene from 'Smiles' at Sin City Horror Fest, 2020.

Following in the footsteps of the Nevada Women’s Film Festival and the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival, this year’s Sin City Horror Fest on October 22-25 transitioned to a fully virtual edition, hosted on the YouTube page of popular horror brand Kings of Horror. That opened up a much larger potential audience for the niche festival, which is run by a dedicated, enthusiastic crew but has attracted fairly small crowds in its three in-person events in Las Vegas. Kings of Horror has more than a million YouTube subscribers, and the SCHF live programs regularly had 100-plus people watching at any given time, from all around the world.

The numbers might have been even higher if the festival organizers had been less committed to replicating the live film-fest experience, but the ephemeral nature of the festival was part of the charm. Unlike many online festivals that allow attendees to view selections at their convenience over a period of 48 hours or longer, SCHF showed each selection only once, at a specific day and time, and anyone who missed the live broadcast was out of luck.

But that also helped engender a communal feel for the screenings, thanks to a running text chat that often included the filmmakers, receiving feedback in real-time. Festival co-founders Mike Lenzini, Darren Flores and Justin Bergonzoni also broadcast a live kick-off video at the beginning of each day, interacting with attendees and contributing to the vibe that we were all in this together. They returned on the final night to give out the festival awards from Lenzini’s couch.

Among the eight feature films, the top awards were mostly split between Joe Badon’s “Sister Tempest” (which won Best Film, Best Director and Best Editing) and Jeff Wedding’s “Tennessee Gothic” (which won Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Sound Design). Both are artistically ambitious projects that are more than a bit uneven, but it’s easy to admire the efforts at creating something more sophisticated and complex than a basic slasher movie (which SCHF is also happy to program).

A moment from the film 'Sister Tempest'.

“Sister Tempest” is a surreal, experimental piece about a woman undergoing a mental breakdown following the disappearance of her sister, expressed via elaborate set pieces that range from horror to sci-fi to religious allegory. “Tennessee Gothic” is a more straightforward tale about a mysterious woman taken in by father-and-son farmers, but it also embraces a range of tones and styles, including slapstick comedy and explicit sex scenes. Both movies are clear auteur visions from uncompromising filmmakers, the kind of work that film festivals exist to support, in any genre.

My favorite film among the features was the slow-burn German thriller “Marlene,” a deeply uncomfortable story of stalking and abduction, which deservedly won the Best Actress award for star Cordula Zielonka. She plays the title character, an art restorer who moves to Berlin for a new job and attracts the attentions of her creepy but seemingly harmless neighbor Flo (Thomas Clemens). “Marlene” is an engrossing character study of a woman trying to start her life anew, even before it shifts into intense horror in its final act. Writer-director Andreas Resch builds a pervasive sense of dread even in the most mundane moments, and it pays off in a horrifying climax.

SCHF 2020 Best Actor winner, Cordula Zielonka in 'Marlene'.

Moving the festival online allowed SCHF’s organizers to program an expanded slate, including more than 90 short films in 11 different blocks. There were a handful of local productions among the shorts, including prolific local filmmaker Joe Lujan’s creepy doll story “Billy”; Heidi Moore’s bizarre gross-out semi-sequel “Dolly Deadly 1.5,” an epilogue to her 2016 feature film “Dolly Deadly”; and Christopher Styles’ “The Tunnels,” which takes advantage of the inherent scariness of the storm drain tunnels below Las Vegas.

Elsewhere in the shorts programs, SCHF succeeded with films that combined horror and comedy, since horror shorts are often essentially quick build-ups to punchlines, whether those are horrific or comedic. I especially liked the Spanish short film “Smiles,” which won the shorts award for Best Kill, and which depicts a family with grotesque yellow smiley faces in place of their heads, as a visit home for the daughter’s new boyfriend goes awry. It’s not easy to create moments that are equally funny and horrifying, and “Smiles” succeeds at that where so many other horror shorts only accomplish one of the two.

Heidi Moore’s film 'Dolly Deadly 1.5'.

Just being funny or strange is okay, too, though, as in “Shiny Shiny,” in which a seemingly dangerous killer kidnaps a woman just so he can have an audience for his peppy dance routine. Or “Unholy ’Mole,” which also played at the Dam Short Film Festival in February, and is essentially a one-joke premise about a man’s extreme devotion to guacamole over his pregnant wife and unborn child.

On the more serious side, I liked the unexplained creepiness of “Loop,” in which people turn homicidal after hearing a mysterious cassette tape. Too many horror shorts are built around a single jolt rather than an actual plot or idea, and “Loop” is a great example of constructing a fully realized story without having to explain all the details. I also liked the escalating, grotesque social media satire of “Clout,” and the claustrophobic tension of another Spanish short, “La Guarida,” which explores the insidiousness of mob mentality.

With so many shorts, there was really something for everyone, even the squeamish, and the festival organizers promised in their closing-day broadcast to include an online component in next year’s festival, even if it returns to a more traditional in-person format. Viewers from across the globe got a feel for SCHF’s eclectic taste at this year’s event, and hopefully that will bring more attention to the festival in its Vegas home base, too.

Get your 'spook' on with 'Ghost Light Stories' at LVLT

Now streaming at lvlt.org through 10/31/20.

Like many other theatre companies around the country, Las Vegas Little Theatre (LVLT) is doing its best to provide streaming content to remain financially viable.

Via a writing competition, the latest offering is a new compilation of twelve locally written, short, two-person plays and monologues. All based upon the Halloween theme of ghosts and ghoulies, “Ghost Light Stories” is a delectable distraction.

In the first monologue, “Olive Struts and Frets,” by Rex McGregor, Sabrina Close plays that theatre ghost you may have heard about; the reason theatres leave the single “ghost light” on the stage when the rest of the place is dark. Thus “Ghost Light Stories.” Directed by Gillen Brey, Close has delightful fun in deploring the lack of actors and crews, and audience during the pandemic.

Sabrina Close in 'Olive Struts and Frets'.

Then we get “Late Arrival,” by James McIndon. A guest (David Ament) shows up late for his hotel registration and the desk clerk (Anthony Gomez) has a tough time finding a room. Gomez is funny as he concentrates on the computer, ignoring the screams and sounds of chainsaws, and the flickering of lights. Ament goes too far over the top for too long, taking away from the sense of fright. If you’re looking for the suitcase, like I did, it’s out of camera range until the very end.

“Entity,” by Thomas Misuraca, directed by David Ament, feels a touch lacking. While Chris Davies gives an ever-increasing sense of dread as a journalist looking for an exclusive, Blake Michael Boles as the serial murderer doesn’t have enough deviant, sinister fun with the part. There’s a sense of enjoyment lacking which could’ve added to the goosebumps.

The very short monologue, “Call My Name,” by Christine Foster, has Trina Colon lying in bed. In a bit of a let-down, I never did quite catch the arc of this one.

Shambrion Treadwell and Ernest Medina in 'Ghostie'.

The short, two-person “Ghostie,” performed by Ernest Medina and Shambion Treadwell has potential. A lot of potential. As two young people meeting at a Halloween party and who both hate parties, the issue of feeling left out is well plumbed. The direction by Chris Davies has them facing away from one another almost the entire time, leaving them without any ability to connect at all. There’s thumping in the background, which I assume was supposed to be club music. It was too muted to tell, and it stopped and repeated, stopped and repeated.

If witches are your thing, you’ll get a kick out “Resurrection Gone Bad,” by Adam Yeager and directed by Gillen Brey. Sabrina Close (Witch) screws up a spell and hopes Michael Blair (her brother) will help her fix things. Blair and Close both turn in credible performances, but Close’s lines sometimes get lost.

The monologue “Earthling,” written by John Mabey and directed by David Ament, brings the alien hiding in plain sight. Blake Michael Boles plays it loose and tongue-in-cheek enough that it’s enjoyable from start to finish.

“Flew,” written by Joshua Brewer, won first place in the writing competition. It’s about a woman (Monica Johns) who has escaped an abusive relationship and finds herself visited by the young man (Rowan Johns) in the apartment below. Turns out…no, I can’t spoil it. You’ll just have to see this one for yourself. But I’ll suggest you up the volume on this one because there are times when Monica’s lines get lost.

Jake Taylor in "An Invitation to Dinner".

The third monologue is “An Invitation to Dinner.” Full disclosure: I wrote this rather gothic piece, stilted language and all. Jake Taylor is directed by Gillen Brey and brings just the right touch of fun to my intent with ‘it was a dark and stormy night.’

Shana Brouwers and Anthony Gomez have the most fun of all with “Goodmare,” written by Ron Burch. Is it possible to change the direction of a nightmare? Another one I can’t give away. Directed by Gillen Brey, it’s delightful fun!

In “The Chair,” by James C. Ferguson, Theresa Fullerton and Marty Weaver play a married couple whose dinner guests seem to have vanished. Directed by Walter Niejadlik, this is another fun one, with another twist ending that will make you laugh.

The streaming wraps up with “Stay Out of the Basement,” written and performed by Alex Bassett and directed by Walter Niejadlik. Bassett brings a good sense of reverie to a man whose baby sister disappeared at 10-days old. It’s another twist ending I don’t want to divulge or risk spoiling it.

Costumes and sets fit the pieces, particularly with “An Invitation to Dinner,” and Ginny Adams lit them all with precision.

“Ghost Light Stories” are sure to lighten up your COVID isolation because these were fun. Log on and stream yourself a Halloween treat.

Tickets are $20. Log on at www.lvlt.org.