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BOULDER CITY’S DAM SHORT FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS FEB. 16-20


The Dam Short Film Festival’s lineup includes over 150 short films, more than 30 programs, Q&As with the filmmakers, and more


Movie lovers can once again enjoy Nevada’s largest film festival in person after two years of virtual-only experiences. The 19th Annual Dam Short Film Festival will screen 153 short films over a 5-day period February 16-20, 2023, in the Elaine K. Smith Center in downtown Boulder City, Nevada.


Audiences will experience a record 31 thematic 60- to 90-minute program blocks with categories including Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Horror, International, Sci-Fi, Nevada, Music Videos, Love & Romance, and Underground. This year’s festival features films from a wide variety of countries like Iceland, China, Mexico, Brazil, Israel, Netherlands, France, Poland, and many more. As a bonus, the festival will repeat four of the most popular programs on Monday and screen every single award-winning film in two special programs.


“We are beyond thrilled to once again present our excellent and diverse programming to live audiences who can share their love of short films together,” said Lee Lanier, Co-Founder and Director of Continuity. “We’re grateful to the public that made our virtual festival a success the last two years and ecstatic to be back in person to showcase the quality and unique short films in our 19th Annual Festival, continuing to run as one of our community’s favorite cultural events!”


Boulder City and its small-town charm will welcome visitors for the five days of festival fun. The short films will be enjoyed with state-of-the-art digital projection in the Elaine K. Smith Center located at 700 Wyoming St, Boulder City, NV, 89005.


In addition to the screenings and filmmakers' Q&A during each category block, the Festival will feature a filmmaker Meet-n-Greet, Coffee with Filmmakers, and Dam Mixer. The Sunday night in-person Awards Presentation will also be live-streamed so everyone can tune in to find out which films win the various audience-determined awards.


Tickets are $12.50 per film block or $150 for the full five-day pass; $45 a day passes for Thursday and Monday, and $50 a day passes for Friday and Saturday are also available. Tickets can be purchased HERE. For the full schedule of selected films, visit damshortfilm.org.

Dam Short Film Festival, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, was founded in 2003 by Lee and Anita Lanier. The pair developed a love of short films while traveling to numerous film festivals in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Lee has worked in film production and computer animation since 1989 and directed a half-dozen short films. In 2008, the festival moved to the historic Boulder Theatre. John LaBonney served as festival director from 2012 to 2019, expanding the scope of the event and reaching sell-out crowds. Today, the Dam Short Film Festival has become a traditional Southern Nevada cultural event that attracts thousands of visitors to Boulder City each February. The festival has welcomed scores of filmmakers from all over the world and has screened several thousand unique independent short films during its history. For more information visit damshortfilm.org; like on Facebook @damshortfilm; and follow on Twitter @damshortfilm and Instagram @damshortfilm.


Dam Short Film Festival is supported, in part, by the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the state of Nevada. Funding to support this organization has been provided by Nevada Humanities through Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Throughout its 19 years, Dam Short Film Festival has screened more than 2,500 films – giving local, state, national, and international filmmakers a platform to showcase their films, and audiences access to these unique and original stories.

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