At annual Dam Short Film Festival, running time matters

It may be a short film festival, but it's all about the long run.

That's the guiding philosophy at the Dam Short Film Festival, which begins its eighth annual run today in Boulder City.

More than a hundred shorts will screen during the three-day celebration, which takes place at the historic Boulder Theatre -- and the nearby, equally historic Boulder Dam Hotel.

During its existence, the festival has gone "back and forth between three and four days," notes John LaBonney , the event's new director. (Founder Lee Lanier continues as executive director.)

But "it's very important that we concern ourselves with the long-term sustainability of the festival," LaBonney says.

"What happens to a lot of festivals is that they get a little overconfident," expanding their offerings -- and their budgets, he explains.

Dam Short Film Festival officials, by contrast, "decided to play it on the safe side," he says. "We want to be around in the future."

For the present, this year's festival features the usual wide variety of local, national and international offerings -- documentaries and fictional films, ranging from comedy and drama to horror and science fiction.

Festival officials received 370 entries; it proved extremely difficult to choose 108 to feature at the festival, LaBonney says.

Once the featured shorts are chosen, festival officials "match 'em up together, thematically," to create various programming blocks.

This afternoon's Australian Showcase, for example, includes everything from animation to sci-fi, reflecting how "Australia has ramped up their independent film production," LaBonney notes.

One of LaBonney's favorite programs this year: the "A Different Kind of Love" drama block (8:15 tonight), which includes everything from animation ("Love.mel," about a nervous young nerd preparing for a big date) to "Incest! The Musical."

It's that eclectic range of subjects and styles that makes short films special, according to filmmaker David Silverman, whose "My Good Fortune" (screening during Friday's 6 p.m. "Laugh It Up" comedy block) follows a New Jersey tough guy who doesn't get a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant -- and embarks on an odyssey to find out what happened to it.

Short filmmaking represents "an art form in and of itself," the Atlanta-based Silverman says.

After all, where else can you see "seven or eight different stories -- and get involved in seven or eight different worlds, with seven or eight different characters," all "in a 90-minute span of time," he observes.

Although Silverman's work has been featured at the Boulder City festival before, this year marks the first time he'll be attending -- and he says he's looking forward to experiencing, firsthand, a festival with such "a great reputation," he says.

Fellow filmmakers who have attended the Boulder City gathering attest to its down-to-earth nature -- and the fact that it's filmmaker-friendly, Silverman notes.

The latter is a particularly important point for filmmakers -- "that you're treated with warmth and generosity"-- after traveling to a distant locale, he says.

Even for local filmmakers, however, the warm welcome ranks as a draw, according to Las Vegas-based Adam Zielinski , whose post-apocalyptic tale "Walter Was Here" screens at 8:30 p.m. Friday, during the Nevada Filmmakers Showcase.

It's Zielinski's third festival showcase, and while the Dam Short Film Festival does cater to filmmakers, it's also audience-friendly, he maintains.

For one thing, "it's not as far as people think" to travel to Boulder City, says Zielinski, who also notes "how it all takes place in one location."

Well, technically, several locations -- but "everything's a one-minute walk," LaBonney explains.

Screenings take place in the restored, 400-seat Boulder Theatre. A few steps away on Arizona Street, the Boulder Dam Hotel hosts today's festival news conference and filmmaker meet-and-greet, along with Saturday's 1:15 p.m. panel and the ongoing filmmaker and press lounge.

The Eighth Dam Year mixer (7 p.m. Friday) takes place down the street from the theater at the Boulder Dam Brewing Co., 453 Nevada Way, while the post-awards party, which begins following the festival's 7 p.m. awards and 8 p.m. "Best of the Fest" program, is just across the street at The Dillinger, 1224 Arizona St. (Complete festival information, including a full schedule, is online at www.damshortfilm.org.)

"You can walk to everything," says LaBonney, who first experienced the festival as an audience member -- and a participating filmmaker -- before becoming festival director.

And if this year's lineup of films isn't enough for attendees, there's also the sixth annual film market, where more than a thousand short films are available for checkout and viewing.

That's "a really cool feature," Zielinski says, enabling movie lovers to catch up on shorts they missed in previous years.

And if there's anything they miss during this weekend's festival, there's always next year.

As LaBonney promises, "This festival is going to be around."

Contact movie critic Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.