Las Vegas Film Festival showcasing local, visiting filmmakers, offering several free events

It's not just a Las Vegas film festival.

It's a Vegas film festival, baby -- in every sense of the word.

The fourth annual Las Vegas Film Festival opens today at the Las Vegas Hilton -- the festival's home for the second consecutive year -- with a three-day cinematic celebration that includes 45 separate screenings.

In addition to providing a showcase for local and visiting filmmakers, however, this year's festival includes several free events.

At 4:15 p.m. Saturday, the festival presents "Vice," starring Michael Madsen, who'll accept the festival's "Indie Icon" award following the movie.

"If you go to Vegas, you better have a purpose to being there," Madsen says. And this time, he does.

"I never really got a lot of accolades along the road of this film career," adds Madsen, whose diverse credits range from "Free Willy" to "Reservoir Dogs" -- and beyond. "It's very nice for that to happen."

At 2 p.m. Saturday, another free event -- "A Conversation with Henry Hill and His Favorite Wise Guys" -- features ex-mobster Hill (played by Ray Liotta in "Goodfellas") and fellow real- and reel-life wiseguys, from Frank Cullotta, Meyer Lansky II and Antoinette Giancana to "Casino" co-star Frank Vincent.

It's an ideal tie-in with downtown's upcoming mob museum, according to Milo Kostelecky , the festival's operations director.

And a 9 a.m. Saturday salute to Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones -- presented by his grandson, Craig Kausen -- previews the Chuck Jones Experience, a Circus Circus addition expected to open this summer.

"That one fell in our lap in the final hours" of planning this year's festival, according to Kostelecky.

Other panel discussions explore screenwriting, producing and independent filmmaking. (A complete list of festival panels, parties, events and screenings is available online at www.lvfilmfest.com.)

The festival's Vegas-centric focus continues with several feature selections, among them "Hitting the Nuts" (10 a.m. Saturday), about ragtag poker plays, and "Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians" (11:15 a.m. Saturday).

Yet today's opening-night attraction is about as far as you can get from Las Vegas in July: the local premiere of "The Story," a ski documentary featuring Olympic gold medalists Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn .

After all, "this is an international film festival," Kostelecky explains. "Our goal is to create a destination event," he adds, one with across-the-board appeal.

That task may be a bit easier this year, now that Las Vegas' other summer film festival, CineVegas, has faded to black. (Three months after 2009's CineVegas, officials announced there would be no 2010 festival; there's been no talk of a CineVegas comeback since.)

"There was a little bit of confusion last year," Kostelecky acknowledges, especially because some movie fans "thought that CineVegas kept going."

This year, however, Las Vegas Film Festival organizers are "filling the void the best we can," he contends.

And, in the process, creating an opportunity for filmmakers to present and promote their work.

For Las Vegas-based husband-and-wife filmmakers Sean Fallon and Charlotte Barrett, the chance to screen their debut feature, "Virgin Alexander," reflects the growth of "a very cool emerging film community here," Fallon says.

Although Fallon and Barrett filmed the comedy in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. -- Fallon's hometown -- "Las Vegas was the spark for the story," he notes. That's because the piano-playing protagonist (played by "Jersey Boys" cast member Rick Faugno ) resorts to desperate measures when the house his grandfather deeded to him goes into foreclosure.

"Virgin Alexander" has won awards at film festivals from Washington, D.C., to Oklahoma City, but Fallon and Barrett just completed final editing a few weeks ago, inspired by audience feedback from previous festival screenings.

Once "Virgin Alexander" plays Las Vegas, Fallon adds, "we want to take it around the country and build some buzz."

Building buzz remains a primary goal for out-of-town producers as well, according to Greg H. Sims of Vesuvio Entertainment.

He's executive producer of the thriller "Behind Your Eyes," which has its U.S. premiere at 7 p.m. Saturday -- and opens in Las Vegas theaters in October.

"It's important to do festivals, but it's also important to get out and start generating revenue," Sims explains -- which is why "with this movie, we were looking for really strong independent festivals."

Because "Vegas is a very strong movie town," the Las Vegas Film Festival "makes sense," Sims says.

In part, that's because Las Vegas ranks as "a fun, dynamic place" -- one close enough to Los Angeles to guarantee a big festival turnout. (Joining the "Behind Your Eyes" contingent: actors Tom Sandoval, Daniel Fanaberia , who also scripted, Kristen Doute and Lisa R. Segal and cinematographer Akis Konstantakopoulos , who also is scheduled to participate in one of the festival's filmmaking panels.)

Overall, "I think that we've definitely captured an audience," Kostelecky says of the festival. "We definitely are emerging at our own pace -- and doing our best to build something people may even travel here" to attend.

For Las Vegans, however, it's all as close as Paradise Road.

Review-Journal columnist Doug Elfman contributed to this report. Contact movie critic Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.