Huzzah for shorts!

The theater that was showing How to Train Your Pet, Suckerfish, and The Lonely Boys was completely packed. Supportive family members and friends seemed to account for a number of audience members, as many of the films were shot locally and several people in line for the film were carrying flowers. Across the theater I saw local filmmaker Dave Baumgarten taking a seat, a subtle reminder that filmmakers aren't always Hollywood bigshots with pockets lined with cash from their latest film. Dave recently completed his film, So Love Returns, which he has been working on for several decades and just missed the timeline for entering it in th festival. But I digress...


Waiting for the films to start, I must admit that I was nervous. I tend to be one of those critical film fanatics who can't excuse a flawed film simply because it was made locally or the director was young. That said, I am pleased to acknowledge that my sharpened critical instincts met with no antagonism whatsoever. The first of the three-How to Train Your Pet-was a black and white spoof on the handy "how to" videos of the 50's. The audience was invited to "Meet Sally...a woman who knows how to make her man come but not how to stay." The film was rife with innuendo and was very well acted. When the young director stepped out of the audience for the Q&A I was surprised to see a yoing woman that looked like she could have been in high school. As it turned out Ann Finnegan is a film student at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Several scenes were clearly shot in San Luis Obispo, including one memorable scene of a bad boyfriend relieving himself in front of The Fremont and a row of potential boyfriends in cages at the Woods Humane Society...I think the audience was impressed with the notion of a world where dogs have found a home and wandering boyfriends are kept in kennels.

The second film, Suckerfish, addressed a slightly more serious topic-homelessness. Using taped interviews with at least a dozen homeless men and women across California, the film highlighted some of the problems that the homeless face-particularly harassment from cops. I was really pleased at the end of the film when Director Jose Lemus called attention to one of the film's most articulate and vocal interviewees-a man named Michael Ian who stood at the back of the theater. He received a loud round of applause-it truly was touching to see him there, watching our reaction to an issue that he is so deelpy affected by.

The third film was equally different from the other two. It was longer than the eight minute pet training spoof by two minutes and only half the length of Suckerfish. All you brainy, math types out there, figure that one out! The music really made this film, which was beautiful and comic, and over too soon. Watching The Lonely Boys felt a little like watching Little Miss Sunshine and a radical coming of age tale wrapped into one. It was incredible. Again, I was shocked to see four young men walk to the front of the theater. They too, turned out to be students at Loyola Marymount, where, they informed the audience, as film students every weekend is filled with work on some project or another, which explains the incredibly polished, perfect film the audience had the pleasure of watching. I was, and remain, filled with the desire to attend film school.

Tomorrow I'm off to a 4 p.m. showing of The Naked Hitchiker and Our Land, Our Life. I don't know all that much about the first of the two, except that it's about a woman who is picked up by a truck diver after hitchiking naked due to emotional anguish caused by her recent divorce. It should be good because, really, who hasn't been there at one point or another? Filmmaker Eleanor Lanahan will also be present for a Q&A. But I am truly anticipating watching Our Land, Our Life. I have already watched the film twice, for Split Screen, and Glen (my fellow reviewer) and both felt deeply touched by it. The reason I want to see the film for a third time in as many weeks is because it's the sort of film that should inspire outrage. A tale of the US governmen's cruel and selfish persecution of two elderly Shoshone sisters, the 75 minute documentary is a testament to our government's despicable lack of values. I want to watch other people's reactions to this film. I hope they feel the outrage that I felt the first two times I watched it. The film features amazing scenes of Crescent Valley in Nevada, sweeping plains and mountains, the kind of land you could consider calling home for countless generations of family members. Also, there will be a screening of the 80 minute film Unauthorized and Proud of It: Todd Loren's Rock N' Roll Comics at 8:30 p.m. Glen and I also reviewed this film, which I found remarkably interesting.

I'm off to find myself a film school application...