The state of local film festivals, post-CineVegas

By Josh Bell

Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 | 12:19 a.m.

Mike Bertino

When the organizers of the CineVegas film festival announced an indefinite hiatus last September and laid off the festival's entire full-time staff, they left a huge void in the city's film-festival landscape. While no one has quite stepped up to fill that void (and the future of CineVegas itself remains uncertain), film fans shouldn't give in to despair just yet, as a handful of smaller festivals are working to keep the spirit of independent, artistic film in Vegas alive.

First up is the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival, whose ninth edition runs January 14-31 at various locations. "More or less by default, we're the longest-running, best-attended film festival in the state of Nevada," said LVJFF director Joshua Abbey, who was also one of the original founders of CineVegas (he left after the first year). The LVJFF will screen 17 feature films this year, including documentaries and narrative features related to Jewish culture and life.

The Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City runs February 11-13 at the Boulder Theatre, down from a four-day event last year. "Everyone has to tighten their budget," said Lee Lanier, DSFF executive director. Despite the shorter time frame, the festival will showcase more than 100 short films (including many from local filmmakers), about the same number as in previous years.

Not every long-running festival has been so fortunate: Neon Fest, the gay and lesbian film festival that ran for five years and last appeared at the Onyx Theatre in February 2009, likely will take this year off. A planned January event definitely won't happen, and festival president Bill Schafer is hoping to plan something for later in the year, but nothing is settled yet. "Sponsors with cash were too hard to come by," Schafer said.

With or without money, the organizers of twice-yearly Downtown music festival Neon Reverb hope to add a film component to their event, but festival co-founder Thirry Harlin isn't sure if that aspect will be ready for the March 11-14 edition. "We haven't found anyone capable of running that part yet, at least that is willing to work with a zero-dollar budget like we do," Harlin said. "It is something we are very serious about adding to the festival," he assures. If the pieces aren't in place by March, Harlin plans to have everything lined up for the next Neon Reverb in September.

The small-scale Las Vegas Film Festival, whose two previous editions were held in casino ballrooms, has a third edition listed on its Web site for April 22-25, but festival director James Mulidore says that could be pushed to early May. He plans to move the event to a real movie theater and showcase the same range of features, shorts and documentaries as in past years. "For the last couple of years we've been running on a loss, just trying to figure out a way to be able to sustain this event and keep independent film alive in the community," Mulidore said.

The Fangoria Trinity of Terrors horror festival, which took up residence in October in the Brenden Theatres at the Palms, will return for a second year in 2010. With the Fangoria brand name and a fan-convention aspect that draws a range of genre celebrities, it probably has the most resources of any of these events. What it doesn't have are strong ties to the community, and as LVJFF's Abbey sees it, that's what will make his festival, and any others, truly a success: "People need to be more committed to the quality of life and the substance of our cultural identity here, and rally to not only defend but to proactively support cultural institutions, because that's the only way they can survive."