Arizona St. Short Film Festival (4/24/2009)

Arizona is not a creative wasteland, as some would have you believe. After all, our state is home to Stephanie Meyer, who, in spite of Stephen King's recent claims, may go down in history as being the American version of JK Rowling.

Apparently we know a little something about film here in Arizona as well. We have a film comission and host several prestigious film festivals. Parts of Three Kings, The Kingdom, and The Savages have all been filmed here, and there are now several film schools around the state.

(Hell, we even have an adult oriented Puppet Theater!)

After having attended the Arizona State Short Film and Video Festival last weekend (at least, part of it), I'm not sure that I am willing to call this a destination festival. Tempe has a long way to go in fact, before it can be compared to Austin, TX and Park City, UT. But if you are looking for something cheap to do on a Saturday night, and come with an open mind, you might just go home feeling like you were a part of a larger movement.

And who knows, maybe the creator of one of these films will go on to more substantial sucess. Sean Anders, director of movies like Never Been Thawed and Sex Drive came out of Arizona. And although Anders never screened a film at the ASU Short Film Festival, no fewer than nine filmmakers who did so have gone on to bigger and better things.

I arrived late to the festival because I was too busy watching the Arizona State Baseball team whomp on Stanford over at Packard Stadium. Their offense decided to remain asleep until the 7th inning. But did it ever wake up! Movies, short or otherwise would have to wait.

Perhaps the biggest appeal of this festival is the fact that it is held outdoors under the stars in one of the prettiest venues around: The ASU Art Museum. I half expected that only a few people would be there, but it was surprisingly crowded. Easily 1000 people showed up to enjoy the festivities.

Here are a few videos I found on the web that were shown. Keep in mind, they may be adult in nature, so do not watch if you are offended by graphic conversation.





Dirty Words: The Letter 'C'

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