The Dam Short Film Festival is a film festival held annually in

Boulder City, Nevada Boulder City is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is approximately southeast of Las Vegas. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Boulder City was 14,885. The city took its name from Boulder Canyon ( ...

, typically in early February.

Lee Lanier Lee Lanier is an American 3D computer animator and the author of nine books for the 3D modeling software package Maya and the digital compositing software packages After Effects, Fusion, and Nuke. He served as an instructor for animation for the ...

and Anita Lanier are the original co-founders of the festival. The festival is organized by the Dam Short Film Society, a non-profit 501(c)3 Nevada corporation. Past festival sponsors have included

The Art Institutes The Art Institutes (AI) are a collection of private for-profit art schools in the United States. Since 2019, the schools have been owned by Education Principle Foundation (aka Colbeck Foundation), a non-profit that also owns South Universi ...

, the Nevada Film Office, the Hacienda Hotel and Casino, and

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

. The Society receives annual grants from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

via the Nevada Arts Council. Started in 2005, the Dam Short Film Festival only screens films that run between 1 and 40 minutes. Generally, there are between 100 and 140 short films programmed each year. Although most of the festival shorts are submitted by student, independent, and other "up-and-coming" filmmakers, the stiff competition means many of the shorts have been produced involving film professionals. These have included

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-winner

Louis Gossett Jr. Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (born May 27, 1936) is an American actor. Born in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, He had his stage debut at the age of 17, in a school production of '' You Can't Take It with You.'' Shortly after he successfully ...

in "Window,"

-winner,

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

, and

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

in "Why Shakespeare?", the late

Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...

narrating an animation based on the

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

classic "

The Tell-Tale Heart "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is related by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the n ...

Francesco Quinn Francesco Daniele Quinn (March 22, 1963 – August 5, 2011) was an Italian-born American actor. The first son of Oscar-winner Anthony Quinn and Iolanda Addolori (Anthony Quinn's second wife), Francesco is perhaps best known for his breakout role ...

in " The Gnostic", and

Robert Wagner Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor of stage, screen, and television. He is known for starring in the television shows '' It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch'' (1975–1978), and '' Hart to Hart'' (1979� ...

and

Lori Singer Lori Singer (born November 6, 1957) is an American actress and musician. The daughter of conductor Jacques Singer, she was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Portland, Oregon, where her father served as the lead conductor of the Oreg ...

in " Little Victim " The short films are arranged into thematic programs, such as international drama, crime drama, dramedy, science-fiction, horror, comedy, avant-garde, underground, and animation. In addition to the regular screenings, the festival presents special showcases and retrospectives; for example, the 2009 event featured a showcase dedicated to documentary filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt while 2008 included a program dedicated to animator Jim Blashfield The festival also presents parties, mixers, filmmaker panels, and Q&A sessions with attending filmmakers. In 2008, the Festival moved to the historic 400-seat Boulder Theatre. The Theatre was built in 1931 and is currently owned by Desi Arnaz Jr. and his wife Amy. 2014 marked the 10th anniversary of the festival. At present,

serves as the Dam Short Film Society's executive director while John LaBonney serves as festival director. The Society has a working board of directors that varies from 4 to 6 members.

References

* Cling, Carol
"Dam Short Film Festival Grows in Its Second Year"
''Las Vegas Review-Journal'', February 9, 2006. * Peterson, Kristen

''Las Vegas Sun'', February 8, 2007. *Brown, Joe
"Dam Short Filmfest announces lineup"
''Las Vegas Sun'', January 21, 2008. *Patterson, Carol

''Vegas Community Online'', February, 2008.

External links

Dam Short Film Festival
website {{DEFAULTSORT:Dam Short Film Festival, The Film festivals in Nevada Culture of Clark County, Nevada Short film festivals in the United States Boulder City, Nevada Tourist attractions in Clark County, Nevada Events in Clark County, Nevada