SHORT AND SWEET

What's in a name? In the case of the Dam Short Film Festival, pretty much everything you need to know.

The "Dam" refers to Hoover Dam's hometown, Boulder City, where the sixth annual festival begins a three-day run today at the historic Boulder Theatre. And "Short" refers to the length of the films; none is longer than 35 minutes -- or shorter than two.

This year, "Short" also refers to the festival's length -- one day shorter than last year, "partially because of budget reasons," explains Lee Lanier, the festival's co-founder and executive director.

Just because the festival is three days instead of four, however, doesn't mean fewer movies will be shown.

"Three days -- 100 films" may be the festival motto, but "we're showing 113 films this year," Lanier says. "That's equivalent to previous years."

Attendees will see many of the same program blocks, which group similarly themed shorts -- from family films to adults-only horror and underground entries.

Comedies and dramas are well-represented, along with Nevada filmmakers, who have a separate showcase. And Saturday's Love & Romance program honors Valentine's Day.

"Documentaries are always popular locally," Lanier observes. And this year's festival lineup features "some really good international films."

In short (ahem), this year's festival resembles its predecessors in most ways.

True, there's no special guest in the spotlight this year, but with the festival facing inevitable financial pressures, organizers decided to concentrate "on finding good films," Lanier explains.

To that end, festival organizers watched more than 400 submissions before choosing this year's lineup, focusing on "films we think our audiences will like," Lanier says. "We spend a huge amount of time weeding through them."

And although they look for "technically proficient" titles, they also try to present a variety of themes.

For example, "if we get four stories about teen angst in a suburban town, we might not program all of them," Lanier says.

Filmmakers submit their work through the Internet festival site Withoutabox.com, which makes it easy for filmmakers and festival organizers to connect.

Los Angeles-based director-producer Tim Reischauer has two shorts in the festival, the award-winning romantic comedy "Slice of Pie" (part of Saturday afternoon's Love & Romance block) and "Phantom Font," scheduled during tonight's Comedy Universe presentation.

The Boulder City festival's shorts-only programming "really caught my eye," Reischauer says, in part because, at many festivals, "the features definitely overshadow the shorts."

Although "you're all filmmakers," says London-based James Rumsey (whose award-winning "The Milk Man" is in this afternoon's "International Dreamers" drama section), "there's a definite hierarchy" at festivals that include both shorts and feature-length projects. "Without a doubt, if you're there with a feature, you're playing with the big boys."

In addition, "a lot of times, film festivals are looking for something really edgy," Reischauer says -- which definitely does not describe the "sweet little romantic comedy" he filmed in downstate Illinois.

Although movie buffs can find plenty of short films on the Internet, they're "not necessarily all that great," Lanier says.

Because festival organizers select only the standouts, "we alleviate some of the pain" for audiences, he notes.

(Audiences who just can't get enough shorts can check out every 2010 submission at the festival's film market, open to pass holders; it also offers previous festival selections.)

A filmmaker panel and a "Sixth Dam Year Mixer" allow ample opportunity for filmmakers to exchange ideas with each other -- and audience members.

"There are always people you meet -- that's one of the major reasons you go," notes Rumsey, who's flying from Britain to Los Angeles, then driving to Boulder City for the festival.

Besides, "No film festival is a bad film festival," contends Rumsey, whose short was "inspired by the fact that I did chuck my job and decide to become a filmmaker." (Having given up a career in information technology, Rumsey says he's "not as well off as I was, but I'm glad I made the leap of faith.")

Like its Boulder City hometown, the Dam Short Film Festival has followed a slow-growth philosophy in its first six years -- an approach that has enabled organizers to weather recent economic storms.

"We have to tighten the budget," Lanier acknowledges, "but luckily we're kind of nimble."

The kind of nimble, he says, that will enable organizers "to survive until next year."

Contact movie critic Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.