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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Leveling the playing field for back-to-school supplies ... Making progress ... Our View: Every little bit helps in reducing emissions ... Leveling the playing field for back-to-school supplies ... Making progress ... Our View: Every little bit helps in reducing emissions ... INDEPENDENT FILMS 6 shorts worth seeing at this year's Ashland Independent Film Festival Comment By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2015 at 3:28 PM By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2015 at 3:28 PM » Social News Just 98 out of more than 1,200 films submitted made the cut for this year's Ashland Independent Film Festival, which opens Thursday in Ashland. "It was a record year," says AIFF Interim Executive Director Cathy Dombi. "And every film gets screened twice. "The quality is there, too. The festival has become notable around the country, and filmmakers want to be in it." A full schedule of features, documentaries and shorts is planned for today through Monday at the Varsity Theatre, the old Ashland Armory and the Ashland Street Cinemas, plus other events such as free panel discussions with filmmakers at 10 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings at the Ashland Springs Hotel in Ashland (tickets are required; call 541-488-3823 or visit the Varsity box office or ashlandfilm.org). While dramatic features and hard-hitting documentaries frequently get the lion's share of attention, memorable short subjects from talented filmmakers turn up every year. And that's something you won't see in your neighborhood multiplex. Shorts are typically combined in blocs at AIFF. Here are some that caught our reviewer's eye. •  "Birthday," written and directed by Chris King, 12 minutes. A young military wife gets news that her Marine husband has been severely wounded in combat. She quickly discovers that life is going to get unimaginably difficult — and still be an amazing journey. "Birthday" is hard to watch with a dry eye. You may reflect on the bravery of our young warriors, and you may wonder whether the price so many pay is worth it. •   "One Year Lease," produced and directed by Brian Bolster, 11 minutes. This short takes a darkly humorous look at humans Brian and Thomas and Caspar the cat as they endure a yearlong sentence with Rita, the cat-loving landlady from Hell. Renting an apartment in New York City commonly involves spaces best described as "challenging" and through-the-roof rents. Just add to that the most eccentric busybody landlady living directly above you — with an itchy speed-dial finger. Bolster cleverly tells his story almost entirely through voice mails. •   "SKUNK," written and directed by Annie Silverstein, 16 minutes. This darkish drama is about a confrontation between two young people sparked by a dog and some conflicting goals. Silverstein's characters are believable, and the camera seems to endow almost every minute with a sense of menace. The taut little film touches themes of social class, sexism, standing up for yourself and the desserts of some very bad behavior. •   "The Dam Keeper," written and directed by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, 17 minutes. This animated short tells the story of Pig, a youngster who lives in a dystopian future. In a town inhabited chiefly by animals and a tale in which the focus is on the animal children, Pig struggles with the legacy left him by his father, who told him it's the dam keeper's job — now Pig's — to keep the darkness away. Pig faithfully toils at the large, creaky old windmill that performs this job, holding back a darkness that's a metaphor for — what? — perhaps a paroxysm of pollution. But he faces indifference or hostility from students at his school and town residents. When a foxy artist becomes his friend, everything changes. "The Dam Keeper" is a remarkable achievement, a gorgeous allegory with lovely images saturated with light and color. Pig has a complex arc in just 17 minutes. And as is the case in traditional beast fables, the focus is squarely on human foibles. •   "Through the Hawthorne," written by D.R. Hood, directed by Anna Benner, Pia Borg and Gemma Burditt, 9 minutes, with subtitles in French. In this smart, quirky, animated short, a young man named Sam has stopped taking his medication. He doesn't seem to think he is mentally ill, although we learn that his mother found him swimming naked in a freezing river in the middle of the night. The psychiatrist thinks Sam should try a different medication. For anybody who has dealt with mental illness among friends or family, some of the phrases that pop up will be familiar: a "very effective" drug ... hard on your bone marrow ... causes you to gain weight ... and of course there are those pesky suicidal impulses. Three directors follow the action through three points of view, often through three panels visible on the screen at the same time. We hear Sam, his mother and the psychiatrist all at once. The result is a cacophony that perhaps approximates a bit the nature of the confusion, including hearing voices, that mentally ill people describe having to deal with. A splendid, if harrowing, achievement. •   "The Reel Smith,"  by Dana and Kathy Knoke and Laney D'Aquino, 7 minutes. This is an unpretentious but heartfelt little film about the art of local blacksmith Denny De Bey, who makes the awards the AIFF hands out like Oscars. The steel awards look like a film reel with a length of film rolling off the spindle. As he works in his shop, De Bey talks about the importance of blacksmithing in history and his philosophy of the art of transforming metal. You'll never look at those little steel awards quite the same. For a complete schedule of films and events for this year's AIFF, visit www.ashlandfilm.org. Reach Medford freelance writer Bill Varble at [email protected]. By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2015 at 3:28 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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