Still from the film Come Wander with Me by Phillip Van.

We live in an age where everyone fancies themselves a filmmaker and they've got a YouTube video to prove it.  On YouTube, you can find plenty of short films competing for your attention.  I've talked to people who've just emerged from a YouTube stupor, their eyes glassy and searching for a horizon.  You can get lost for hours there, wading through junk and occasionally striking gold.  Personally, I appreciate those moments in this modern life when someone or some event comes along to mediate that vast landscape of content, saying "Hey, my media-weary traveler, rest here.  I'll introduce you to really good work. I've spent an entire year looking around so you don't have to."  At times like these, l'll gladly sit my fanny down and eagerly await my fortune. 

I offer you such a guide in Neil Kendricks.  Neil is the film curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the La Jolla location is the host of one of his pet projects, the annual alt.pictureshows event. Neil spends a year watching as many short films as he can.  He goes to film festivals and reaches out to filmmakers and artists to find out what they're working on.  Neil selects the films he thinks are artful - and he's passionate about short films as an art form - and then groups them by subject matter or tone.  Then each year, for one night only, he sets up stations throughout the museum where select films screen on a loop for people to watch as they move through the space.  And there you have alt.pictureshows.  The event has grown in popularity over the years (this is the sixth year) with well over 300 people in attendance last year.  

It may seem like it would be difficult to actually watch the films this way but it's not.  Somehow it all works.  I've seen some of the shorts being screened this year so I'll make a few recommendations.  Do not miss Spider! In fact, watch it twice.   This little sucker punch of a film accomplishes so much, leaving you almost dizzy it's so stunning and absurd.  I also liked Cara, which lampoons Hollywood.  Rope a Dope is a nice bit of visual poetry and I Love Sarah Jane mixes puppy love and zombies.  Zombies are definitely hot right now, so if you're on that bandwagon, this is a sweet contribution.  Neil also programmed a station featuring David Lynch(!) short films. 

alt.pictureshows takes place Thursday (8/28) from 7-10pm at MCASD La Jolla.

Still from the film I Love Sarah Jane.