‘Reel Big Deal’ showcases short films

Give somebody a million-dollar budget and 100 minutes and he or she can make any kind of film imaginable.

Try doing something on lunch money and three minutes of video.

Spokane film fans will be able to see what a collection of award-winning Washington filmmakers was able to accomplish on not much more than the price of a peanut butter sandwich when 18 short films are screened tonight at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

Titled “Reel Big Deal,” the two-hour event features a wide range of … well, just about everything.

“It’s a really eclectic mix, not only in terms of style and subject matter but also in quality,” says Shalon Parker, a professor of art at Gonzaga University. “Some of them are marginal, I must confess, but others are excellent.”

Fifteen of the films were made by recipient of grants by Artist Trust, a nonprofit organization that supports Washington state artists in all disciplines. Ken Rowe, dean of the school of digital arts at Everett-based Henry Cogswell College, curated the collection, which was shown first in Seattle and Ellensburg.

“Some of the artists and filmmakers here in Spokane heard about this and thought, ‘Well, we should also show it here in Eastern Washington so that people here can see what young filmmakers are up to … throughout the state,’ ” Parker says.

In particular, Ryan Hardesty, manager of the museum’s Art at Work Program, saw the potential of the shorts program. A self-described film buff, Hardesty says that he’s “always trying to think of ways that the museum can appeal to a different crowd.”

This program, he adds, “just seemed like a great way to start, because there already was a package of films.”

In addition to the work of the Artist Trust filmmakers, the shorts package features three films made by Spokane-based filmmakers. Travis Hiibner, Derrick King and Gary McLeod teamed up to make “A Photographic Album from the Life of Sigmund Freud: Part One,” Lawra Gosselin-Harris directed “Game Night” and Lonnie Waddle’s film is titled “Sticky.”

The films, which vary in length from three to 12 minutes, range in format from film to digital video. All will be shown digitally at the MAC, which doesn’t have the capacity to show 35 mm movies.

The program is part of what Hardesty hopes will become a regular occurrence in Spokane.

“I’m really hoping that this can be the start of a festival here that we can host at the MAC,” he says.