Go for the alternative
‘Saw V” is opening today.
Just thought you’d want to know, since so many of you are fans of movies boasting impalings, decapitations, limb-severings, shootings, throat-slittings, bludgeonings, immolations and disembowelings.
But, hey, who isn’t?
On the off chance that you’re not a fan, though, a couple of movie events are coming up over the next couple of weeks that might interest you.
•First up on Sunday is the sixth-annual Flicker Festival Spokane.
Flicker Fest came to life in 1994 in Chapel Hill, N.C. It was conceived as a way both of promoting the use of film (instead of digital technology) and supporting those who chose to work in the medium.
A quartet of Spokane filmmakers sponsored the first local version of Flicker, and it was at that original event – which was held at CenterStage – that Travis Hiibner, Derrick King, Lonny Waddle and Gary McLeod showed their own film “Stoic.”
This year’s festival will, McLeod says, be held at the Magic Lantern Theater – yes, the place seems to be available for special events – and will feature “11 or 12 films” with horror themes in honor of Halloween.
All but one of the films are shorter than 15 minutes. The exception, titled “Square Pegs,” is a short by Tokyo-based American filmmaker Ben Hicks that is 12 seconds short of 20 minutes long.
Missing will be a new film by McLeod and company. Or anything made locally, for that matter.
“We had to build a set,” McLeod explained, “so it’s taking us longer than we expected to finish.”
As Seahawk and Mariner fans are fond of saying, maybe next year.
Flicker Fest will screen twice, at 2 and 6 p.m., at the Magic Lantern, 25 W. Main Ave. Tickets are $6.
Call McLeod at (509) 995-0621. Or go online at www.flickerspokane.com.
•On Nov. 7, Spokane’s annual GLBT Film Festival will celebrate a milestone.
It was a full 10 years ago that the festival began showing films that reflect the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender/transsexual experience.
And while other Spokane-based film festivals have experienced differing levels of success – some come, others go – the GLBT Film Fest has proved to be an ongoing venture.
As programming director Barb Lee said in 2004, “Every year it gets a little bigger, a little better. We add new things every year, so it gets pretty exciting.”
For which we can be thankful. As in the past, this year’s lineup will be shown over three days at Eastern Washington University’s Riverpoint Auditorium, Phase I Classroom, which is located at 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd.
The program is as follows:
Nov. 7, 7 p.m.: “Eddie” (:10) “Fabulosity” (:5) “The Touch” (:7) “She’s a Boy I Knew” (1:10).
Nov. 8, 3 p.m.: “Laundromat” (:12), “The Premiere” (:9), “Mechanics Daydream” (:9), “10 More Good Years” (1:11).
Nov. 8, 7 p.m.: “Happenstance” (:7), “The Young and Evil” (:12), “Twirling Earl” (:3), “No Bikini” (:9), “Neurotica” (:13), “One Summer in New Paltz” (:54).
Nov. 9, 3 p.m.: “Uncle Mike” (:2), “Private Life” (:16), “Mirror Mirror” (:10), “Ask Not” (1:13).
Evening shows are $8, matinees $5 ($5 student prices for all shows). Festival passes cost $21. For more information (including a map), go online at www.spokanefilmfest.org.
If neither of these appeals to you, no problem.
To paraphrase Rick Blaine, we’ll always have “Saw V.”
Or, of course, its sequel.