March 31, 2004

Film festival begins showings Thursday at Varsity Theater

Staff reports

The third annual Ashland independent film festival will be held April 1-5 at the Varsity Theatre downtown. The festival's board and staff have been preparing the last year and have scheduled 73 films on five screens in five days.

The aiff's official selections include the Northwest premier of the locally produced "Indigo"; Southern Oregon resident and cult movie hero Bruce Campbell playing an aging Elvis in "Bubba Ho-Tep"; a documentary homage to American theatre, "Broadway: The Golden Age"; Academy Award-nominated documentary short "Ferry Tales"; all-Palestinian cast and all-Israeli crew dramatic feature, "The Olive Harvest"; TV director/producer Michael Pressman's (Chicago Hope, The Practice) theater world film "Frankie and Johnny are Married"; a documentary on the 10th Mountain Division's World War II heroics and their life since, "Fire on the Mountain"; the Burning Man-based documentary "Nothing Without You"; and the 1967 classic "The Incident," featuring Martin Sheen in his debut role and cinematography by local resident Jerry Hirschfeld.

This year there are many local productions among the aiff official selections and four of these films will be combined in a free program. The world premiere of "Crater Lake: Mirror of Heaven," produced by Southern Oregon Public Television, will be screened as well as animated shorts by Southern Oregon University professor Miles Inada and SOU student Steven Hammond.

The festival begins showing films at noon Thursday and the last screening begins at 9:40 p.m. Monday. The Opening Night "Meet the Filmmakers" reception at the Ashland Springs Hotel is Thursday from 8 to 11 p.m. and the Awards Ceremony and Party at the Historic Ashland Armory is Sunday from 7 to 11 p.m.

Tickets are available at the Varsity Box Office from 3 to 7 p.m.