The inaugural High Desert Shorts International Film Festival will be held at the Pahrump Nugget Events Center from Monday, Sept. 25, to Wednesday, Sept. 27 at the events center in the Pahrump Nugget.

The event is being hosted by the Pahrump Visual and Performing Arts Council along with support by the Nevada Arts Council Town of Pahrump and the Pahrump Town Advisory Board.

The festival will show short films that have been submitted from California, Utah, Oregon and even Canada, as well as films produced and contributed by locals. Each entrant whose selection was pre-selected for the contest was awarded $25.

Films will be shown based on five categories: comedy, documentary, animation (adult), drama, and animation.

The festival was founded by Linda Kass, who came up with the idea three years ago when she was told by Bob Baker that the community was looking for an event to bridge the Wild West Extravaganza and the Fall Festival so there could be a continuous, 10-day schedule of events.

"I read in the R-J about the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City and it just clicked," said Kass. "It's different from the Extravaganza and different from the Fall Festival, and it gave us 10 days of celebrating Pahrump."

Kass then approached the Pahrump Arts Council, which at the time was applying for the Nevada Arts Council Grant and was also enthusiastic about the idea of a film festival. The festival is also being funded by the state portion of a Tourism Board grant.

The festival has been a community project from the ground up, with many resident involved in almost every aspect of its organization.

The festival's name, logo, and award design were all selected from open contests, and the winners were all residents of Pahrump.

Steven W. Johnson won the naming contest, Rodney Comancho's design was selected for the festival's logo, and winning contestants will receive a "Reaching for the Stars" award that was designed by LuLu Brymer, which members of the Arts Council and contestants are already referring to as "the LuLu."

The management of the Pahrump Nugget is donating the space for the event, which Kass said is a major reason the festival is well within budget.

"It's blessed," said Kass. "I can't say any other word. It's an idea that started three years ago and now its coming to fruition."

The festival will begin Monday with a screening of "Lady Magdalene's", a feature-length film that was produced entirely in Nye County and uses many of Pahrump's locations and actors.

After the movie, at 4:30 p.m., Jim Rodgers, keynote speaker for the festival, will address those assembled, after which an opening night mixer will be held where attendees can meet the film makers and producers. The day will finish with the screening of competing films from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m., after which the audience and judges will vote on the films shown.

Tuesday will feature a panel discussion as well as a screening of films from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas short film archive. The competition will resume at 6 p.m. and run until 11 p.m., once again finishing with audience and jury panel voting.

Wednesday, the winners of the contest will be announced and an award presentation will take place. In addition to receiving their "LuLu's," winners will also receive framed and matted prints of the Comancho logo. The awards presentation will be followed by a screening of the winning films.

The judges for the event are made up of both locals and what Kass calls "Hollywood heavyweights."

Judges will be Melanie A. Capacia, a freelance film maker who has also worked on the MTV Awards and Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards; Dana Mennie, an artist, producer and writer; Gregory Cascante, president and CEO of August Entertainment; and Linda Meads, an actress and, with Kass, co-host of the High Desert Today show on Channel 41.

For more information about the festival, visit its Web site at www.highdesertshortsiff.com.