6:00 - 8:00PM Gala Reception - Purchase tickets - More info
Celebrate the kick-off to this year's 47th festival with live music from Los Gatos, catering from local favorites including Seva, Totoro Japanese Restaurant, eat catering & chef services, Morgan & York, Avalon Bread, Schakolad, open bar with beer by Arbor Brewing Company, wine by Sandhill Crane Vineyards, coffee provided by Roos Roast and teas by Arbor Teas. Stylish attire is encouraged. Tickets to this event include admission to the Opening Night Screening.

8PM Screening - Purchase tickets to the Screening only - More info
This Opening Night Screening provides a colorful ride through the realm of independent and art-driven cinema with a selection of short films across all genres. The screening begins following festival director's welcome and opening night remarks.

Freude (Delight) (Thomas Draschan, 3 min) [link]
Micro and macrocosm, sex and religion, old Egypt and the Space age are juxtaposed in this purely cinematic 35mm piece.

Western Spaghetti (PES, 2 min) [link]
Learn how to cook spaghetti with stop-motion maestro PES.

The Control Master (Run Wrake, 7 min) [link]
In peaceful Halftone City, a mysterious heroine and a brave ally face the ultimate threat...

Out of Print (Danny Plotnick, 4 min) [link]
An ode to the counterculture of the 80s and 90s, a time when unearthing quality culture was a real treasure hunt.

Dahlia (Michael Langan, 5 min) [link]
A moving portrait of the bustle and permanence of a city.

Clear Glasses (Sam Green, 4 min) [link]
A pair of glasses, and their strange power as an historical artifact.

P.R. (Bryan Leister, 2 min) [link]
An animated short that examines the rhetoric of the right through the words of a popular religious talk show host.

Cattle Call (Mike Maryniuk & Matthew Rankin, 4 min) [link]
A high-speed animated documentary about the art of livestock auctioneering.

Team Tailban (Benjamin Kegan, 12 min) [link]
A devout Muslim-American and professional wrestler, struggles to find a balance between his faith and his wrestling career.

Steal Homes (Eva Weber, 10 min) [link]
A poetic exploration of memory and loss, ‘Steel Homes’ is a portrait of life at a self-storage warehouse.

Oh Great Now Look What Happened (Tijmen Hauer & Gerbrand Burger, 4 min) [link]
An indefinable feeling of fear and threat is portrayed in a short film that is both melancholy and funny.

I Am So Proud of You (Don Hertzfeldt, 22 min) [link]
Dark family secrets cast a shadow over Bill's recovery, in this second chapter to Don Hertzfeldt's 'Everything will be OK'.