Vegas Film Fans: More Options for Indie and Home Grown Films to be Seen

The only art theater that Las Vegas has is a fictional one in which "CSI: Las Vegas" staged a murder. While the city has relatively few commercial theaters in which to see independently-produced films, a collection of coffee shops, record stores, cafes, and county libraries are giving Vegas film fans a surprising amount of options for seeing unusual films.

The Super8punk Production Group puts on a wide variety of weekly screenings. On Mondays, "Brew and View" at the New York Cafe on Paradise Road, "Chez Bippy Presents...B-Movie Night" on Thursday at Cafe Roma on Maryland, and Friday nights has "Revolutionary Action Program Movie Night" at Balcony Lights on Maryland. The group also is looking to expand its offerings, with its inclusion in the Athens, GA-originated Flicker film group. Flicker offers film events in Austin, New Orleans, New York City, Los Angeles, and now, potentially, Vegas. From the Super8Punks mailing list, October 29...

"I talked to the Las Vegas Mercury and told them about how we are starting a Las Vegas Chapter of Flicker, they said we can have our own theater at the Mercury Film Festival in May of 2004 to show our films. We have until February to submit our work... "

The Clark County Library also provides an alternative source of films and themed screenings, all posted on their events calendar. Previous programs have included "The Collective... A Series of Films by Spike Lee," "W.O.W. (World of the Women) Cinema," and "Switch Hitters Film Series." November's offerings include Evil Dead Trap (1988), Freeze Me (2000), and Visitor Q (2000) from the Japanese Shockers! Film Series, as well as other movies. The calendar includes all screening times and venue locations.