This year's San Luis Obispo
International Film Festival
Boasts a Cuesta College twist.

Now in its 11th year, the annual event will showcase four short digital videos selected by Fine Arts instructor Peet Cocke. Each three to five minutes in length, the created-on-computer movies were originally a 2004 assignment –
although a few screened may include those from off-campus filmmakers. Screening of the mini-movies – dubbed “The Short Attention Span Festival” – will take place October 30 at 4 p.m. at the Palm Theatre in downtown SLO. Cocke will also moderate the proceedings.

In addition to Cuesta’s input, the Festival has another new focus: showcasing first-run, character driven films from countries including the United Kingdom, Japan, Greece, Korea and Portugal. Two new documentaries will be screened as well – “The Watershed” and “Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea.” The latter two will show October 29, also at the Palm. And for serious film aficionados, the Festival will honor Academy Award winner Eva Marie Saint with the King Vidor Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award on October 23. Saint will accept the award in person at the screening of one of her films, the l962 classic “All Fall Down,” which reunited her with her “On the Waterfront” co-star Karl Malden.

The festival will run two consecutive weekends, October 21 through 24 and October 29 through 31. A pass good for most of the events can be purchased for $20, with individual tickets also available for specific movies. Passes are on sale at Boo Boo Records, the SLO Chamber of Commerce or from the Festival’s website, www.slofilmfest.org. Detailed screening and theatre schedules can also be obtained from the site. For more information, call English instructor Stephen Leone – who is Vice President of the Festival – at ext. 2745, or the Festival hotline at 546-3456.