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Local moviemakers to take center stage during annual event

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Young local filmmakers are excited about getting their first big break at this year's CineVegas Film Festival.

The eighth annual CineVegas, tagged with the motto of being "The world's most dangerous film festival," will begin Friday and run through June 17 at the Palms.

Jason Leinwand, 26, and Danny Lairamore, 23, are looking forward to the possible recognition that screening their films at the festival may bring them, and being part of the blossoming film festival and community. Both Leinwand and Lairamore's films will be shown in the Nevada Filmmaking Shorts category.

Meanwhile, North Las Vegas resident Josh Meeter's short film "Synthetica" also will be an entry in the 2006 CineVegas Film Festival.

Originally shot in November for UNLV's 48-hour film festival by Meeter as director, along with writer and actor Jason Tillmon and editor and actor Nicholas Anapolsky, the science fiction piece now showcases an enhanced element that has become central to the piece -- ambience.

"The atmosphere really made the movie -- I wanted (the plot) to sort of stay ambiguous, so it was more about the atmosphere," Tillmon said.

Meeter, Tillmon and Anapolsky, who call their production company MeeterVision Entertainment, spent a few weeks in late January and early February re-working the film, and it was accepted in CineVegas' Nevada Filmmaking Shorts category.

After UNLV's film festival, Meeter, Tillmon and Anapolsky decided to make some changes to "Synthetica," and enter the film in CineVegas.

For the UNLV contest, each group of filmmakers was given a set of guidelines. "They gave us the character of a pet shop owner, the genre of science fiction and a line of dialogue from "Dr. Strangelove" -- 'There's no fighting in here. This is the war room,' -- and a prop, which was a deck of cards," Meeter said.

The deck of cards ended up merely sitting on a table in the film, but the rest of the interpretation changed slightly from the original guidelines.

"Nick's character is a scientist, and he's putting together some kind of synthetic beings, creatures," Meeter said. "We sort of decided not to go with the pet shop angle from the beginning. We went into a pet shop and looked around, and it just wasn't there."

Rather than focus on the exact type of creatures that Anapolsky's scientist character creates, Meeter said the trio decided to make atmosphere the film's emphasis.

Leinwand's film "Wrestling with the Past" is about how a man deals with his lingering memories of being beleaguered by his high school wrestling coach.

"It's about a guy who was really tormented by his wrestling coach in high school," Leinwand said. "And now it's 10 years later and he goes to find him. It's an offbeat dark comedy."

Leinwand, originally from New Jersey, has been living in Las Vegas on and off since 1996. He is currently acting in "The Sopranos' Last Supper," an interactive dinner theater production in the Krave Theater in Desert Passage at the Aladdin six nights a week.

"It's different and I've acted before, and it's really nice to get a paycheck every week," he said with a hesitant laugh. "But I've known since high school what I wanted to do. And I went to The Meadows School and my musical theater teacher and Mrs. Goodman, the mayor's wife, let me shoot and introduced me to a producer that I'm still in contact with today. I was lucky that way."

Lairamore's film "The Business of Being Monti Rock" is a documentary on the renowned Monti Rock III, known for many endeavors, including his approximately 80 appearances on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, his cameo appearances in films, including "Saturday Night Fever," his disco hits in the 1970s and his short-lived shows in town over the years.

Rock, currently a columnist for Gaming Today, and Lairamore, who grew up in the valley, share the same level of enthusiasm for the short film.

"The film began as a thesis project in college," Lairamore said. "But Monti is a family friend and I've always been fascinated with his story, and I'm actually still in the process of filming. I was really surprised that we got it in as a short, but it will be a feature-length documentary. It's just not finished yet. I'm hoping to have it done by the time of the festival next year."

Rock said he is excited about the opportunities the festival creates for young filmmakers.

"What the festival is really about is the young filmmakers. It gives them a chance," Rock said. "If I can do something for younger people, I'll do it. I'd like to pass on the torch of the knowledge of the camera that I know so well, and I'm doing that."

Rock said he and his persona are somewhat of an enigma, and that could have made Lairamore's work more difficult, but he opened up and expressed his true feelings and self in the documentary. And he said he expresses his "key to life, and that's to pursue your passion and to be grateful for the opportunities that are given to you."

"I don't have any talent, but I have passion and an ego larger than my career ever was, and that's how I've made it," Rock said, grinning.

And so the festival allows a chance for the lesser known names to make a lasting impression, something Leinwand and Lairamore said they are looking forward to.

"It's a great opportunity," Leinwand said. "I think it's a lot of fun and it seems like Las Vegas has embraced the festival wholeheartedly."

Lairamore shared the sentiment.

"I'm ecstatic to be part of CineVegas. This is my first film to be exhibited. And my general impression is that (CineVegas) is very accommodating to young filmmakers," Lairamore said. "I'm personally very excited that we're drawing local talent. Las Vegas has so much potential that it's almost a prototype city with a flourishing community, but yet nothing makes sense about the city. I'd like to explore the rich mythology built up around the city in the future."

Both "The Business of Being Monti Rock" and "Wrestling with the Past" will show in the Nevada Filmmaking Shorts program, which will be featured at 3 p.m. June 14 and 15. Film passes for the program are $10.

Passes that include multiple films and parties range in price from $50, with valid student identification, to $500, depending on which days, films and parties participants plan to attend.

For more information on CineVegas, visit www.cinevegas.com or call 992-7979.