It’s been more than five years since the last edition of the Las Vegas Film Festival, and more than 16 years since the last full edition of CineVegas, but the lack of a large-scale general-interest film festival hasn’t held the local scene back. Long-running events like the Dam Short Film Festival and the Nevada Women’s Film Festival continue to thrive, and within the span of several weeks this fall, three smaller festivals are making their mark on the Vegas film community.
The newest of these offerings is the Desert Waves Film Festival, which hosts its second edition on Oct. 11 at Downtown Cinemas. Founder and president Alicia Borja moved to Las Vegas in 2018 and was inspired by her experiences at Dam Short Film Festival and Nevada Women’s Film Festival to start her own event, with a focus on local filmmaking. “After meeting more people in town in the industry and helping people with their film festivals, I was like, you know what, I’m going to do it,” she says. “Why not? I’m going to have all the delulu and audacity.”
That level of ambition has served Borja well, and this year the Desert Waves Film Festival features the acclaimed pop-culture documentary Chasing Chasing Amy, from filmmaker and recent Vegas transplant Sav Rodgers, along with a lineup of shorts and a challenge that tasks teams with creating an entire short film in 48 hours. Over half the shorts at this year’s Desert Waves Film Festival are from locals, and Borja remains committed to uplifting her fellow Vegas filmmakers: “If it’s possibly down to the wire between a local film and a film from outside of Vegas, will there be a little more consideration for the Vegas film? Yes.”
The Las Vegas Filipino Short Film Festival has been around just a year longer than Desert Waves, but it’s already grown significantly, from a single-day program in a hotel ballroom to a three-day event (Oct. 24-26) at Galaxy Theaters in the Boulevard Mall. After meeting through a mutual friend, executive director Margie Gonzales and program director Shawn Rosen teamed up to celebrate their love of film and offer an opportunity to underserved creators. “We have a big Filipino community here in Vegas, and a lot of them are filmmakers,” Rosen says. “I think we saw that they didn’t really have an outlet here.”
“I specifically really wanted it to be Filipino,” Gonzales says, describing the festival plan. The community has responded in a big way, and last year Rosen flew to Manila for a separate awards ceremony for festival winners based there. “I think we had almost as many people there as we did in Vegas when we held it,” he says.
This year’s edition features a short film by members of the Jabbawockeez, among other selections culled from an increasing pool of submissions. The event also takes place right after the official unveiling of Las Vegas’ Filipino Town cultural district, which encompasses the theater itself. “We have the perfect location for the festival,” Gonzales says.
Compared to those other two festivals, Sin City Horror Fest is practically a Vegas institution, although the event that began in 2017 took 2024 off, with four of the five co-founders moving on. But remaining cofounder and festival director Mike Lenzini wasn’t willing to see Sin City Horror Fest go the way of so many other Vegas film festivals, and he recruited Dam Short Film Festival alum Hava Brown as director of events to bring the festival back this year at Brenden Theatres at the Palms. “The whole thing was always a labor of love,” he says. “I always planned on coming back. I just couldn’t let it go.”
Lenzini, too, sees local filmmakers as a key part of his festival, and this year’s Horror Fest includes a double feature of new movies from hometown hero Brandon Christensen, who’s become a staple of the indie horror scene. Christensen no longer lives in Vegas, but he’ll be back in town for the screenings of his feature films Night of the Reaper and Bodycam.
Sin City Horror Fest is also showcasing locals in its shorts program, devoting its final day to work from local filmmakers. “I don’t remember a year when we’ve had nearly as many local films,” Lenzini says. “We love the people that come out, and we always have. And that’s why I can’t ever get away from it.”
All three festivals are looking to grow, expand, and take their place alongside veteran film events in the Vegas landscape. “I see us as being the South by Southwest of Vegas,” Borja says, referring to Desert Waves Film Festival. Rosen says she hopes Las Vegas Filipino Short Film Festival can “possibly become the Sundance of Philippine cinema here in the United States.”
Lenzini, whose festival will be holding a reception in the Brenden Celebrity Suite — a staple of CineVegas parties — envisions the possibility of a return to those high-profile film festival days. “If it’s run by the right people and for the right reasons, I think we could have something special like that back,” he says. In the meantime, festivals like the three taking place this season are capably carrying the mantle.
Desert Waves Film Festival. October 11, Downtown Cinemas, $10-$30 per screening, $60-$100 festival pass. desertwavesfilmfest.com
Las Vegas Filipino Short Film Festival. October 24-26, Galaxy Theatres at the Boulevard Mall. $25 festival pass. lvshortfilm.com
Sin City Horror Fest. November 7-9, Brenden Theatres at the Palms. $50-$80 festival pass. sincityhorrorfest.com
