Photo courtesy of Rain Town Pictures A still from one in a series of shorts by filmmaker Bill Kersey. Kersey's films will be shown at the Reel Inspiring Film Festival.

Tucson will host what is possibly the nation's first inspirational short film screening this week. The screening will showcase work by many UA student filmmakers.

The Reel Inspiring Film Contest screening will be held Saturday at the Muse Community Art Center, 516 N. Fifth Ave. The 13 short films, which run five minutes or less and depict the good in the world, sidestep a spiritual category because of their variety of comedy, romance and social impact natures.

Three years after the most infamous terrorist attacks on American soil, the president of Tucson's Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, Jana Segal, will spearhead the cinematic event.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a movie with heroes- with everyday heroes in it," said Segal about reasons for sponsoring the contest. "It's to inspire (filmmakers) to look at the good in the world for a change."

Segal said she got the idea in part from the success of the first Three-Minute Thriller contest screened at The Loft last Halloween.

Segal said she hoped the Inspiring Film Contest would be just as competitive as the Three-Minute Thriller contest, but found it was a little harder to get going.

"I went to a mixer and I was all excited because I had all my applications for the Reel Inspiring Film Contest," Segal said. "We thought, 'This is great. We're going to get to a hundred filmmakers,' but everyone I talked to that night was doing horror movies, 'cause that's the way to break into Hollywood.'"

Segal said the mixer encouraged at least one UA student to go away enthused about the idea of an inspirational film. Segal said UA staff member Derek Griffith wound up making two shorts for the contest.

"I think that films have a big impact on the way people think," said Segal. "It really does affect your consciousness."

She added that the inspiration contest is a way of sending a dollar message to Hollywood that people want movies with substance, not just ones made for teenage boys.

Some of the contest's entries have provided the substance of which Segal spoke and others have taken notice too.

"Garpenfargle," by media arts seniors Edward Kim and Bill Kersey, was a regional finalist at the Student Academy Awards this year and will be screened at the Muse on Saturday.

"Garpenfargle" follows a small, curious dog while he's left alone in an apartment after his master leaves during the day. The humorous and endearing tale survives almost without voices and instead conveys emotion through odd music.

Kersey said students often make the mistake of not treating their assignments like professional projects.

"Solace" was filmed as part of Kersey's portfolio for the media arts bachelor's program. The film uses digital stills rather than full-motion video to relate a somber story set to a classic guitar performance.

Kersey said he was fortunate enough that the material he wanted to work on worked really well in the digital stills form.

"Even though it's only still photographs, audiences have responded to it and connected with it emotionally," he said.

The opening shot of "Solace" is a tableau black and white photo containing a guitar, a stool, and a microphone stand. The short uses 80 photos in three minutes and 36 seconds to convey its plot.

The short retells the story of a son's untimely death and his father's way of dealing with the passing. Kersey is a friend of the man who plays himself as the surviving father in the film.

"We did this in the month leading up to the 10th anniversary of his son's death, so it was much more a personal project than something that was done for school or trying to get into festivals or things like that," said Kersey. "It was really a personal gesture."

Kersey said the man agreed right away to do the film when Kersey suggested it to him over lunch.

"He's been one of the people that's been the most encouraging about what I want to do, my plans to go into film," explained Kersey. "So it's kind of ironic that one of the first things I do which turns out to be a pretty successful project and get seen by people, is his story."

Touching and compelling with its guitar crescendos and melodic accompaniment, the film establishes both sorrow and hope in a relatively short amount of time. Kersey, who is a guitarist, laid down the soundtrack for the piece himself.

'The music is one of the first things that came together in this," said Kersey of the film.

Both "Garpenfargle" and "Solace" have been screened around the country and have even made their way into Canadian film festivals.

Justin Bijan Mashoun, media arts sophomore, filmed a documentary on the morning Muslim prayer.

"With this film," said Mashoun, "I hope to clear up a lot of the misconceptions that people have about the religion of Islam and clear up a lot of things people have questions about in a fair manner, coming from a Muslim filmmaker."

Mashoun was raised Muslim. He filmed at the Islamic Center during small group meetings and congregational prayers. Though Mashoun has yet to show the film to a non-Muslim audience, he is happy with how it turned out. He feels it encourages Muslims to follow their practices and study their religion further.

The three-hour screening will begin at 4 p.m. and will include some longer documentaries not entered into the contest, such as an episode of a PBS series "Global Tribe" and "FDNY Dream Bike: Honoring a Fallen Hero", the last being made by Tucson filmmakers.

There will also be a filmmaker's mixer at Maloney's, 213 N. Fourth Ave., following the screening, from 7:15-9:15 p.m.