The annual Academy Awards have a category for "Best Short Subject," but despite the popularity of the surrounding broadcast, the category generally leaves viewers mystified or compelled to leave the room to refill their beverages. Last year's nominees wer e "Brooms," "Duke of Groove," "Lieberman in Love," "Little Surprises," and "Tuesday Morning Ride."

Any of them sound familiar? Probably not - the average moviegoer has a better chance of meeting a filmmaker than viewing a short film produced by one.

However, there are thousands of short films produced around the world every year and they're typically much more creative than the multi-million dollar behemoths produced by Hollywood. The makers of these truly independent movies are experimental artists, under-funded visionaries, and determined students.

So how about kicking back and enjoying a few? They may not be exhibited at the multiplex this year, but they will be shown on campus this evening.

The UA Department of Media Arts is sponsoring the University Film and Video Association's (UFVA) Student Film & Video Festival. The festival, a traveling collection of short films made by college students from around the world, will be held at Modern Lang uages Auditorium (MLB 350) at 7:30 p.m. and admission is free.

The UFVA Student Film & Video Festival is in its fourth year of exhibition, and the Department of Media Arts invited the festival to the UA campus.

"It's the biggest student film and video festival on earth," says Media Arts Professor Beverly Seckinger, who is heading up the event. "We wanted our students to see good student films and the public to enjoy them as well."

Another defining quality of the festival is that it tours, offering 34 films from an initial tally of 660 films from 200 schools. A panel of professionals, including producer Tom Kalin ("I Shot Andy Warhol"), animator Bill Littlejohn (the "Charlie Brown" specials), and documentary filmmaker Les Blank ("Burden of Dreams") served as judges.

The eight prize-winners represent seven different film schools: New York University, San Francisco State University, University of California Los Angeles, Florida State University, Tel-Aviv University (Israel), Victoria College of the Arts (Australia), an d the University of Texas in Austin.

The winners include the grotesque throwaway "Bowl of OatMeal," about a do-nothing recluse and his verbally abusive bowl of oatmeal murmuring in echoey calm. The film stresses acute angles and the disturbing sounds of gurgling pipes and food slurping in an attempt to create an atmosphere of psychological rot much like David Lynch's "Eraserhead" did 20 years ago.

Individual responses to the films are sure to vary, but some of the winners seem obviously inferior to others. "Generic Metal Titan" is a technically laudable but silly effort to lift standard high school trials with authority and peer pressure to an arth ouse level, and "The Pit" is a loud and ultimately trite experimental film that intercuts scenes in a slam dance club with surreal images of teen angst and the proverbial skeletons in the closet.

However, "first love second planet" cuts to the soul with its imaginary picnic on a desolate world conceived by a troubled woman during the act of sex. She envisions her lover encased in a spacesuit isolated from her advancements, and the imagery is evoca tive and thought-provoking.

"Jesus of Judson" is another fine entry that confidently investigates the relationship of a troubled 20-year-old army brat and his pre-teen neighborhood friends.

The enjoyable aspect of festivals like this is that short films, bereft of Hollywood statistics and businessmen, seem freer and more personal because of their shoestring budgets. While many of the films are technically impressive, the reigning emphasis is on concepts and ideas rather than slickness and mass appeal. The films move quickly and tonight's festival offers a provocative series of vignettes of the dreams and thoughts from students around the globe.

For more information about the UFVA Student Film & Video Festival, contact the Department of Media Arts at 621-7352 in Harvill room 226. Visit the festival's website at http://thunder.ocis.temple.edu/~ddoy on.

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