One-night showcase at Varsity Theatre to feature 13 short films ahead of festival’s 25th annual festival in April

By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news

Ashland Independent Film Festival (AIFF) will showcase independent, local films for one night only at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Varsity Theatre to celebrate local filmmakers. 

Saturday’s Local Lens Spotlight will feature 13 films — narrative, documentary and experimental shorts — that are about 15 minutes or less. The program, featuring filmmakers residing in Jackson and Siskiyou counties, runs approximately 2 hours long with a brief intermission. 

“We see it as a celebration of the creativity swirling around us here all the time in Ashland,” said Director of Programming Aura Johnson. “We truly have a wealth of local creativity here; the talent runs the gamut of everything from silly to dramatic to horror to animation.”

She mentioned that MovieMaker Magazine recognized Ashland as one of the best small towns to live and work as a filmmaker a dozen times, as reported earlier by Ashland.news.

AIFF revived the spotlight event this year to showcase local filmmakers before its 25th annual festival in April, rather than during, due to limited screen times and venue availability — a struggle since the pandemic, as Ashland.news previously reported and according to Johnson.

There will be representatives, including filmmakers and crew, from most of the films for a Q&A after the showing. 

“We wanted to encourage all of those makers to keep making things, to keep exploring and keep telling stories,” Johnson continued in a phone call with Ashland.news. “I hope they take away this sense of empowerment; this idea that anybody can be creative, even if they’ve just got a phone, a piece of paper or some crayons. The arts are more important right now than ever. We need joy, and there’s joy in making.”

The program, however, can’t include every submitted film. 

“That’s the heartbreaking part of it,” she said. “We can’t say ‘yes’ to everybody. I just wish everybody would not feel discouraged if their film doesn’t make it in. It’s really a lack of time and resources; we tried to pack in as much as we could.” She hopes AIFF can highlight even more local creatives in the future. 

The community judges — Southern Oregon University Dean of the School of Arts and Communication Andrew Gay and local artist, filmmaker and AIFF Operations Manager Aubry Hollingshead — watched and scored the films with an AIFF team, Johnson explained. The highest-scored films, announced after the showing on Saturday, will be featured in the main film festival in April. 

The 25th annual AIFF film festival will run from April 23 to 26.

“We’re really excited to be celebrating 25 years, and it’s going to be a big blitz of a program,” Johnson said. “I’m hoping everybody marks their calendars and watches movies all day for four days.” 

Tickets for the Local Lens Spotlight on Feb. 21 are still available for a reduced price of $8 each (excluding a $1.43 fee).

AIFF 2026 Local Spotlight Lineup

• “100 Paper Stars” directed by Jeanne Renaux; total run time: 5:20

• “Inspired Art: Seasons at Vesper Meadow” directed by Megan Carroll and Sarah F. Burns; total run time: 9:00

• “Finite” directed by Logan Matthew James; total run time: 5:25

• “Shining a Light on Ashland Children’s Theatre” directed by Kristin Williams; total run time: 8:25

• “Cowgirl” directed by Coral Bren Worley; total run time: 12:00

• “Carpet Blue” directed by Nouel Riel; total run time: 14:49

• “Undoer” directed by Andrew Lyon and Caleb Fargason; total run time: 6:26

• “No Name Pond” directed by Violet Crabtree and Philip Kumsar; total run time: 4:00

• (15-minute intermission)

• “The Man Who Stayed” directed by Hannes Schäffer; total run time: 12:10

• “Just Stories” directed by Elan Chardin Gombart; total run time: 1:37

• Flo scene from “The Eve of May” directed by Ray Nomoto Robison; total run time: 7:35

• “Let The Myth Be” directed by Carrington Walsh; total run time: 15:41

• “An Extraordinary Year” directed by Gary Lundgren, total run time: 19:00

Email Ashland.news reporter Sydney Seymour at sydneyseymourr@gmail.com.

Related stories 

‘A win for the whole region’: Ashland named top-10 small town for filmmakers for the 12th time (Feb. 5, 2026)

AIFF adds second screening for sold-out Indigenous film showcase (Nov. 14, 2025)

Ashland Independent Film Festival names Aura Johnson programming director (Sept. 8, 2025)

Ashland Independent Film Festival roars back, sets sights on a milestone anniversary (May 2, 2025)

Ashland Independent Film Festival returns to the Varsity with a full lineup, April 24-27 (April 5, 2025) 

A MovieMaker fav: Lights, camera, Ashland! (Feb. 4, 2025)

Ashland Independent Film Festival Executive Director: ‘This is a whole new effort’ (Dec. 22, 2023)

 AIFF to partner with Ashland film enthusiast to offer ‘mini film festival’ (Jan. 31, 2023)