Hold the Mayo

If star-studded film festivals, like the one that just ended a month ago, are a Thanksgiving feast, then the Lucky Bum Film Tour is a satisfying turkey sandwich for local film enthusiasts hungry for some esoteric cinema. Portland filmmakers Vanessa Renwick and Bill Daniel are bringing their traveling program of shorts, experimental films, and documentaries to Austin's Alternate Current Art Space (2209 S. First) on Saturday, April 27, as part of a national tour -- five weeks, 10 states, 22 shows.

The Austin stop represents something of a homecoming for Daniel, who formerly fronted Funhouse Cinema during its residence at the Ritz on Sixth Street before moving to Portland in January of 2001. One of the main purposes of the Lucky Bum tour, he states, is to "help in developing new venues for touring media makers." The mini-fest turns artists' warehouses and no-frills underground film collectives, places such as Forbidden Gallery in Dallas, Notsuoh in Houston, and the Honey Factory in San Antonio -- along with a high-profile festival premiere at this year's Taos Talking Picture Festival -- into alternative places to experience underground and experimental films.

The tour features such films as "The Girl on the Train in the Moon," Daniel's dual-projector film, audio, and mixed-media investigation of the myths and histories of freight riding and hobo graffiti. There's also Renwick's program "Go, Baby, Go!," a satirical smorgasbord of films covering such diverse topics as the power of poetry in today's society, folk art, hitchhiking, and rodeos. San Francisco filmmaker Bryan Boyce's "State of the Union" rounds out the unconventional program. Tasty treats, all, for cineastes with the munchies for movies that bypass the run-of-the-mill.

Presented by Funhouse Cinema and the Oregon Department of Kick Ass and sponsored by the Austin Film Society, the Lucky Bum Film Tour rolls into the Alternate Current Art Space (2209 S. First) on Saturday, April 27. Tickets are $5 for the event, which kicks off at dusk. For more info, visit www.peripheralproduce.com, or contact the Alternate Current Art Space at 512/443-9674 or Bill Daniel at 503/939-6916.