The 5th annual ATA Film & Video Festival in San Francisco is just a brief two-night affair, but is packed with more experimental and avant-garde filmmaking power than can be imagined. The fest explodes this year on Oct. 21-22.

Once again, the fest is a heady mix of local Bay Area favorites with filmmakers from all over the world. As for the locals, Paul Clipson will screen his newest, most epic work, Union; along with new animated weirdness from Kathleen Quillian; work by political mixologist Bryan Boyce; and an astounding Film/Video hybrid by Kerry Laitala made in Chromadepth. (In case you were worried, Chromadepth glasses will be provided.)

Other films come from nearby locations, such as Sam Barnett and Vera Brunner-Sung of Los Angeles; and Jeff Guay and Karl Lind of Portland. But others come from such far-flung places, such as The Netherland’s Maite Abella and Brooklyn’s Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman.

In addition to the 17 short films that will be screening over both nights, there are also two installations that will run throughout the fest: Sam Manera’s THE ?? BOX aka. The Multiplicity of Perception and Shalo P’s Liquid Light. Plus, the front windows of the ATA Center will have films playing all month long every night by Patrick Bergeron, Charles Fairbanks, Cecilie Bjørgås Jordheim, Zach Iannazzi, Nightmare City, Ben Popp, Kenny Reed, Nancy Jean Tucker and Maarit Suomi-Väänänen.

The full lineup of short films screening at the festival is below, but if you want more info — including brief interviews with each filmmaker about their work — please visit the official ATA Film & Video Festival website.

Oct. 21

8:00 p.m.: “Human <-> Nature”
Union, dir. Paul Clipson
Reduction, dir. Sam Barnett
Chicago Corner, dir. Bill Brown (Watch online)
Found: Nothing Missing, dir. Patricia McInroy
All That Sheltering Emptiness, dir. Gina Carducci & Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Untitled (Perlman Pl.), dir. Vera Brunner-Sung
Disconnected, dir. Karl Lind
Who’s Afraid, dir. John Palmer
Oh, How Sad, dir. Maite Abella

Oct. 22

8:00 p.m.: “Lo-Fi Future”
Wasteland, dir. Kathleen Quillian
Fun’s Over, dir. Whitney Horn & Lev Kalman
way fare, dir. Sylvia Schedelbauer
Principia, dir. Jeff Guay
A Time Shared Unlimited, dir. Zachary Epcar
2005 Census, dir. Bryan Boyce
Somewhere Only We Know, dir. Jesse McLean
Afterimage: The Flicker of Life, dir. Kerry Laitala