Lose Your Mind

A sock monkey and a giant Easter bunny star in this year's Brainwash Movie Festival: the sock monkey as a bus commuter in Danny Plotnick's I, Socky, and the bunny as a mall-bound Christmas Eve insurrectionist in the Ape Do Good Productions piece Master Plan. The festival, now in its fifth year, has grown considerably since Poetry Film Workshop veteran Dave Krzysik solicited short films for a TV pilot and was swamped with submissions from filmmakers all over the world. Gone are the days when Krzysik and his Cacophony Society cohorts screened films in abandoned drive-ins and on the sides of buildings and buses; Brainwash has moved to the relatively plush confines of the Werepad, the city's self-proclaimed whitesploitation movie palace.

As at past events, the 25 films included in this year's festival vary widely in style, content, and technical refinement. Beyond the basic entrance requirements -- films must be original and less than 13 minutes long, and home movies don't count -- anything goes, be it a performance video or a made-for-TV creation. Many of the filmmakers are local, which their subjects reflect (Hope E. Hall and Gabriel Rhodes' Lilli Ann zooms in on the destruction of the Mission's Lilli Ann mural), but international filmmakers like the Czech Republic's Robert Ellman (whose Tennis Match also plays this week's Nomad VideoFilm Festival at Venue 9) participated as well. Screenings begin at 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Werepad, 2430 Third St. (at 20th Street), S.F. Admission is $20; call 824-7334.

-- Heather Wisner