When the organizers of HCFNMPF issued their call for submissions — short films, any style, 10 minutes max, on VHS tape in SP mode — several weeks ago, they included their post office box number, then sat back and waited for the goods to arrive.

        And they waited. And waited. And finally they had a little chat with the local postal authorities and found out that, through some nightmarish mishap, items arriving for that particular box number had been returned to senders. Lots of them.

        Yikes.

        So now the Happy Catchy guys are urging (well, begging) submitters to re-submit their submissions, or for non-submitters to get their short films in the mail right quick.

        They have a new address — 3445 Vine St., Cincinnati 45220 — and a new deadline — April 25. Online, they can still be found at home.fuse.net/happycatchy or by e-mail to happycatchy@hotmail.com.

        The showcase is May 12 at the Southgate House, 24 E. Third St., Newport.

        Local debut: Delhi native Paul Geiger achieved his dream of writing and directing his first feature in 1998 when he filmed April's Fool in Greater Cincinnati with a predominantly local cast and crew.

        It took longer than he expected to place the movie in a local theater, but ticket-buyers will at last get a chance to see the dark comedy, about an out-of-work accountant with a gambling problem, when it opens March 30 for at least one week at the Esquire Theatre, 320 Ludlow Ave., Clifton.

        Producers Matt Hader and Mark Turner are hoping to arrange a special premiere on March 29. Meanwhile, find production photos and behind-the-scenes information at www.aprilsfool.net.

        Cinerama fan: Cinerama preservationist John Harvey, who tore out walls and ceilings in his Dayton home so he could show samples of the historic three-projector, wide-screen films to friends, is featured in the April edition of Vanity Fair. Writer Bruce Handy recounts the efforts of Mr. Harvey and fellow aficionado Larry Smith to show Cinerama films at Dayton's Neon Movies and more recently at the newly restored Seattle Cinerama Theater.

        The writer notes that the Capitol Theater in Cincinnati gave Mr. Harvey — who, the article says, “would look a little bit like Walt Disney if Walt Disney had dressed like a shop teacher” — his first taste of Cinerama.

        Filmmaker conference: Time is short to sign up for the Midwest Independent Filmmakers Conference March 23-25 at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel. The schedule offers wall-to-wall workshops and panels on such practical matters as dealing with unions, raising money, staging safe stunts and getting the most out of low-budget equipment.

        Film screenings are on tap, too, because the conference overlaps the closing weekend of the Cleveland International Film Festival, which opened Thursday.

        Registration is $95-$150 and can be completed by phone; call (216) 623-3456, Ext. 16.

        Good for the resume: Glen Este High School alumna Jaime Meyers, about to graduate from Wright State University, scored a plus for the resume she will take when she moves on to New York or Los Angeles — she hasn't decided which one yet — to pursue a film career. She recently won the Directors Choice award in the Thomas A. Edison Black Maria Film & Video Festival. She wrote and directed the short film Worn Down, now part of the New Jersey-based Black Maria traveling fest. It also screened at the Big Lens Film Festival of WSU student films and the Ohio Independent Film Festival.
        Contact Margaret A. McGurk at 768-8517; fax: 768-8330; e-mail mmcgurk@enquirer.com. Cincinnati.com keyword: McGurk.

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