Las Vegas Film Festival Schedule

The third annual Las Vegas International Film Festival takes place Friday through Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton, 3000 Paradise Road. Screenings will be in the Hilton and Shimmer theaters. Individual screening tickets are $8; tickets for the short film blocks, filmmaker panel and parties are $10. Passes range from $25 for a five-film minipass and $50 for a single-day pass to $100 for a VIP pass (priority admittance to all screenings, panels, parties, special events and award ceremonies).

Tickets are available online at www.lvfilmfest.com.

The complete festival schedule:

FRIDAY

7 p.m., "Holy Rollers" (Hilton Theater): This fact-based coming-of-age drama, which premiered at this year's Sundance film festival, focuses on a young Hasidic Jew (Jesse Eisenberg) who's recruited as a drug mule to smuggle Ecstasy from Europe to the United States.

9:30 p.m.: Opening Night Filmmaker and VIP Party (Artisan, 1501 W. Sahara Ave.)

SATURDAY

Noon, UNLV Short Film Block (Hilton Theater): A collection of short films by student filmmakers from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

12:40 p.m., "Somewhere Near Tapachula" (Shimmer Theater): This Australian documentary, an official selection at 2010 Mountainfilm in Telluride, focuses on volunteers Pam and Alan Skuse, who have spent a decade at the Mission Mexico children's refuge in southern Mexico, where they introduced surfing to the more than 54 children in their care.

2 p.m., "Bicycle Dreams" (Hilton Theater): This documentary, an award-winner at eight international film festivals, follows the seekers, madmen and angels hellbent on riding across America -- on bicycles -- in less than 10 days, pushing their bodies to the limit during a daunting 3,000-mile odyssey that leads from tragedy to triumph.

2 p.m., Short Film Block One (Shimmer Theater): Five documentaries from the United States and Canada, including the award-winning animated mock documentary "Skylight," the documentary "iBelieve in India" and the romantic "Stealing Second," an official selection of 2009's Cannes Short Film Corner.

3:25 p.m., "Once Fallen" (Shimmer Theater): Before he can move on, Chance Ryan (Brian Presley) must deal with (among others) the gambler he owes (Peter Weller), the aunt who raised him (Amy Madigan), his new girlfriend (Taraji P. Henson), the son he didn't know he had, the cop who won't let him go (writer-director Ash Adams) -- and his father (Ed Harris), who, in a moment of violence two decades earlier, changed their lives forever.

4 p.m., "The Quantum Tamers: Revealing Our Weird and Wired Future" (Hilton Theater): Featuring renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, this documentary ranges from the sewers of Vienna to cutting-edge computing labs, bringing together more than a dozen of the world's brightest minds to explore the hows and whys of a new era of quantum technologies.

5:10 p.m., Short Film Block Two (Hilton Theater): Seven shorts from around the world, including the world premiere of Britain's "The Long, Lonely Walk," the award-winning "The Vaudevillian" (about a ventriloquist and his dummy) and "Half Kenneth" (about a Japanese-American teen imprisoned in the Manzanar War Relocation Camp during World War II), plus film festival favorites from New Zealand and Italy.

7 p.m., "Unrivaled" (Hilton Theater): When the Extreme Cage Fighting league announces a competition for the Best Undiscovered Fighter, amateur Ringo Duran -- mired in dead-end jobs at a meatpacking plant and a strip club -- takes on the challenge of becoming a professional fighter.

9:30 p.m., Saturday Night Pool Party (Simon at Palms Place, 4381 W. Flamingo Road)

SUNDAY

10:30 a.m., "Stripped" (Hilton Theater): A no-holds barred documentary look at the lives of the bizarre denizens who call Sin City home, focuses on locals -- stripped of all clothing and society's judgments -- who discover an even playing field of beauty, humanity and, ultimately, self-love. (Contains full nudity; for mature audiences only.)

11 a.m., "Addicted in Afghanistan" (Shimmer Theater): This award-winning documentary from the Netherlands explores two of the estimated million Afghans addicted to heroin and other drugs: Jabar and Zahir, two 15-year-old addicts living in Kabul.

Noon, College of Southern Nevada Film Block (Hilton Theater): A collection of short films by student filmmakers from the College of Southern Nevada.

12:35 p.m., Filmmaker Panel (Shimmer Theater): Festival filmmakers discuss their work -- and their challenges.

1:30 p.m., "In My Sleep" (Hilton Theater): Philip Winchester and Lacey Chabert star in this psychological thriller about a man who believes he may have murdered a good friend while sleepwalking.

1:40 p.m., Short Film Block Three (Shimmer Theater): Four shorts from the United States, Spain and Lebanon, including "Nourishing the Kids of Katrina," an official selection at this year's Cannes film festival, about renowned chef/educator Alice Waters' "edible schoolyard" program at a Hurricane Katrina-ravaged grammar school.

3:10 p.m., "Ashley's Ashes" (Shimmer Theater): A man who inherits an urn containing the title remains learns to live his life again -- by discovering Ashley's life and friends -- in a festival award-winner featuring (among others) Daniel Baldwin, Orson Bean, Christian Clemenson and Craig Sheffer.

3:30 p.m., "Godspeed" (Hilton Theater): Winner of a special jury award at last year's CineVegas film festival, this dramatic thriller returns to Las Vegas with a tale of a modern-day faith healer, living hand-to-mouth, haunted by his family's mysterious murder.

5:20 p.m., "My Run" (Shimmer Theater): Billy Bob Thornton narrates this inspirational, award-winning documentary about a widower, driven by the experience of raising three children after losing his wife to breast cancer, determined to accomplish the impossible: run 75 consecutive marathons in 75 consecutive days.

5:30 p.m., Short Film Block Four (Hilton Theater): Six shorts from the United States, Canada and Israel, ranging from animation to documentary, including Oren Lavie's 2010 Grammy nominated music video for "Her Morning Elegance" and "Fighter Pilot," originally shown in IMAX theaters, that follows the title character through Nellis Air Force Base's air-combat training event Red Flag.

7 p.m., "Sin Ella" (Hilton Theater): In this Mexican drama, an overworked TV producer with little time for his kids struggles to come to terms with his ex-wife's death.

9:10 p.m., Closing Night Award Ceremony (Hilton Theater)