Rick Pukis, an associate professor of communications at Augusta State University and organizer of the Film Attack! short film festival, which will screen Friday at Sky City, believes big ideas can be communicated in short films.

Mr. Pukis has assembled 11 films produced by former and current students and will show one of his own pieces. Though they are diverse in subject and style, Mr. Pukis said there is a common thread through the evening's dozen films.

"There's a sense of the phantasmagorical in all of these," he said. "All of these filmmakers are dealing with the illusions and images in their heads. Sometimes movies are like dreams and in this case, it's a good way of rounding up all these films."

The pieces include Red , a cinematic deconstruction of superhero lore and the kinetic nature of action cinema; Jack the Vomiter , shot in the classic silent style and inspired by the legend of Jack the Ripper; and If Hitler Was a Kitten , an animated music video featuring local band Beara.

Paul Moore, Hitler 's director, said working in the medium of found footage animation proved difficult and inspiring. His film, which combines live footage of the band with altered images of Hitler and, well, kittens, harkens back to early Terry Gilliam Monty Python animations.

He said he gained great respect for animators who came before, and for the process of taking something old and making it new.

"They say a good artist borrows and a great artist steals," he said. "The secret is, you have to make it your own."

Tristan Nall has two films in the festival. One is an interpretation of the poem Le Petit Dejeuner Matin , filmed in Paris, and the other is Red . He said finding an event such as Film Attack! to screen his films is exciting, and a little frightening.

"That's the best part, and maybe the worst, depending on the reaction," he said. "I am anxious. But I like that you can mingle, you can see what people are saying. I mean, you are making art when you make a movie, but you are also making something that you want people to respond to and talk about."

Mr. Pukis said small festivals work because they offer short, sharp bursts of creativity, movies easily ingested and enjoyed or rejected.

"I think there is something for everyone here," he said. "There will be folks that love some of the films and don't like some others. But they'll talk about them, and that's what is important."