In its sixth year, the Poppy Jasper Film Festival will show 44 short films, five of them movies invited by the festival committee, and host events involving a costume designer and screenwriter from blockbusters like "Men In Black" and "Friday the 13th" over three days, tonight through Sunday.

"We want to expose filmmakers to all aspects to the pieces of filmmaking," founder Jay Jaso said. "It's not just getting a camera. It's the editing, graphics, costume."

This year, the local festival was named one of the top 25 film festivals worth the entry fee by Moviemaker Magazine.

"We've also wanted to create an environment where we're having all this happen right within view of people who attend, the Morgan Hill residents, the audiences, not some enclave off to the side," Jaso said. "(These conversations) happen over lunch, cups of coffee."

Jaso said the two headlining guests, costume designer Mary Vogt and screenplay and soap opera writer Victor Miller, are very open.

"We want to have that kind of interaction," he said. "Basically, we want to touch the audience in a way they might not do otherwise ... We're serving as a bridge between" filmmakers and theatergoers.

Jaso said the festival idea was hatched seven years ago, and founders wanted a film festival that reflected Morgan Hill's style.

"We first thought we wanted to attract stars, scale this whole thing up," he said. "We'd certainly love to have a few thousand people around. But the small environment is just perfect for Morgan Hill."

Jaso said it's been said that if you want to get an autograph, you go to the Sundance Film Festival; but if you want to make a connection, come to Morgan Hill.

"These people want to rub shoulders with the audience, with filmmakers," he said. "They make filmmaking accessible, doable."

Morgan Hill resident Bob Snow, whose nine-minute first film "The Hail Mary" will debut at 1 p.m. today, said he's just looking forward to watching his movie on a big screen.

"You can see all my little mistakes. It'll probably be too big," Snow joked.

Snow, whose filmmaking experience has been in commercials, said making the comedy short about an insurance saleswoman who challenges a bar owner to an arm-wrestling contest was pure fun.

"Hopefully they laugh at the right places," he said.

Four of the five invited films are documentaries, with subjects including a barbershop, a boat race, naming Pluto and a migrant boy and his family. The lone invited drama is about an immigrant mechanic.

Aside from these five invited movies, 39 other movies ranging from comedies to dramas to social commentaries await festivalgoers.

Movies will be screened at CineLux Theaters at Tennant Station and the Community Playhouse, 17090 Monterey Road.

Festival tickets are $60 for all three days, or $10 for a single 90-minute block of films.

For showtimes, visit PoppyJasperFilmFest.org, call 782-8087 or e-mail info@PoppyJasperFilmFest.org. Tickets can be purchased at BookSmart, 80 E. 2nd St.