It is assumed that independent film is an inexpensive art form. All that one needs to do nowadays is to have a digital camera, a vision, and to spend some of that quality time in the dark with the sort of high-end PC usually designated for fiddling with one's self. And then--voila!--you have a movie, regardless of whether or not its ideological content is marketable or the individual is financially as creditworthy as a raccoon's ass.

The D.FILM digital film festival will open in 20 cities worldwide, kicking off right here in Seattle. As one would expect from a fledgling medium, digital filmmaking has had its fair share of those duff productions that waft across the screen with that ever-so-slight yet nonetheless distinct smell of pee. In this year's show, however, apart from the four minutes of malice that is The Holly Wood Project, and the who's-up-for-a-little-colonic-irrigation annoyance that is Warplay, the fairly decent fare on display speaks well of the inverted cost-to-quality correlation that is making digital filmmaking more accessible every day.

My personal favorite is Destroying America, the short story of a man's fixation with Japanese Lolitas (hubba-hubba) and the lopsided karmic retribution he is in turn dealt. An additional word of approval must be afforded to the visual curiosities that are Chuck Bozilu's Down Home Ass Kickin', and Computer Music System, by Brazilian techno band Golden Shower (insert your own clean-sheet jokes here).

But sadly, what should have been the collection's standout, Jeff Krulik's much-anticipated third installment of the Parking Lot series, Harry Potter Parking Lot, is unfortunately lacking in the irony department. The interviewees are all children, and quite frankly you'd expect children to say stupid shit: That's why we put the little wankers on Ritalin in the first place, isn't it? Ah, well. Give me Grown British Men on Welfare Parking Lot any day, and watch me laugh and then cry at the tragedy of it all.