In its third year Downtown and its second partnering with the revived CineVegas, the Las Vegas Film Festival showcased another strong selection of features and short films, with impressive turnout for most screenings. The program included five locally connected features this year, and although they varied in quality, they all demonstrated the professionalism and creativity of filmmakers in town.

The highlight among local features was Rabbit Days, the long-in-the-works feature debut from brothers (and UNLV grads) Ryan and Cody LeBoeuf, who’ve made numerous excellent shorts. Like their shorts, Rabbit Days is surreal, funny and unsettling, with a heavy David Lynch influence. The absurdist plot doesn’t make any logical sense, but its weird energy is consistently mesmerizing, thanks especially to a charismatic lead performance from veteran character actor (and UNLV professor) Clarence Gilyard.

The LeBoeufs also contributed one segment to omnibus feature Dealer, alongside fellow Vegas filmmakers Jeremy Cloe, Adam Zielinski and Jerry and Mike Thompson. Star and co-writer Lundon Boyd anchors the movie well, playing a hapless loser commandeered into delivering four packages for a mysterious crime lord. The anthology approach means that the movie as a whole doesn’t really build to a climax, but each individual piece is entertaining on its own.

Sundance favorite Frank & Lola, an uneven slow-burn thriller starring Michael Shannon as an intensely jealous chef and Imogen Poots as his insecure, damaged girlfriend, made its Vegas premiere, appropriately enough, mere blocks from many of its shooting locations. Local producer Chris Ramirez did a great job adding authentic local flavor to the film from New York-based writer-director Matthew Ross.

Two other features with local ties were mostly misses, especially the insufferably self-satisfied meta-thriller Director’s Cut, written by and starring magician Penn Jillette. Heavy-handed social-issue drama The Track, directed by UNLV professor Brett Levner, was also a disappointment, despite some solid performances from established actors.

My overall festival favorites both came from the CineVegas program, and both originated in New Zealand. The engrossing documentary Tickled starts out as an exploration of a weird subculture before turning into something darker and more profound. The warm-hearted comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople features a breakout performance from young star Julian Dennison and a surprisingly strong comedic turn from Sam Neill. Both movies will be out in theaters later this month, although neither is currently scheduled for Las Vegas. That’s just one reason why LVFF is a valuable institution, well-deserving of its position as the city’s most prominent film fest.