"They should've called it something else, because there’s nothing more boring than a 'shorts program,'" filmmaker/performance artist Miranda July exclaimed when I asked about tonight's scheduled program at the Hollywood. "I’m so uninterested in my own shorts or past work that I’m excerpting shorts. It’s like, “It’s only seven minutes to begin with, but let’s show three!”

I got a chance to interview July this morning at the Ace Hotel—it was a typical press junket, with reporters filing into a hotel room all day at 30-minute intervals, but July was thoughtful and friendly in her responses. I'll be posting the full interview at a later date—most of it concerns her new film The Future, which, though it's screening twice tomorrow at the Hollywood, doesn't officially open until summer. But here's the rest of our conversation about tonight's program, produced in conjunction with PSU's Art & Social Practice MFA.

JULY: I kind of had a fantasy of [tonight] being like This Is Your Life, you know, that TV show, where they bring people in—“It’s your college sweetheart,” or whatever. So it'll be kind of like that, Portland-style. Like, 'Here’s the little girl from your short film who’s now 24.' It’s all these people, many of whom I’ve not seen in a really long time.

Mercury: How’d you track them down?
I had the help of the Art & Social practice program at PSU, so I’ve had a team of like 10 students, working and organizing this whole thing. It's a benefit for them. I’m also showing... I tried to dig up things that no one’s ever seen. For example, when I moved from Portland to LA, which was right before I shot my first feature, I was pretty obsessed with that movie, such that the mover that I hired off Craigslist to help me pack the moving truck, I convinced him somehow to audition for the movie before he packed up the truck. So I’m showing part of that [audition tape], which is pretty amazing, and he’s actually pretty good.

But he didn’t get the part?
No, he didn’t get the part. But it’s so awkward, he’s just like… so embarrassed that this is happening, and can’t quite tell if I’m hitting on him—you know, I've just turned this video camera on him.

I hope people come tonight. I mean, of course, the movie seems like the thing, but in my mind they can see the movie [this summer], whereas for me, this night is… it took me years to be emotionally ready to do something like this.

She offers a few more details over on her Facebook page.
Miranda July will be presenting her "shorts program" tonight at the Hollywood Theater, 7 pm, $15 (other promised special guests include Carrie Brownstein and Vanessa Renwick). The Hollywood will also be screening July's new film The Future tomorrow at 7 & 9:30 pm, with a Q&A after the early screening and July introducing the second. Tickets for that are also $15.