See 10 short films and documentaries at Everett Film Festival

The Everett Film Festival provides a chance for a festival experience without traveling to Utah (for Sundance) or even Seattle for its annual film fete.

There will be film shorts and documentaries, including “Pick of the Litter” on how dogs are trained to safely guide people with blindness or vision impairment.

Making a personal appearance will be “Tucson,” a yellow lab mix who is the daughter of one of the dogs in the movie. She is being taught socialization and obedience skills by Rebecca Minelga of Snohomish, a volunteer trainer for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Joan Kron, who began her movie-making career at age 89 with her film “Take My Nose…Please!” — on plastic surgery and including an interview with Cher — will be on hand for a Q&A session after the showing on Saturday evening.

“She has some interesting kinds of things to say about having work done and society’s attitude toward people who have work done,” said festival director Teresa Henderson.

Also playing Saturday is “Return of the River,” a film on the removal of the Elwha Dam on the Olympic Peninsula. Since its release in 2014, it has been shown at more than 25 festivals, and “in every continent except Antarctica,” said Jessica Plumb, the film’s producer and co-director.

Although the documentary shows the completion of the dam removal, “in some ways, the scientific story was just getting under way,” she said.

The long-term impact of the dam’s removal won’t be known for decades, yet changes already have been documented.

A survey conducted last fall found that salmon are spawning in areas where they haven’t been able to for 100 years, and other wildlife, such as the American dipper, are returning, Plumb said.

In addition, a century of sediment built up behind the dam is being flushed away with every rainy season, creating large sandbars. “Every time I go, the landscape is literally different,” she said.

An eight-minute short on the changes in the river and its ecosystem since the removal of the dam also will be shown.

Now in its 22nd year, the Everett Film Festival initially began as a women’s film festival and continued so for its first decade.

Henderson said she would sometimes see men wrinkle up their nose and ask, “What happens at a women’s film festival?”

Organizers wanted to make the festival appeal to a wider audience. So although the word women’s was deleted from its name, the festival still tries to showcase the work of female filmmakers.

One change this year is to have snacks brought in to ticket holders during Saturday’s intermission.

A number of local restaurants are participating, including Cafe Zippy, The Sisters Restaurant, Ivar’s, J and L BBQ and Jersey Mike’s Subs.

Buck’s American Cafe and Lombardi’s are providing catering Friday evening.

“It’s a huge variety of restaurants, all for the price of a ticket,” Henderson said. “We offer really good value for what you get.”

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.