Van Michaels doesn’t make wimpy movies. The filmmaker, who has previously worked under the name Mike Olafson, built a cult fan base in Denver with Gears, Grease and Guns, a documentary about the local rock-and-roll and hot-rodding culture of the 1950s.

His new film, a twenty-minute short titled Motor Vixens, marks his first serious foray into fiction, but he isn’t leaving his old subject matter behind. “It’s kind of leaping off the basis I built with Gears, Grease and Guns,” he says. He describes Motor Vixens as “a super-charged whodunit with a rockabilly drifter and a hippie chick.”

The project, two years in the making, was filmed in four locations in Colorado and shot entirely in 16mm black-and-white; the cast includes local actors, models, burlesque dancers and musicians. Tonight’s screening starts at 8 p.m. at the Mayan Theatre, 110 Broadway, and will be preceded by a pair of trailers, one for Michaels’s upcoming full-length, Hot Lead Hard Fury, and another for The Chronicles of Rick Roll.

There will also be B-movie trivia contests and guests from the film at the Mayan; the evening will be hosted by Hot Lead Hard Fury star Chuck Beefer. Tickets are $5; for more information, go to www.motorvixens.com.
Thu., March 31, 8 p.m., 2011