The 2007 Silverlake Film Festival, a celebration of independent cinema, kicks off today in Los Angeles. The ten-day event will host the second annual MP4Fest, which will feature programs of cutting-edge animation and Machinima shorts on Sunday, May 6, starting at 10 p.m.

Dubbed Perpetual Motion’The Independent Edge of Animation, the short animation program is curated by Current TV and will include screenings of Alex Weil’s SIGGRAPG-winning film One Rat Short and Augenblick Studios’ Golden Age, which was picked up as a broadband series by Comdey Central. The lineup also includes Lee Lanier’s Weapons of Mass Destruction and 13 Ways to Die at Home, Song E. Kim’s Dinner Table, David Chai’s Cole Needs Women, Dick Thompson’s Blow: A Public Service Announcement, Erik Kling’s Atomic Banana, Troy Morgan’s Dragon, Daniel Sousa’s Fable, Guilherme Marcondes’ Tyger, Enrique Garcia’s and Raquel Ajofrin’s Perpetuum Mobile, Jonas Odell’s Never Like the First Time and Lisa Barcy’s Mermaid.

The program of Machinima shorts is curated by Peter Brinson with special thanks to the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The nine films made using video game engines include Chera Kee’s and Shong-Ting Fu’s World of Farmcraft (World of Warcraft), Jim Monroe’s My Trip to Liberty City (Grand Theft Auto III) and Jeff Jew’s One Life (Shadow of the Colossus).

In addition, a series of four Flash-animated shorts will be available for viewing online at www.silverlakefilmfestival.org as the animation program is presented. Go to the site to learn more about the festival and the individual films in competition.