NO SHIH TZU This puppy is headed for trouble in “Birds.”

Multimedia event defies definition.

Does anyone really know what RESFEST is? Sponsored by the RES Media Group (which also publishes the multimedia-oriented RES magazine), the fest isn’t down and dirty enough to qualify as a culling of underground cinema; too many of the films look like Toyota commercials. At the same time, the lineup is too trippy and cutting edge for the duffers who nominate shorts for the Academy Awards. All told, the selection represents an eye-catching mix of animation, fiction shorts, minidocs, music videos and—typically—a stray feature.

If there’s a common thread, it’s that the fest remains committed to new and underused technologies. (It was an early proponent of digital video and home-computer editing software.) It’s also as much a trade convention as a film festival: In addition to screenings, the tenth-anniversary RESFEST—launching at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday 19 and running through Sunday 22 before embarking on a multi-city international tour—will host discussion panels, performances and events that the press release mysteriously describes as “experiential parties.”

It’s a strange mix of the rebellious and the commercial, with would-be Matthew Barneys bumping up against would-be Michael Bays. The short “Birds” (in the “Cinema Electronica” program, Saturday 21 at 7pm), for instance, makes sweet music of fluffy dogs floating through neon lasers, and might be a terrific ad for pet shampoo were it not for a Magritte-indebted final twist.

“Food Fight” (in the “State of the Art” program, Thursday 19 at 8pm) tries for something more sophisticated, pitting animated ethnic foods in combat with each other. For a while, it’s good fun—matzo forming alliances with bagels, lox and cream cheese—but it falters when falafels suicide-attack a hamburger World Trade Center. Anthropomorphism is used to less consequential effect in Chris Hopewell’s 2003 video for Radiohead’s “There There” (showing in a tribute program, “Radiohead, the Visionaries: A Decade of Breaking New Talent,” on Sunday 22 at 7:30pm), in which frontman Thom Yorke frolics with the creatures of the forest.

Also intriguing are a horror-themed compilation (“Fear and Trembling: The Dark Side of Filmmaking,” Friday 20 at 11pm) and a program of socially conscious shorts titled “Everything Under the Sun: Filmmaking with a Purpose” (as opposed to without one? Saturday 21 at 5pm). There are also two anniversary retrospectives showcasing the best of ten years of RESFEST’s shorts (Sunday 22 at 3:30pm) and music videos (Sunday 22 at 5:30pm).—Ben Kenigsberg

For details, see Indie and revival, Museum of Contemporary Art, or visit www.resfest.com.