This was not your father's film festival. More like your funny uncle's.

PXL This 20–the 20th installment of the annual fest curated and hosted by Gerry Fialka–featured two dozen very short films at Unurban on Monday night. They were all shot with the same kind of camera: the PXL 2000, a toy camcorder that was created by Fisher-Price and then discontinued two years later. 

The market couldn't handle it back in 1987-89, but thanks to thrift stores, Web sites and family members, the camera–which sells for $40 to $60–is more popular than ever. Today, some experimental directors who dig the camera's funky, low-tech imagery have turned what was a failed toy into a cheapo art tool.

"The toy was much too important to be left [only] to children," Fialka said playfully Monday night–even though the fest included many films made by kids.

The first section of the festival featured pieces shot by children under 10 years old. "And They Played & They Played & They Played" was Gwyneth Seelinger's imaginative, sharply edited tour of her hobbies, while her older brother Donovan's "Shringly: Sci-ence" featured him explaining wormholes and time-travel.

"California Studio," a three-minute documentary, had Chester Burnett employing stuffed animals to give the history of a lost part of Hollywood history. Also featured during this segment: an eight-minute version of "The Wizard of Oz," where Anywn Lees' parents played all the parts, and the 4-year-old narrated and handled lensing chores.

"It's how we put our ideas down," 7-year-old Donovan Seelinger told the audience when asked why he used a PXL cam to explain his ideas about neutrons and space.

Can you say "inspired"?

Many of the PXL films have the grainy quality of Ingmar Bergman black-and-white starkness, or a ghostly bank-security cam.

"Marshall McLuhan said TV is tactile," Fialka explained. " 'Tactile' is exactly the chunky look the PXL 2000 illustrates. You can practically touch the roundness of the dots–all 2,000 of them."

A typical TV screen contains about 200,000 dots of light, or pixels.

"This is a magic toy," Fialka continued. "It's a utensil for creativity that reeks of humanity while Hollywood seems to believe only in spectacle."

PXL This 20 highlights included L M Sabo's "Oil Kills," Clifford Novey's "Rounds," Philip Marion's "Spoon & Packet" and Jonathan Menchin's "Hey You in the Future." Also featured were short musical delights by Brad Kay, Suzy Williams and Denny "King Kukulele" Moynahan; and the "Arroyo Seco River Song" by Nicole and Michael Possert.

Next year, the best of the fest, which included films from across the country and Europe, will play other venues, among them the Echo Park Film Center on May 19. Meanwhile, the entry deadline for PXL This 21 is Oct. 22; submissions can be sent in DVD form to Fialka (310-306-7330, pfsuzy@aol.com) at 2427 1/2 Glyndon Ave., Venice, CA 90291.

Fialka's own entry, "Parallel Worlder," was a culture-jamming mix of Georges Méliès' 1902 film "A Trip to the Moon" and local imagery. His philosophy behind the festival and his other entertainments?

"Think," he said, quoting musician George Clinton. "It ain't illegal yet."