More than $6,000 worth of prizes will be available in a current 13 packages during the upcoming Lunafest short film festival sponsored by Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley. Drawing tickets are $10 each or three for $25, and the winner does not have to be present to win. This year’s Lunafest is scheduled for Thursday, May 11, at Canyon Theatre Guild, 24242 Main Street in Downtown Newhall.

The prize packages include gift certificates, clothing, jewelry, art events and lessons, sports, spa and gym packages and a basket of almost $600 in gift certificates from local restaurants. Guests who attend the film festival can place their raffle tickets in the prize baskets which they find most interesting. Tickets to the film festival itself are $45, and include a pre-screening reception on the patio with a glass of wine and hors d’oeuvres; the screening itself featuring nine short films by, for and about women; and movie-style snacks such as sodas, water, popcorn and candy; and a swag bag filled with donations from event sponsors.

The showings include: Another Kind of Girl, following the life of a 17-year- old girl who meditates on how her refugee camp has opened up new horizons and given her a sense of courage that she lacked in Syria; Family Tale, redefining the meaning of family through love, loss and determination; Free to Laugh, a documentary that explores the power of comedy after prison; Join the Club, which deals with a writer’s dilemma of whether or not to join a networking club, as the issue unfolds during one therapy session; Ninera, a story that looks at the bitter irony many nannies face: raising the children of strangers for a living while their own children are virtually left to raise themselves.

Also, Nikosi Coiffure, in which a women escapes into a hair salon in Brussels after a fight with her boyfriend in the street; Partners, professional and life partners who confront how intertwined their lives have become; The Honeys and the Bears, members of a synchronized swim team for seniors describe the freedom of the water; and The Third Dad, ten years after breaking all ties with her father, a daughter sets out to find his grave – and redemption.

Raffle tickets and admission tickets to the film festival are available on the Web at www.scvzonta.org, then clicking on “events” and “Lunafest.” They can also be purchased directly from Zonta committee members.

The pre-screening reception begins as doors open at 6 p.m., followed by the program and screening at 6:30 p.m. The prize drawing will be conducted during intermission, and winners who are not present will be notified and the prizes delivered after the event.

This will be the seventh time that the local Zonta Club has been a Lunafest host, and the number of guests increases each year as word spreads throughout the community, according to event co-chair Susan Hayward. In addition to supporting Zonta’s local and international service projects, Lunafest has raised more than $1.2 million for the Breast Cancer Fund, the event’s main beneficiary, and for other women’s non-profit organizations. Local proceeds will help to support Zonta’s programs to improve the lives of women and girls locally and around the world.