The Carmel Art & Film Festival remains an elusive and changing creature.

The Carmel Art & Film Festival is in flux before our very eyes.

For regular folks, there’s really just one reason to go, and that’s film. Luckily, there’s almost 100 of them (although many of them are shorts). What started as a fairly full body of public events with exclusive and rich foam on top has experienced more disparity over the course of its six years. In years past, there were free art shows in Devendorf Park and in Marjorie Evans Gallery at Sunset Center, and free live music shows in the courtyard at Carmel Plaza. There were lectures and parties one could attend (or slip into), a live Twitter feed on a flatscreen at the headquarters/store that tracked updates and changes.

The fest is going in a different direction this year, says organizer Tom Burns. One has to buy an all-access film pass for $100 or a “producers package” pass for $500 (or step up to even higher packages) in order to attend the parties.

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“That’s the only way for the general public to attend the parties,” he says. “We’re hosting filmmakers in town and the parties are for them. We eliminated the route where people can buy a ticket for a party. It’s about the filmmakers anyway, so let’s host them and the patrons.”

The two talks include one at Carl Cherry Center and a recurring gathering called Women in Film, where, as of press time, actress Melanie Diaz from Fruitvale Station and Jennifer Howell, former supervising producer of South Park and senior vice president of 20th Century Fox’s animation department, will be. But the talks are also restricted to credentialed people like filmmakers, and those with day passes ($55) or all-access passes.

If there’s an opening, Burns says, the public may come in for free to the first talk. “Chances are that’s not going to happen,” he says.

There is a photography component planned for Marjorie Evans Gallery – Ansel Adams, Ruth Bernard, Kerik Koukols, Brett Weston, Roman Loranc, Phil Kemper, Ted Preuss – though the opening reception is not open to the public. Instead of the artists in Devendorf Park, Burns is bringing in Learn to Discover, a company that will facilitate a Lego robotics and computer animation class for kids seven and older (Youth Music Monterey will perform in the park noon-1pm Saturday and 1-2:30pm Sunday).

“There [have been] no artists showing in Art in the Park the last couple years,” Burns says. “We weren’t able to hit the right balance yet. We have George Rodrigue as the artist for the fest. He’s doing a presentation at River School, the public school in Carmel.”

So it’s a different festival. Focused more as a transplanted film industry function, a collusion of money (festival packages climb from $1,670 to $5,500 up to $25,000) and of status (sponsors include Rolex and Jaguar) that, to a filmophile who might want to talk about editing or symbolism, foreshadowing or flubs, seems like another festival unto itself.

But Burns insists, “We’re not trying to be exclusive.”

And there is proof that CAFF hasn’t become a total retreat for the rich or for filmmakers seeking their funding.

People can purchase admission to individual films for $10 cash ($5 for students and military), day of (though, again, credential and pass holders get priority). And the films show a savvy and a respect for socially relevant subject matter.

Director Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, which was released just this past summer, tells the true story of the 2008 New Year’s Eve shooting death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant by transit police in a BART station in Oakland. Big Sur, directed by Michael Polish, tells the story of Jack Kerouac and the time he spent in the Big Sur cabin of Lawrence Ferlinghetti trying to sober up and handle the fame and success of On the Road.

Tim’s Vermeer, by those clever and populist skeptics Penn & Teller, sounds like a promising documentary about the art world, told through the veneer of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Botso: The Teacher from Tbilisi, a documentary eight years in the making by a San Luis Obispo filmmaker, is about a 91-year-old man who finally tells the story of his life in Russia and the Soviet Union, from Stalin to the KGB to the Rustaveli Theatre to teaching music in America.

There is good stuff here. Navigating it can be tricky; there are a lot of films and several locations – Sunset Center’s Studio 105, Carl Cherry Center, Carmel High Performing Arts Center, Carmel Youth Center, Lighthouse Cinemas in Pacific Grove. And in years past, the schedules and venues have shifted like blowing sand. But if one has the gumption, this could be a smorgasbord of film that offers up surprises, those the festival organizers have in store, and those that spring up by virtue of its manic nature (less than a week before its start, organizers were still sending out email blasts of new facets, like a Roman Polanski book talk at Winfield Gallery). What the end result will look like through this weekend will probably be a surprise to everyone.

THE CARMEL ART & FILM FESTIVAL runs 10am-10pm Thu-Sun, at various locations in Carmel and Pacific Grove. 625-3700, www.CarmelArtAndFilm.com