From “Doc in a Day: City Dogs Rescue,”part of Lunchtime Sampler 1. {Anjanette Fleming/City Dogs Rescue)

Now at 14 years old, the DC Shorts Film Festival & Screenplay Competition has a well-established formula: Gather more than 170 short films from around the world, screen them in showcases arranged by theme, and let the audience do the rest.

In a few ways, though, this year’s festival will deviate from all the previous ones. Instead of one opening weekend party, there will be two. City View Party at the Rooftop at Carroll Square will offer a more traditional experience on September 8, with drinks provided by Bring Your Own Cocktail. And for something less conventional, head to Dupont Underground on September 9 for a Grand Bash, complete with a virtual reality experience to keep your head spinning (hopefully not literally) all night long.

New features aren’t limited to soirees. In partnership with the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District, the festival will present for the first time an Outdoor Showcase, with films from Japan, Germany and the U.S. Outdoor movies in the summer can get hot and sticky; early fall might be just right.

Lunchtime screenings are back for a second year at the festival, but with a twist. The new feature was added last year to accommodate guests who might want to take in a film during their lunch break on a particularly arduous (or lazy) day at work.

This time around, those sessions will feature films with a local flavor, including documentaries about the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, the D.C. General homeless shelter, Franklin Square, the youth dancing nonprofit Stuck on Swing, and the animal protection service City Dogs Rescue. For something more … fictional, the last of those four lunch events will feature three episodes of the local web series East Coast Grow, about the city’s burgeoning marijuana industry.

New offerings aside, the centerpiece of the festival remains the same: Shorts in nearly every genre you can think of, from every place you can think of. Peruse the full list here.

DC Shorts Film Festival & Screenplay Competition will run from Sept. 7 and 17, with screenings at Landmark E Street Cinema and Miracle Theatre in Capitol Hill. A full schedule is available here.