Wading through the program for Comic-Con International is a little like reading the phone book. There's so much to see and do at the four-day comics, sci-fi, fantasy and animation festival, showgoers will have a hard time choosing what to do.

But there's no confusion about San Marcos filmmaker James R. Prince's contribution to Comic-Con. His locally made film "Mind Forest" has the honor of opening the festival July 17 as the very first feature in Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival.

Just 15 minutes after the doors open at the San Diego Convention Center today, Prince's 61-minute supernatural drama will become the first of 44 independent films screened during the four-day festival.

"I'm very honored to have been picked to be first," said Prince, a free-lance writer and industrial filmmaker who has lived in North County since he was a teenager. "I hadn't even planned to submit it at all, but a friend urged me to send it in, so I finally did, just four days before the deadline, and I was immediately contacted by the director of programming. It was an honor and a surprise."

The Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival started four years ago as a one-day event, but it has since mushroomed into a four-day event with one day devoted exclusively to films made by "Star Wars" fans. More than 80 films were submitted for this year's festival. That total was winnowed to 44, and Prince's "Mind Forest" beat out 34 other films to be selected as the festival opener.

The film Comic-Con visitors will see today is actually a low-budget, hourlong pilot film that Prince made in hopes of getting studios to bankroll a full-scale, full-length production of "Mind Forest." Prince conceived the film, wrote the screenplay, and produced and directed the film, all on a shoestring budget with an all-volunteer cast and crew.

The idea for "Mind Forest" came to Prince about two years ago when he decided to write a screenplay on a supernatural subject with a strong female central character.

"I wanted to find a film where a woman could be a role model, but I didn't want it to be spooky or a slasher movie, so I hit on this idea," he said.

In "Mind Forest," the main character, Cassandra, is a modern-day witch who discovers a mysterious trunk in her late grandmother's home. Inside is a mysterious journal written by a woman accused of witchcraft in 1631 Plymouth, Mass. While trying to solve the mystery of who wrote the journal, Cassandra is haunted by visions from the distant past. Eventually, she finds herself trapped in a dream state between the restrictive present-day relationship with her boyfriend and the repressive atmosphere of the 17th-century Puritan witch trials.

Prince said he's in negotiations now with Miramax Films to make a full-length version of "Mind Forest." He believes the film has struck a chord with Comic-Con and Miramax officials because it communicates with the audience on more than just a superficial level.

"There's a story there, but there's also a message that we wanted to get across," Prince said. "Although the film is set in two different times, there's a shared atmosphere of intolerance. In 1631, it's religious intolerance they're trying to break away from, and in the modern-day story, we see Cassandra trying to break away from her boyfriend's pressure to conform and settle down."

Encouraged by positive response to his screenplay and composer Glenn Scott Lacey's offer to write the film's score, Prince produced his pilot last year here in North County. More than 4,000 actresses responded to his casting call (despite the fact that the job offered no pay), and actress Lauren Maher was cast as Cassandra ("she reminds one of Vivien Leigh from 'Gone With the Wind,'" Prince said).

The film was shot with two high-end Sony digital-video cameras over eight weeks last summer at locations in Pauma Valley, Valley Center, Escondido and Ramona. Post-production finished up in December. Since then, Prince has been in talks with Miramax and shopping the pilot around to area film festivals.

Today's screening at Comic-Con is the film's first public presentation. Following the screening, Prince will discuss the film along with its star, Maher, and fellow castmates Arawayn Walays and Jimmy Famous; director of photography Michael Tyler; assistant director Korina Fitzpatrick; and key production assistant Darcy Hultgren.

While Prince's focus now is to get "Mind Forest" made into a feature film, he also has two other film screenplays in the works and has started his own film production company, Astaria Films.

"Mind Forest" screening/discussion

When: 12:15 p.m. July 17

Where: San iego Comic-Con International at San Diego Convention Center, San Diego

Tickets: $25

Info: $25, single-day adult pass ($15 on July 20); $12, single-day junior/senior pass ($7 on July 20); children 12 and under free with paid adult; $60, four-day adult pass; $30, four-day junior/senior pass

Info: (619) 414-1020 or www.comic.con.org