Motion picture writer-director and Assistant Professor David Schmoeller established the UNLV Short Film Archive in August, 2003 with funding provided by a UNLV Planning Initiative Award. It is the mission of the archive to grow in reputation and size, from year to year, until UNLV becomes THE place to go when it comes to the study of the short film.

Raised and educated in Texas, Schmoeller began his career as a young playwright attending the Universidad De Las Américas in Mexico City where he studied theater and film under such legendary directors as Luis Buñuel and Alejandro Jodorowsky ("EL TOPO").

After a stint as an interpreter for ABC Sports during the Olympics in Mexico City, Schmoeller returned to Texas and completed a Masters program in Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas in Austin.

His Thesis Film, "THE SPIDER WILL KILL YOU," funded by a grant from the Directors Guild of America, was a Student Academy Award finalist, losing to Robert Zemeckis’ USC Thesis Film. Subsequently, under the auspices of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the American Film Institute, Schmoeller spent six months as an intern with writer-director Peter Hyams on the film "CAPRICORN ONE."

Schmoeller's first feature as a writer-director "TOURIST TRAP" is the favorite film of master storyteller of modern horror, Stephen King. Discussing Schmoeller's work in his book "DANSE MACABRE," King says "the writer-director has the uncanny power to present terror in even more effective ways than many major studio releases."

Schmoeller has written over 50 screenplays. Half of those have been sold and 12 have been made into movies. Of those 12 produced features, Schmoeller has directed 9. Schmoeller's film "THE ARRIVAL," a science-fiction black comedy, was selected for a special screening at the 1991 TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL. Among the other titles Schmoeller has written and directed are “PUPPETMASTER,” “THE SEDUCTION,” “CRAWLSPACE,” “CATACOMBS, "NETHERWORLD," “THE SECRET KINGDOM,” and “MYSTERIOUS MUSEUM.”

Schmoeller’s next feature project is “Summer Love,” a Romeo-Juliet love story set in Cuba.