Other Prior Events

Born in the 60’s

the 48th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival

by Stef Piermattei

Like the pioneers who founded it’s hosting city, the Ann Arbor Film Festival has a knack for recognizing potential and drawing people in to display their discoveries. As former volunteers of the festival, Donald Harrison, Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and Becca Keating, Community Development Manager, have witnessed the event grow right before their eyes. Michigan Movie Magazine sat down with Harrison and Keating to discuss how the festival, in it’s forty-eighth year, has come to be a fixture not only in Ann Arbor, but also in the international film festival landscape.

“The attendance has gone up thirty percent in the last three years. Our attention to drawing more people regionally and nationally is important to us because we see the benefits to our community and the filmmakers that come from all over the world. It’s more exciting when you see one thousand people watch your film rather than two hundred,” said Harrison.

Like many college towns, Ann Arbor has a history of political activism, making room for fresh, new art. The University of Michigan helps to make cultural additions such as museums, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Theater, Civic Ballet, Opera Theater, and Performance Network Theater possible.

Along with contributing heavily to college sports and an annual restaurant week, the city has no problem drawing tourists and keeping its residents, or “Ann Arborites” entertained. Very few attractions, however, represent the power of self expression and ties in so closely with the people of Ann Arbor. “Ann Arbor is a very diverse and eclectic community with a lot of world-class thinkers and artists. I do think that our festival reflects this in the type of films and programs we show. There is incredible range and variety of what we are putting on the screen.” Harrison said“We also reflect a lot of the roots and origins of Ann Arbor in terms of the vibrant culture in the sixties. During the free speech movement of that era, Ann Arbor was at the center of the country for a lot of social change. It’s something that carries through in the spirit of the festival. We have a lot of works that are very political, that sometimes challenge conventions or particular ideas or institutions.”

Commonly, the success of a film festival is measured by the future achievements of its featured filmmakers. Names like Yoko Ono, Gus Van Sant, Andy Warhol, Brian DePalma and George Lucas say a lot about The Ann Arbor Film Festival’s ability to recognize potential and new talent. The festival does not lean on these names, but strives to recognize more names year after year, building up credibility and respect for its hosting city.

“Our selection process happens in three parts,” Harrison explained. “This year we had forty screeners review twenty five hundred films from more than sixty-five countries. At this point, we’re at the final stage of a very intensive process. For us it’s something we take very seriously. We review every film at least three times to make sure we don’t miss anything exceptional.” This process, and the amount of film submissions, has helped place the Ann Arbor Film Festival into the top two percent of competitive film festivals.” ann-arbor-theater

Unlike newer film festivals with overpriced passes and exclusive black tie attitudes, the Ann Arbor Film Festival ...has always, and will always be about film, emerging talent, and bringing audiences together. “We want people to understand what’s in their own backyards. You don’t have to go to New York or Europe to have this kindof art-focused film festival experience,” Harrison said.

Just as the snow melts in a city named for its beautiful landscapes, the Ann Arbor Film Festival will take place, drawing an international audience with its diverse film line-ups.

“Quite simply, we have a very positive effect on tourism in Ann Arbor. The festival brings in 10,000 people from all over the world who then disperse around the city spending their money at stores and restaurants around town. This is not to mention, the fact that outside of Ann Arbor the festival is renowned as a world class venue for experimental film and cinema arts, thus giving Ann Arbor a different feeling than most other film festivals,” Keating explained.

For those who cannot make it to Ann Arbor, each year the festival produces a traveling tour that visits dozens of cities worldwide with screenings of select short films. Last year the festival’s tour visited more cities than ever before, thanks in part to support from the NEA and a Warhol Foundation Grant the festival received in 2008. The fes- Ann Arbor Film Festival tival also awards nearly $20,000 in prizes to filmmakers in over fifteen categories each year. A lot of buzz surrounding the 48th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival has been generated by a tribute to Kenneth Anger, the revolutionary avant-garde filmmaker responsible for thirty-seven films, fifteen of them categorized as being “lost.” Anger will attend screenings of his work and a live interview session on stage at the Michigan Theater.

“Mr. Anger’s appearance at the festival is a landmark occasion in our history. He marks the beginning of what we hope to be a plethora of past filmmakers coming back to the festival. Not only is he a master of experimental film but his influence on modern filmmakers can still be seen today in the works of Gus Van Sant, David Lynch, Lars Van Trier, and Martin Scorsese,” said Keating. “His work and lifestyle really set the tone for what was to come of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and still does today.”

Anger’s appearance is being made possible by a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which “recognizes the role that both we and the festival and Kenneth Anger have played in cinema and it really does propel us towards our fiftieth anniversary,” Harrison said.

for more information visit:

http://www.aafilmfest.org/festival/