Ann Arbor Festival’s 46th Year Features More Than 100 Films
By Nanciann Cherry, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
Mar. 20–ANN ARBOR — The 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival opens Tuesday with more than 100 independent films from 20 countries in competition for more than $18,000 in awards.
Among the highlights of the six-day event is the documentary Larry Flynt: The Right to be Left Alone at 7:30 p.m. March 29. Following a screening, producer-director Joan Brooker-Marks and Flynt will participate in a question-and-answer session.
Other events on “Super Saturday,” as the penultimate day of the festival has been termed, include the appearances of Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath at 5 p.m. to present their documentary The Betrayal (Nerakhoon). Kuras, a cinematographer who has worked with Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese, forged a 23-year partnership with Phrasavath to tell the story of his family’s escape from Laos and struggles to adapt to life in the United States.
At 10 p.m. that same day, Lynn Hershman-Leeson’s Strange Culture, starring Tilda Swinton (an Oscar winner this year for her supporting role in Michael Clayton) and Peter Coyote. It’s the story of Steve Kurtz, an art teacher at the State University of New York in Buffalo, who was working on an art project using biology gear and harmless bacteria when his wife died in her sleep of a massive heart attack. Rescue workers responding to Kurtz’s telephone call for help noticed a laboratory and books on bioweaponry and alerted the FBI, who pursued a bioterrorism case against him.
Kurtz will be at the screening, but because of legal constraints, he can’t answer questions about the case. Instead, Lucia Sommer of the Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund, will speak, as will former University of Michigan art professor Rich Pell.
Screenings take place in the main auditorium or the smaller screening room of the Michigan Theater at 603 East Liberty St. and in the State Theater, a block away at 233 South State St. Panel discussions, lectures, and parties are scheduled at various nightclubs and galleries throughout the city.
The event kicks off with an opening night gala from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Michigan Theater, followed by screenings of 10 short films, ranging in length from two to 13 minutes.
Many of the films in competition have been grouped into themes, including “All that is Animated” (the many faces of animation); “For Kids of All Ages” (kids acting like grownups, adults acting like kids); “Aftermath of the Clash” (the effects of war on the individual, the landscape, and society); “The Orbits Inside” (explorations of beliefs, values, and ideologies); and “Collisions at the Crossroads” (relationships, emotions, and random turns of life).
A program called “Conspiracy Countdown” features films of suspense and paranoia, including the world premiere of Jim Finn’s The Juche Idea, which explores North Korea’s use of propaganda in the arts. Finn will attend the screening at 7 p.m. March 29.
Other programs include “Out Night,” featuring films with a lesbian and gay focus, and “Midnight Movies” with Tom Waits in Big Time and Leningrad Cowboys Go America.
Topics for panel discussions include climate change, time travel, copyrights and fair use, experimental film making, and film distribution, with practical advice for filmmakers who want to get their work seen.
Awards will be presented March 30, with screenings of the winning films at 5:30, 7, and 9 p.m.
Tickets range from $5 to $8 for single screenings, $20 for the opening gala, $50 for a weekend pass, and $85 for a festival pass, which allows access to all events. Discounted prices are available for friends of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Michigan Theater. Tickets will be available on-line and, if an event has not been sold out, at the door.
A complete list of films, panel discussions, performance times, and parties can be found at http://46th.aafilmfest.org/
Contact Nanciann Cherry at: ncherry@theblade.com or 419-724-6130.
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