The Low Down on the AAFF
I know when I drop words like “film fest” into posts like my last one, it can feel a little blurry. A lot of us have never been to the big snazzy fests like Sundance and Cannes (myself included), so our definition of film festival might be a little out of focus.
Here’s one thing to know about film festivals. They, like restaurants or cable channels, have specialties. Some might go the documentary-only route. Some are straight up devoted to horror (blah).
Ann Arbor’s film fest–the one that begins on TUESDAY (mark your calendars, Michiganders)–has it’s own little niche too. They call it experimental. (The “oldest continually running experimental film festival in North America” actually.)
Experimental means our festival accepts film and video entries (around 2,500 a year from over 60 countries) of all lengths and genres. And it means there are no limits on the style of film considered. Narrative, animated, documentary or some sort of hard-to-figure-out hybrid? They’re all welcome.
A U of M prof started the whole thing back in 1963–when my parents were 13 and 11 (which is how I measure time in the 60’s). Since then, a lot of famous people have showcased their work there (Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and George Lucas to name a few that even the non-film-buffs would know). 49 years later, it’s the third oldest film festival in the U.S., is one of a few Academy Award-qualifying festivals and has been called one of the Top Ten Film Festivals by Variety Magazine.
The Ann Arbor fest is also a touring-festival, meaning it travels. A collection of it’s short films are shown at more than 30 theaters, universities, galleries and cinematheques (great word, huh?) around the world.
And one of the best things about it (in my not-so-humble-opinion) is the creative mind power behind it. That’s why they think to do the Children’s Film Fest, called Safe As Milk, or how they rallied to save the whole deal when state funding was cut four years back.
Jackson readers who want to throw in on this year’s event can email me at sarahraymondcunningham [at] gmail [dot] com if you want to lend a hand. But if you aren’t one of those lucky souls who lives in Michigan this time of year =), this might be a good chance to check out a festival near you.
Jen Rose March 25, 2011 (5:02 pm)
Thanks for this… been enjoying the film fest posts. I’ve never been to one, but now you have me curious! Looked at the website and saw that the Florida Film Festival is not too far from me and coming up in early April, so I’ll have to look into it.
Do you think maybe you could share some film recommendations from your festival, just in case any of them are playing at our local fests, or perhaps some advice for newbies? Because I know I would have no clue where to start! :)
Sarah Cunningham April 11, 2011 (8:41 pm)
Hey Jen, just saw this. I’ve been vacationing. I loved the film fest. There is a mixed bag of films. Some are quirky, some are political, philosophical and so forth. And of course, they represent a lot of different perspectives so there is some stuff mixed in that might offend some too (fair warning).
I would just suggest going in large blocks of time (don’t just buy a ticket to one screening, but get like a weekend pass so you can see three days worth of movies). That way you can see different length films–some feature films and some shorts etc.
I also really enjoyed some of the special presentations. There were some great panel talks where you could hear behind-the-scenes info on the making of the films too.