With support from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the San Francisco Cinematheque hosted a co-presentation at the Ann Arbor Film Festival on Saturday, March 24th at 7:30 PM. The sold-out event consisted of a series of films that explore the body as a place. Throughout the evening, these physical landscapes explored the farthest corners of our minds, probing us to consider the ideas of artistic expression and free speech.

We were proud to present the following films at the 45th Ann Arbor Film Festival:

Geography of the Body - Willard Maas
Our Gay Brothers - Greta Snider
No No Nookie TV - Barbara Hammer
The Bed - James Broughton
Hold Me While I'm Naked - George Kuchar
Holding - Connie Beeson
River Body - Ann Severson
Spiders In Love - Martha Colburn
Honey pot - Todd Lincoln
NOEMA - Scott Stark

The Ann Arbor Film Festival has received cuts to its state funding, and will not apply for future state funding until some changes are made with the restrictions that are placed on artists in the state of Michigan. Click here to learn more.

The awards jury is composed of internationally recognized filmmakers, artists and critics who are dedicated to independent and experimental film as an art form. The jurors' function is to view all entries programmed in the public screenings of films-in-competition and to distribute the awards money. Decisions regarding awards and the distribution of prize monies are the prerogative of the Awards Jury and its decisions are final.

In the spirit of tradition and a shared desire to stretch our minds, we thank our jurors David Gatten, Deborah Stratman, and Brooke Keesling for their time, creativity, and contributions.

David Gatten

Gatten explores the link between the printed word and moving images. He is at work on a series of nine films about letters, lovers, books, ghosts and the Byrd family of Virginia during the early 18th century. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as in private collections in the U.S., Canada and Japan. His newest work "Film for Invisible Ink case no. 71: Base-plus-Fog" premiered on October 2006 at Lincoln Center in the 44th New York Film Festival.

Deborah Stratman

Stratman is a Chicago-based experimental and documentary filmmaker. She is presently working on three new films about, respectively, disappearance, utopian failures and the culture of elevated threat. A Guggenheim and Fulbright fellow, she has screened at the Whitney Biennial, Sundance, Viennale and Rotterdam film festivals. She teaches at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Brooke Keesling

Keesling, an animator, filmmaker and educator, is currently Professor of Animation at Detroit's College of Creative Studies. She is the creator of "Boobie Girl," one of the films named by the Mackinac Center in a report that accused AAFF of showing obscene material in violation of state funding rules. Keesling won both an Academy Award ® and an Emmy Award ® for the best animated film by a student in 2001 for "Boobie Girl." Her work has been featured in more than 80 film festivals world wide, including the AAFF.