The 59th Ann Arbor Film Festival will take place online from March 23-28, 2021. Each program is different. Films are not rated. All programs are intended for mature audiences unless otherwise noted. Some films have imagery of a stroboscopic nature.
All short Films in Competition screenings will take place as an online live event during our scheduled programming. After the initial live event, the programs will be available for on-demand viewing until 12am midnight EDT on 3/31.
Features in Competition and Special Programs will be available for on-demand viewing 3/23–3/31 unless otherwise noted. All programs are presented in Eastern Standard Time (EDT). While the majority of films will stream online, there are several in-person In The Screen! installations around Ann Arbor that are viewable from the street.
Passes are on sale now, get yours here.
GO TO THE VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Contains detailed information about the programmed films
TUESDAY 3/23 OPENING NIGHT!
In The Screen! Salon
Film Art Forum
In The Screen! Performance
IT'S NORMAL FOR SOME THINGS TO COME TO YOUR ATTENTION by Negativland and SUE-C
WEDNESDAY 3/24
Juror Presentation: Sheri Wills
What Does Light Remember?
In The Screen! Performance
The Room Presumed
Scott Kiernan
FREE
THURSDAY 3/25
Juror Presentation: Lynn Loo
Conversations, Light, Color, Movement
Films in Competition 8: Out Night
The 20th celebration of LGBTQ+ cinema at the AAFF
In The Screen! Performance
Sonic Escape Routes: Shall We Fly? or Shall We Resist?
Rena Anakwe & Akeema-Zane
FREE
FRIDAY 3/26
Juror Presentation: Thorsten Fleisch
Sensual Destruction: Disintegrating the Frantic Silence of the Universe
Films in Competition 11: Animation
Animated films from near and far
In The Screen! Performance
Operation Jane Walk
Robin Klengel & Leonhard Müllner
FREE
SATURDAY 3/27
Films in Competition 12: Almost All Ages (6+)
Mixed genre family-friendly films
In The Screen! Salon
Zoomation Workshop: Animating Connections Across Social Distances
Christine Veras and Steve Leeper
FREE
In The Screen! After Party Performance
AFTER-DINNER LOOPS 2021
Pickle Fort Collective
SUNDAY 3/28
The closing night of the festival offers two programs of select award-winning films, as chosen by this year’s panel of three distinguished AAFF jurors.
In The Screen! Salon
What the Hell Was That? moderated
Daniel Herbert
FREE
In The Screen! Salon
Maybe You're a Peach Tree Maybe
Sholeh Asgary and Heather Kapplow
FREE
In The Screen! Salon
Behind The Scenes with Negativland and SUE-C
FREE
Awards 1
See the announcement of the 59th AAFF awards and a screening of
select awarded films.
Awards 2
Stay for a second screening to see even more of the award-winning
films from the 59th AAFF.
In the Screen! After Party Performance
Terrible Tuesday by Gutter and DJ Girl
FREE
FEATURES
All Features in Competition will be available for on-demand viewing from March 23-March 31, 2021. The films will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.
A Machine to Live In
Yoni Goldstein, Meredith Zielke, Sebastian Alvarez, Andrew Benz
The Annotated Field Guide of Ulysses S. Grant
Jim Finn
Instructions for Survival
Yana Ugrekhelidze
The Inheritance
Ephraim Asili
Iwianch, el Diablo Venado
José Cardoso
Just A Movement
Vincent Meessen
malni—towards the ocean, towards the shore
Sky Hopinka
Purple Sea
Amel Alzakout, Khaled Abdulwahed
The Quoddy Fold
Paulette Phillips
The Viewing Booth
Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
All Special Programs will be available for on-demand viewing March 23-March 31, 2021 unless otherwise noted.
BIPOC Experimental Animation
Curated by Carrie Hawks
CYCLE 0
Curated by COUSIN Collective
Object (im)Permanence
Curated by Andrew Robbins and Kai Tillman
Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
presents Pipilotti Rist: Kind (of a) Talk
Friday at 8pm. Recording will be available immediately following the event.
This program is free.
Sylvanie Tendron: Everyday Obstacles
Curated by Julie Tremble
ENJOY THE 59TH ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL :)
