SUPPORT

EXPERIMENTAL

FILM

We believe art and connecting people through film is vital, now more than ever. The Ann Arbor Film Festival has been bending minds with experimental film since 1963, but in 2020, for the first time-ever, we live-streamed the festival and bent over 16,000 minds from 101 countries!

We’re incredibly excited about the possibilities this year’s festival has opened up and now we’re asking for your support so we can continue our mission of being a platform for filmmakers and the very best film art.

If you're also interested in becoming an AAFF member, to receive year-round benefits and access to the Festival, please see our membership page.

Your contribution, large or small, makes a big difference in our ability to champion talented film artists! Make a donation today.

or send your check to:
Ann Arbor Film Festival

PO Box 8232

Ann Arbor, MI 48107

"In an age when the bottom line seems to be eroding some of the soul of cinema, the Ann Arbor Film Festival is unique, and truly radical, in its celebration of film as an art form. The AAFF is a cultural treasure."

Sam Green, director of

Academy Award®-nominated

The Weather Underground

Bending Minds

since 1963

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the oldest avant-garde and experimental film festival in North America, founded by George Manupelli in 1963. Internationally recognized as a premiere forum for independent filmmakers and artists, each year's festival engages audiences with remarkable cinematic experiences.

Global Community

of Filmmakers

Each year, the AAFF receives more than 3,000 submissions annually from more than 65 countries and serves as one of a handful of Academy Award®-qualifying festivals in the United States. Thousands of influential filmmakers and artists have exhibited early work at the AAFF, including Kenneth Anger, Agnes Varda, Andy Warhol, Gus Van Sant, Barbara Hammer, and more.

Year-round programming

The AAFF is a pioneer of the traveling film festival tour and each year presents short film programs at more than 35 cinematheques, universities, museums and artist-run centers in the U.S., Canada and Europe. For the first time ever we held two Drive-In nights and have made the Tour and AAFF PRESENTS available to watch online.

“For me, it’s an oasis of bizarre creativity, profound insight, and luscious imagery in a dreary winter-trodden landscape. It feels like a big city event, and the fact that it’s timed with our emergence from the date bitter days of winter makes the experience that much sweeter.”

Nic Sims

THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR DONORS

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is grateful to our major donors. Thank you

for your dedication in helping fulfill our mission for nearly 60 years.

MANUPELLI GIVING CIRCLE

Festival friends who pledge a sustaining gift of $500 (or more) for 5 years become a part of our very special giving circle, named for our founder George Manupelli.

Gary Boren, Martha Darling and Gil Omenn, Dave DeVarti and Ellen Rabinowitz, Sue Dise, Vicki Engel and Dan Gunning, Jackie and John Farah, Anne Cutsinger and David Gilbertson, Heidi Kumao, Susan and Mike Landauer, Cynthia Nicely, Jennifer Conlin and Daniell Rivkin, Robin and Ron Sober, Barbara Twist, Deborah Bayer and Jonathan Tyman

$1000 AND ABOVE

630 Club, Anonymous, the Aronofsky Family, Ruth Bardenstein and Jim Roll, Deborah Bayer and Jonathan Tyman, Elizabeth and Richard Berman, Jean and Frederick Birkhill and the Birkhill Family Foundation, Ken Burns, Martin Contreras and Keith Orr, Mei and Richard DeVarti, Susan Dise, Deborah Greer, Kasdan Family Foundation, Jeri Hollister and Tom Bray, Heidi Kumao, Wendy Lawson, Leslie Lawther and Matthew Graff, Morgan McCormick and Justin Bonfiglio, Cynthia Nicely, Gil Omenn and Martha Darling, Deb Polich and Russ Collins, Ellen Rabinowitz and David DeVarti, Paul Schutt, Robin and Ron Sober

$500 – $999

Molly Beedon and Patrick McLaughlin, Gary Boren, Sunita Bose-Partridge and Damani Partridge, Jennifer Conlin and Daniel Rivkin, Constance Crump and Jay Simrod, Anne Cutsinger and David Gilbertson, Vicki Engel and Dan Gunning, Jackie and John Farah, Fishman Wright Family Foundation, Darcy Ann Hall, Barbara Kessler and Dick Soble, Susan and Michael Landauer, Kari Magill and George Fisher, Nan and Kip Godwin, Noah and Ethan Kaplan, Kari Magill and George Fisher, Amy Moore, Deanna Morse, Barbara Murphy and Gavin Eadie, Marilyn Moss Rockefeller, Krissa and Jim Rumsey, Jeremy Seaver, Charles M Sutherland, Barbara Twist, Jim and Susan Warner, Marie Woo and Harvey Levine, Lynne Wright

$250 – $499

Jennifer and John Baird, Sandra Berman, Dennis J. Carter, Raymond Cleary, Mars Di Ritis and Jim Dwyer, Judith Freedman, Antonio David Garcia, Aileen Gilzow and Kathryn Pelz-Davis, Sean Kenny, Rashmi Menon, Hafsah Mijinyawa, Diana Raimi and John Dryden, Leslie Raymond and Jason Jay Stevens, Deanna Relyea and Piotr Michalowski, Jan Rishoi, David Rosenboom, Mary Ellen Rounsifer and Dennis Hayes, AJ Saulsberry, Erich Schifter, Vanessa Sly and Martin Thoburn, Pamela and Michael Smith, Francyne Stacey, Eleanor Stafford, Eric Wexler, Lars Bjorn and Susan Wineberg

BEQUEST INTENTIONS

If you would like to add AAFF to your estate plan, simply add this language to your will:

I give, devise, and bequeath to the Ann Arbor Film Festival

(a) the sum of $ ___________ or (b) ______ percent of my estate

to be used for the benefit of the festival as determined by

the executive director and the Board of Directors.

To let us know your intentions, or for questions and more information, please email leslie@aafilmfest.org. Thank you!

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization powered by a generous community of supporters. As the longest running independent and experimental film festival in North America, the AAFF serves as a critical forum for connecting filmmakers with audiences through the art form of film.