AAFF Presents Takes a Field Trip to Third Mind Books for the Short Films of Jack Cronin

June 16, 2023

Join Detroit-based artist, filmmaker, and educator Jack Cronin as he takes AAFF Presents on a short “field trip” from the State Theatre (our series monthly home) to Third Mind Books, our event partner located at 118 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor. This free screening of 8 of Cronin's (mostly) Michigan-themed short films will take place at 7 pm on Tuesday, July 11. Meet us there!

Field Trip, Short Films of Jack Cronin presents eight of his short films that he created, he said, “to convey an affection for the strangeness and wonder of the landscape around us.” These films use both representational and abstracted images to suggest the subjectivity of place and invite the viewer to meditate on the natural and constructed world. Cronin will participate in a Q&A after the screening.

Click image above to watch the trailer

Cronin describes the eight short films in the program:

Island (Isle Royale National Park, MI, 2023, 2.5 minutes) is a filmic postcard from Isle Royale National Park.

Invisible City (Detroit, MI, 2006, 11 minutes) was filmed in Detroit between 2002 and 2005. Inspired by Italo Calvino’s Le città invisibili, in which the Italian author suggests that what constitutes a city is not so much its physical structure but the impression it makes upon its visitors. The film is loosely organized into four segments representing spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Sleeping Bear (Empire, MI, 2010, 11 minutes) was filmed at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan over the course of three years. The film, which loosely follows the cycle of seasons, is a study of the landscape and an attempt to represent the unique character of this region.

Rivergarden (Ann Arbor, MI, 2013, 10 minutes) explores the river as a place of spectacle and reverie. Filmed along the Huron River and Malletts Creek in Ann Arbor and Dexter, Michigan, the film incorporates images of light and moving water as well as the filmmaker’s children.

Pictured Rocks (Munising, MI, 2019, 8 minutes 40 seconds) is an immersive tone poem, with a perspective both granular and cosmic, that captures the ebb and flow of seasons along Michigan’s Upper Peninsula lakeshore.

Pictured Rocks

Mirage (Las Vegas, NV, 2019, 6 minutes 20 seconds) is a study of Las Vegas and the Red Rock Canyon through dense, lyrical, fantastical images.

The Wind That Held Us Here (Leamington, ON, 2021, 6 minutes 25 seconds)

During their annual migration to Mexico, thousands of Monarch butterflies funnel into Point Pelee National Park in Leamington, Ontario, where they wait for calm weather to allow them to fly across Lake Erie. The Wind That Held Us Here is a visual expression of the fleeting wind and ever passing time.

The Wind That Held Us Here

Communion (Cranbrook Gardens, MI, 2023, 2.5 minutes) is a micro investigation of the communion between bees and flowers.

We are also very excited that this event gives us a chance to partner with our friends at Third Mind Books! Named after the book by WIlliam S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, they specialize in works by and about the Beat Generation & the San Francisco Renaissance. Curated by Arthur S. Nusbaum, Third Mind Books also offers items from the Modernist, "New York School" & "Black Mountain" canons, along with essential rarities from other notable movements and more recent publications of notable authors and philosophers. Third Mind Books is located at 118 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor.

In August, AAFF Presents continues at the State Theatre with the following films selected from the 61st festival:

• August 8, Huahua’s Dazzling World and its Myriad Temptations, Daphne Xu (China)

• September 12, Adieu Sauvage, Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento (Colombia)

Winner, Best Documentary, 61st Ann Arbor Film Festival

• October 10, Kapr Code, Lucie Králová (Czech Republic)

• November 14, Berbu - The Wedding Parade, Sevinaz Evdike (Syrian Arab Republic)

We look forward to seeing you on July 11th at Third Mind Books and then back at the State Theatre for the August through November screenings!