AAFF’s 23rd Annual Out Night and Other LGBTQ+ Programs
February 27, 2024
Remember, Broken Crayons Colour Too (2023)
For over two decades, the annual Out Night films in competition program has been one of the Ann Arbor Film Festival’s most eagerly anticipated and popular programs in the schedule. The 23rd annual Out Night program will take place on Thursday, March 28, 7:30pm in the Michigan Theater Main Auditorium and is organized again this year by Sean Donovan, a doctoral candidate in Film, Television, & Media at the University of Michigan, who will introduce the program.
Out Night at the 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival spotlights 6 contemporary experimental short films with LGBTQ+ themes, including a non-binary visual artist’s relationship with darkness; a collection of non-phallic dildos and forbidden love; learning two languages; the morality police; horrifying reminiscences transforming into music; and a journey along the paths of memory and desire. The films are:
The Sketch | Tomas Cali | Paris, France | 2023 | 9 minutes
Ele of the Dark | Yace Sula | Philadelphia, PA | 2022 | 13 minutes
Dildotectonics | Tomás Paula Marques | Lisbon, Portugal | 2023 | 15 minutes
Mast-del | Maryam Tafakory | London, UK | 2023 | 17 minutes (in person only)
Remember, Broken Crayons Colour Too | Ursa Kastelic & Shannet Clemmings
Zürich, Switzerland | 2023 | 14 minutes | UNITED STATES PREMIERE
Bolero | Nans Laborde-Jourdàa | Paris, France, | 2023 | 17 minutes |
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE (in person only)
This year the LGBTQ+ programming extends beyond Out Night with two feature films in competition:
Playland | Georden West | THU 3/28 9pm | State Theatre | 72 minutes
A raucous work of queer fantasy and history, "Playland" conjures a time-bending night in Boston’s oldest and most notorious gay bar.
Esther Newton Made Me Gay | Jean Carlomusto | SAT 3/30 5:30pm | Michigan Theater | 92 minutes This feature documentary explores the life and times of cultural anthropologist Esther Newton. Throughout her career, Esther was a pioneer – questioning and challenging status quo assumptions on gender, sexuality and anthropological methods. Her work inspired generations of scholars to pursue research in what would eventually become the field of LGBTQ+ and gender studies.
Out Night organizer Sean Donovan commented on the extended LGBTQ+ programming at the 62nd AAFF: “More and more in conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion people are starting to re-think the segregating principle of having one isolated place for diverse material, since it can unintentionally make the rest of the program more homogenous. I think it's best to have a balance of the two, and that's what we're doing! So that's great”
Additional short films with LGBTQ+ themes will also be presented so check the program schedule at aafilmfest.org when the schedule goes live on March 1!
