Spend an All Ages Saturday at the 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival
March 19, 2024
Two One Two by Shira Avni
While experimental film often can seem challenging and inexplicable to newcomers, many of the processes adopted by filmmakers are based on games and spontaneous activities to which children are naturally drawn.
The 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival has created a Saturday schedule for March 30th (9am - 2:30pm) with families and children of almost all ages (6+) in mind! Families can start with a hands-on activity in the morning between 9am and noon where they can see their creations brought to life with a film projector!
After a choose-your-own lunch in downtown Ann Arbor, family activities shift to the Michigan Theater at 1pm for a ceiling-gazing introduction to the lobby decorations created by artist Noel Stupak in the March 2nd Hope for Harmony workshop with the assistance of Ann Arbor area families.
Finally at 1:30pm, families can relax in the luxurious seats of the Michigan Theater Main Auditorium for the Almost All Ages film program for movie lovers aged 6 and up, and the tickets are a family friendly $7! Read more below about this wonderfully wild and wonderful collection of films all of which are chosen with 6+ attention spans in mind.
Saturday, March 25
The Joy of LOOPing with the Pickle Fort Film Collective
9am-12pm | North Quad Space 2435 | FREE
Families are invited to try their hand at creating short hand-drawn and painted loops of film. All the necessary tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your own favorite Sharpies. We will premiere your unique cinema art on the spot with live sound.
In 2012, Sean Kenny formed the Pickle Fort Film Collective, which specializes in the creation of handmade 16mm film loops.
Dancing in Line and Color in the Michigan Theater Lobby
1-1:30pm
Join artist Noel Stupak for an exploration of the positive plus signs she created for the Michigan Theater Lobby with the exuberant participation of Ann Arbor area families during the Hope for Harmony: Dancing in Line and Color workshop at the Ann Arbor District Library on March 2.
Films in Competition 9: Almost All Ages (6+)
1:30-2:30pm | Michigan Theater Main Auditorium | $7
SPONSOR: Michigan Theater/State Theatre
COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Ann Arbor District Library & the Ann Arbor Summer Festival
kāua — we (you & I)
Rachel Makana’aloha O Kauikeolani Nakawatase
Newhall, CA | 2023 | 2 | digital file
WORLD PREMIERE
In an attempt to use mirror divination, a spirit appears as a clever creature during the year of the rabbit.
Austin Karimloo
Patricia Luna
Los Angeles, CA | 2023 | 4 | DCP
This short film was inspired byproducer and composer Peter Rotter’s experience working remotely with his employees and
colleagues during the worldwide quarantine for the COVID–19 pandemic, as he tried to find and foster joy, despite the lack of in-person physical presence and connection.
Necktie Cinema
John Akre
Louisville, KY | 2023 | 4 | digital file
What if all the neckties stopped trying to strangle us and showed us their movies instead?
Minus Plus Multiply
Chu-Chieh Lee
London, UK | 2023 | 4 | digital file
With a container as a motif and a metaphor for a safe place, the story surrounds the protagonist’s self-searching and healing journey, exploring the relationship between emotion and space. The film attempts to construct psychological self-portraits and a poetic narrative through experimentation in 2D animation, stop-motion, and sound. It reflects sensibility, fragility, and fragmentation of identity by applying pottery and clay.
Glitter for Girls
Federica Foglia
Toronto, ON | 2023 | 4 | DCP
WORLD PREMIERE
Glitter for Girls is a handmade tattoo film that utilizes a cameraless direct-on-film animation approach to craft a collage composed of multiple layers of water tattoos (commonly used by children).
The Forestbetween
Mar Sudac
Los Angeles, CA | 2022 | 13 | digital file
UNITED STATES PREMIERE
A land surveyor is sent to map an ominous forest between two rival kingdoms.
Somnia
Farbod Khoshtinat
Los Angeles, CA | 2023 | 3 | digital file
A girl, drowned in the depths of her dreams, swims through a perilous quest to find a way to awaken and escape her subconscious prison.
Bella Luna
Virginia L. Montgomery
Austin, TX | 2023 | 4 | digital file
Bella Luna is a surreal, synesthesia-esque film interweaving a cacophony of circular
symbols, sounds, and gestures. The film features Bella, a North American luna moth, as she
gently flutters between sticks and bells. Her moth-ly movements create the film’s soundtrack as her human companion hand-dances alongside her. Working together, they co-create a healing soundscape as both entities, moth and human, share a common dialogue of sounds,
symbols, and intimacy.
Two One Two
Shira Avni
Montreal, QC, Canada | 2023 | 4 | DCP
Two One Two combines shimmering clay-on-glass animation with personal archives in a
deeply intimate, experimental animated documentary love letter to motherhood, parenting on
the spectrum, and two-headed monsters everywhere.
Soul Supreme: Geshem Bejuni
Tal Uliel
Jerusalem, Israel | 2023 | 3 | digital file
This music video clip for Soul Supreme was created as a graduate project by Tal Uliel from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. It aims to blend an analog aesthetic with 3D compositing, and draws inspiration from risograph printing and abstract geometry.
I'm Lost to the World
Tiger Cai
New York, NY | 2023 | 2 | digital file
I'm Lost to the World,an audiovisual daydream on an alien beach,is part of an ongoing worldview-building project named Wonderland and the Funny Fellows.
For more information and tickets, please visit aafilmfest.org
