The Antidote to Brain Rot? Experimental Film.

September 4, 2026

Lets Art About It Workshop at CLUSTER Museum

On a rainy Sunday in June, we convened a dedicated group of 18 Ann Arbor Film Festival constituents—including board members, committee volunteers, donors, members, and staff—for an art-therapy-based visionary workshop. Our goal? To dig deep and discover what truly matters to the AAFF community.

This unique experiment was inspired by a recent UC Santa Barbara study highlighting the negative cognitive effects of endless doom-scrolling on TikTok and YouTube. The fascinating antidote discovered by those scientists? Experimental film. As reported in The Hollywood Reporter, watching just a few minutes of challenging, thought-provoking moving image art can open minds, spark creativity, and counteract social media "brain rot."

To bring this concept to life for our organization, we partnered with Dr. Shazia Siddiqi, a board-certified art therapist and licensed professional counselor. Through her practice at Let’s Art About It, Dr. Siddiqi specializes in creative corporate and community development services including collective visioning and visual strategic mapping.

Using the UCSB study as a launchpad, she designed and led us through "Preserving Human Possibility: An Art Therapy-Informed Organizational Visioning Experience." Participating in the workshop, our constituents built a powerful case for support, exploring how our festival acts as a vital cultural intervention in an increasingly digital world.

Over the course of three hours, our attendees collaborated to distill the core values that connect us. From decades-long supporters to young people advocating for the next generation, those in the room represented a rich, ground-up cross-section of the community behind AAFF—the internationally renowned, oldest experimental film festival in the world.

The result of this collective effort is a brand-new AAFF Community Vision Statement that will guide our staff, contractors, committees, donors, and sponsors moving forward.

AAFF Community Vision Statement

June 30, 2026

The Ann Arbor Film Festival exists because community, freedom of expression, and boundless creativity are essential to what makes us human.

We create a welcoming space where artists and audiences gather to challenge convention. We celebrate diverse voices. We embrace experimentation as a vital force for connection, discovery, and cultural evolution.

We believe experimental film is an ever-evolving expression of individual creativity—one that inspires new ways of seeing, feeling, and understanding ourselves and one another. By championing fearless artistic exploration, we sustain a tradition that transcends generations and ensures that imagination remains free to shape our shared future.

As our Call for Entries season is officially underway, we massively thank the filmmakers for making and submitting their work. You are creating the very antidote our culture needs, and we are proud to protect this special space and champion your creativity, vision, and voices.

Want to stay connected with the festival as we gear up for the upcoming season? Sign up for our AAFF E-Newsletter to get regular updates, community stories, and festival news delivered straight to your inbox.