The Ann Arbor Film Festival was a complete and total success from my standpoint. From our accomodations at Jacob Mendel's house, to my burger from Mr. Greeks; Ann Arbor was an exceptional time. After getting settled in, our group consisting of Mauricio Guidino, Utah Snyder, Kat, Joshua Hurt, and Myself made our way to the opening gala at the Michigan Theatre for opening night. In addition to an open bar, opening night had the first set of screenings of which "Western Spaghetti" by PES caught my eye.
The following morning, students from the University of Michigan and the University of New Mexico joined our class for a student screening in the Argus room at U of M. It was interesting to see the variety of films made under the same set of guidelines, but with different scenery, instructors, and equipment. Everything from found footage, to technically challanging animations were shown. I chose to show the video from my recent installation "Minute-ness," last seen at Luminaria.
The next few days were spent hoofing around Ann Arbor watching Films and checking out the city. I checked out everything from the Art facilities they had at U of M, to the Bar scene and many things in between. Highlights from the various screenings would include Don Hertzfeldt's work and discussion to "Rip, a remix manifesto" (http://www3.nfb.ca/webextension/rip-a-remix-manifesto/) putting the icing on the cake. This film, by Brett Gaylor was a great watch and something all schools should promote for the better understanding of "what is art" and the topic of "fair use."
A personal favorite of things to do in Ann Arbor was the 16mm Kodak "Stop by Shoot Film" workshop. As a touring event, Kodak sends out experienced cinematographers to teach how to set-up and use a 16mm motion picture camera. Originally signed up for only the 1pm saturday class, I was able to return and experience the class one more time at 4pm. It worked as follows: 20 minute introduction of the camera and film as a medium, one-by-one got to set-up test the lighting, and shoot what we wanted. After the film gets developed in Kodaks Detroit-based lab they are sending each participant a DVD of what was shot. Overall a great experience.
