Ann Arbor Film Festival returns to its educational roots

By NATALIE WRIGHT
Editor

 

As the Ann Arbor Film Festival enters its 53rd year this week, it will also celebrate the life and work of its founder, George Manupelli, who died last September at the age of 82.

Today, the festival he founded is one of the largest and most acclaimed venues for experimental film.

Manupelli, who was an art professor at the University of Michigan, renowned by his students for his energy in the classroom, was passionate about the festival’s ability to teach, said Leslie Raymond, the AAFF’s executive director.

“I think he saw the festival as kind of an extension of educational practice,” Raymond said. “The screening committees were set up to all watch the films together and discuss them so that some type of educational process would go on.

“It’s not just about is the film good or bad,” Raymond said. “It incites ideas that deserve to be aired and discussed, and when people do that together, you learn a lot, and it creates this kind of social glue.”

This screening process continued for all the years that the festival showed movies shot on 16 millimeter film and was a source of great pride, Raymond said.

“Once things were opened up to digital over the last decade, we went from 300 entries to 3,000,” she said, so now most individual screeners watch the films alone.

But the AAFF is trying to return to its educational roots and build a community of members.

Dave DeVarti, a Washtenaw Community College trustee, works as a volunteer on the festival’s membership committee. For several years, the committee has been trying to rebuild its membership which eroded years ago, DeVarti said.

“What we’re trying to do, instead of having the festival and then disappearing until the next festival, we’re trying to do events throughout the year,” DeVarti said. These events have included showings of films from previous years’ festivals, educational events teaching the uninitiated about the language of experimental film and membership parties.

This year, some screeners even returned to the Manupelli model, sitting together to screen the films and engaging in discussion, Raymond.

A tribute for Manupelli is planned for the last day of the festival. It will include a 45-minute silent film by the founder with live musical accompaniment, as well as a series of talks from people who knew him – students, co-workers and friends.

Several of Manupelli’s films will also be displayed throughout the weeklong festival, and an exhibition of his paintings will hang in the Michigan Theater.

 

AAFF membership

Membership costs range from $50 to $300 for individuals and $80 to $500 for couples. Three different levels of membership come with different privileges, including tickets or all-access passes to the festival, invitations to year-round events, invitations to private parties and lounges during the festival and festival DVD collections.

For more information, visit the AAFF membership site.

 

Wojciech Bakowski retrospective

The Ann Arbor Film Festival will present the first North American film retrospective of Polish animated filmmaker Wojciech Bakowski, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in Polish modern contemporary art.

What: Bakowski’s program will include animated films from his “Spoken Film” series, “Making New Worlds Instead of Forgetting About It” – a lo-fi collage video – and his most recent piece “Sound of My Soul.”
When: Friday, March 27, 7 p.m.
Where: Michigan Theater Screening Room

 

Tacita Dean retrospective

British visual artist Tacita Dean, who works in a variety of mediums including drawing, photography and sound, but is best known for her work in 16 millimeter film, will be present at the festival for two programs presenting eight of her works, drawn from more than 40 films she’s created since 1992.

 

Program One

What: The program is composed of three films: “The Green Ray” – a three-minute film of a Madagascar sunset, “Kodak” – a 44-minute film shot in the last European Kodak factory to produce 16 millimeter film stock and “JG” – Dean’s most recent film, 26 minutes long, which was inspired by the artist’s correspondence with British author J.G. Ballard.
When: Wednesday, March 26, 9:15 p.m.
Where: Michigan Theater Screening Room

 

“Process and the Non-Deliberate Act”

What: Dean will present this lecture as a part of the Penny W. Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
When: Thursday, March 27, 5 p.m.
Where: Michigan Theater Screening Room

 

Program Two

What: Dean will present five films: “Disappearance at Sea,” “Bubble House” and “Teignmouth Electron” – a series of films inspired by stories of personal encounters with the sea, “Merce Cunningham performs STILLNESS” – a four-minute film of an 88-year-old legendary dancer and choreographer who was confined to a wheelchair and “Edwin Parker” – a portrait of artist Cy Twombley going about his daily activities.
When: Thursday March 27, 9:15 p.m.
Where: Michigan Theater Screening Room

 

Film festival tickets

Screenings
General Admission – $10
Students and seniors – $7
AAFF members – $7
Midnight movie – $8

Opening night reception and screening
General Admission – $40
Students and seniors – $30
AAFF and Michigan Theater members – $30
Fundraiser and Dinner Screening – $150

Festival Passes
(Includes opening night and all events)
General Admission $100
Students and seniors – $85
AAFF members – $85

Weekend Passes
(Includes Friday)
General Admission – $60
Students and seniors – $50

Ann Arbor Film Festival schedule

TUESDAY, MARCH 24, OPENING NIGHT

FUNDRAISER DINNER | 6-8 p.m.
MICHIGAN THEATER GREEN ROOM

Enjoy a strolling dinner with open bar, while experiencing the backstage lounge and supporting the future of the AAFF. Backstage Dinner guests are welcome and encouraged to join the main party in the Michigan Theater lobby. Dinner will be provided by The Ravens Club’s Chef Frank with bottomless cocktails featuring Sazerac spirits served and mixed by Ravens Club, along with Clayhouse Wines. Tickets include reserved seating for Opening Night Screening.

RECEPTION | 6-8 p.m.
MICHIGAN THEATER GRAND FOYER

The 53rd Festival opens with a reception featuring open bar with Clayhouse wines, signature Sazerac cocktails mixed by Ravens Club and Arbor Brewing Company beer, appetizers from local favorites Jerusalem Garden, Sava’s, the Lunchroom, Café Zola and more. Music by DJ Jeremy Wheeler.

SCREENING | 8:15PM
MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

Short films in competition, featuring animation, documentary, and experimental new works, including 1000 Plateaus by Steven Woloshen, Ziegler by Terri Sarris & Frank Pahl, Babash by Lisa Truttmann & Behrouz Rae, Of the Iron Range by Steve Wetzel, and Many Thousands Gone by Ephraim Asili.

AFTERPARTY

SAVA’S  | 10 PM-2AM  |  FREE

Continue the Opening Night celebration with drink specials and music at Sava’s!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25

WORKSHOPS &

PRESENTATIONS

EXPANDING FRAMES
10AM–12PM | ROOM 2435 NORTH QUAD, STATE ST. | FREE

Participate in this forum for talking, learning and doing. We aim to nurture both community and critical thinking while fostering a deeper understanding of the work showing at the Festival. Free and open to the public, with presentations and workshops most

mornings, Wednesday through Sunday, as well as 2-5pm Tuesday. (see aafilmfest.org for schedule).

JESSE McLEAN
JUROR PRESENTATION

12:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

Jesse McLean is a media artist whose work is concerned with both the power and the failure of the mediated experience to bring people together. She has presented her work at museums, galleries, and film festivals worldwide. McLean will present a program of six videos including her most recent work
I’m in Pittsburgh and It’s Raining (2015).

MUSIC VIDEOS IN COMPETITON

2:30PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM | $6

Recent videos by Adebukola Bodunrin, Mike Olenick, Theodore Darst, Zia Anger, Karen Yasinsky, Craig Webster, Tony Balko, Alexander Stewart and others featuring the music of Flying Lotus, Angel Olsen, Hiss Tracts, Steve Reich and more. Presented by co-programmer Lori Felker.

COMPUTER AGE:
EARLY COMPUTER MOVIES, 1952–1969

4:30PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

A four-decade survey of computer films presented by curators Gregory Zinman and Leo Goldsmith. Before the clones attacked, before the Na’vi Hometree was destroyed, before Buzz Lightyear went to infinity and beyond, avant-garde film and video pioneers were expanding
the bounds of the moving image by harnessing computer technology to create radical new ways of seeing. These two programs explore
the genesis of our current media landscape by looking back at the early computer films that introduced new materials and methods of filmmaking—from oscilloscope experiments to computer-assisted psychedelia; formative digital advertising to music videos—spanning from the 1950s to the 1980s, provoking a fresh perspective on art, technology, and the emergence of computer-generated imagery. The first program includes rarely seen experimental work created in the 1950s and 60s by Mary Ellen Bute, John Stehura, James Whitney, John Whitney, Nam June Paik, Pierre Hébert and others.

COMPUTER AGE:
EARLY COMPUTER MOVIES, 1971–1987
7PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

Highlights of the second program features work made in the 1970s and 80s by John Whitney, Jr., Robert Abel, Peter Foldès, Lillian Schwartz, Ed Emschwiller, Larry Cuba, Dean Winkler and Barbara Hammer
among others. Gregory Zinman and Leo Goldsmith in attendance.

FILMS IN COMPETITION 1
7:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

New experimental, documentary, narrative and animated films.

TACITA DEAN: PROGRAM ONE
9:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

The first of two programs with artist Tacita Dean, who has created
over 40 films since 1992. This program will feature The Green Ray (2001, 3 min, 16mm), a single continuous roll of 16mm film where Dean attempts to capture and document a rare optical phenomenon; Kodak (2006, 44 min, 16mm), shot in a Kodak factory in eastern France only weeks before its closure; and her most recent film, JG (2014, 26 min, 35mm) which was inspired by Dean’s correspondence with British author J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) regarding connections between his short story “The Voices of Time” (1960) and Robert Smithson’s iconic earthwork and film Spiral Jetty (1970).
Tacita Dean will be in attendance.

HÄXAN W/ LIVE SCORE BY DEMDIKE STARE

9:30PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

A special presentation of Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 legendary silent film Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages will be presented with an original live score performed by acclaimed duo Demdike Stare (Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty) from Manchester, England.

AFTERPARTY

THE RAVEN’S CLUB | 11PM-2AM | FREE

Enjoy independent and experimental mixology in a 1920s speakeasy setting

THURSDAY MARCH 26^TH

JOANNA RACZYNSKA
EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA IN EASTERN EUROPE

JUROR PRESENTATION
12:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM | FREE

Joanna Raczynska is assistant curator in the Film Department at
the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Raczynska co-curated,
with Ksenya Gurshtein, the eleven program series “Artists, Amateurs, Alternative Spaces: Experimental Cinema in Eastern Europe, 1960–1990” at the NGA in 2014. She will present a program of nine works from this series with films, all made in the 1970s, from Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Poland and Croatia.

HARUN FAROCKI: IMAGES OF THE WORLD AND THE INSCRIPTION OF WAR
3PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM | FREE

The vanishing point in Harun Farocki’s critically important 1988 film is the conceptual image of the ‘blind spot’ shared by evaluators of aerial footage taken in Germany during the war who identified the bombed IG Farben industrial plant but failed to see the Auschwitz concentration camp next to the factory. The history of those pictures forms a

central motif in Farocki’s elliptical cinematic essay on the nature of photographic reality and the role of the observer. Images of the World is considered one of the greatest works by Farocki, who created over 100 films before he passed away in July, 2014.

PENNY W. STAMPS PRESENTS
TACITA DEAN
5:10PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM | FREE

A visual artist who has worked in a variety of media including drawing, photography and sound, Tacita Dean is best known for her work
in 16mm film. She will present “Process and the Non-Deliberate
Act”, a lecture about her work. Dean’s solo exhibitions include Tate Britain, London; Schaulager, Basel; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Nicola Trussardi Foundation, Milan; and MUMOK, Vienna. She was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize in 2006 and the Kurt Schwitters Prize in 2009. In 2011, she made FILM as part of the Unilever series of commissions in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, which marked the beginning of her campaign to protect the medium of photochemical film. Other recent exhibitions include dOCUMENTA, Venice Biennale, Berlin Biennale and Biennale of Sydney.

EPISODE OF THE SEA

7:00PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

The result of a two-year collaboration with the residents of Urk, a remote, now landlocked Dutch fishing village, Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan’s performance/research project extends their ongoing examination of borders and economic regulations, building a parallel between the shifting obsolescence of traditional fishing culture and filmmaking itself. Shot in black-and-white 35mm, a dozen staged sequences performed by the Urkers are matched with the filmmakers’ self-reflexive log of encounters, to form a critical commentary on the historical moment. — MoMA

PEACOCK (2015) – Andrew Kim

7 PM

FILMS IN COMPETITION 2
7:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

New experimental, documentary, narrative and animated films.

TACITA DEAN: PROGRAM TWO
9:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

The second of two programs will feature five works by Tacita Dean, who will be in attendance. Disappearance at Sea (1996, 14 min, 16mm anamorphic), Bubble House (1999, 9 min, 16mm), and Teignmouth Electron (2000, 7 min, 16mm) are from a series of works inspired by remarkable stories of personal encounters with the sea. The program concludes with two of Dean’s portrait films, Merce Cunningham performs STILLNESS (I) (2007, 4 min, 16mm), and Edwin Parker (2011, 29 min, 16mm), a portrait of the artist Cy Twombley.

OUT NIGHT: FILMS IN COMPETITON
9:30PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

Our 14th annual celebration of queer identity, with a program of films by Trevor Anderson, Vika Kirchenbauer and Jennifer Reeder, whose film Blood Below the Skin (2015, 30 min) receives its North American premiere.

CINEMA AND MUSIC PERFORMANCE
OJOBOCA / WOJCIECH BĄKOWSKI

PERFORMANCE NETWORK | 120 EAST HURON ST. 11:30PM–1AM | $5

A Home Inside, a live presentation with three 16mm projectors by Berlin-based artists OJOBOCA (Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy) will precede a performance by Warsaw-based artist and musician Wojciech Bąkowski.

AFTERPARTY

SH\AUT\ & \AUT\BAR | 11PM–2AM | FREE

Out Night continues at SH\aut\ & \aut\BAR with complimentary appetizers and fire pits in the courtyard!

FRIDAY MARCH 27^TH

JULIE MURRAY
JUROR PRESENTATION
12:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM | FREE

Julie Murray will present a program of films and digital media including recent works End Reel (2014), Line of Apsides (2014) and Cyan (2015). Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Murray has been based in the US since the 1980s where she has made more than twenty-five films and digital artworks which have been exhibited internationally.

WHAT FAROCKI TAUGHT: JILL GODMILOW

SCREENING AND DISCUSSION
3PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM | FREE

What Farocki Taught (1998, 30 min, 16mm) is Jill Godmilow’s shot-by- shot remake of Harun Farocki’s 1969 film Inextinguishable Fire, about the development of Napalm B by Dow Chemical during the Vietnam War. Following the film, Godmilow and Toronto-based filmmaker Mike Hoolboom will discuss Godmilow’s film and the work of Harun Farocki.

JANE CASSIDY
GALLERY TALK & RECEPTION
5PM–6:30PM | WORK GALLERY | 306 S. STATE ST.

A reception for an exhibition of three works by Jane Cassidy, who will give an informal talk about her work. A New Orleans-based multi- media artist from Ireland, Cassidy trained in music composition and animation. Her main interests lie in visual music, live visuals, electro- acoustic composition and multi-channel work.

WOJCIECH BĄKOWSKI: RETROSPECTIVE
7PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

The first North American film retrospective of artist Wojciech Bąkowski, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in Polish
modern contemporary art. Bąkowski’s animated films and videos
are characterized by expressive images and rely on an extensive commentary delivered in a low, trance-like voice by a peculiar “narrator”. Continuous monologues, both wryly humorous and melancholic, offer unexpected observations of the narrator’s space: urban, private and mental. Bąkowski’s program will include animated films from his Spoken Film series, his lo-fi collage video Making New Worlds Instead of Forgetting About It as well as his most recent video Sound of My Soul.

FILMS IN COMPETITION 3
7:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

New experimental, documentary, narrative and animated films.

TRANSATLANTIQUE

FEATURE IN COMPETITION
9:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

Transatlantique is Montreal filmmaker Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s debut feature-length documentary filmed during a trans-Atlantic crossing aboard a cargo ship. Beautifully shot on 16mm black-and-white film, Transatlantique offers an immersive view of the journey and the daily life aboard and reveals the ship as a microcosm: a human island in the heart of a great elsewhere. Preceded by 16mm films vindmøller by Margaret Rorison and Steel Mill Rolling by Ross Nugent.

ANIMATED FILMS IN COMPETITON
9:30PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

International program of animation including World of Tomorrow by Don Hertzfeldt.

CINEMA AND MUSIC PERFORMANCE

BUKE & GASE W/ TED KENNEDY & TECHNICOLOR N.G.
310 E. WASHINGTON ST. | 11:30PM – 1AM | $5

A live musical performance by Buke & Gase with visual projections by Ted Kennedy, preceded by Technicolor N.G., a 16mm film with live sound by John Klascmann and Walter Forsberg.

AFTERPARTY

THE BAR AT 327 | 11PM–2AM | FREE

Celebrate the festival with a drink at our neighborhood upscale dive bar!

SATURDAY, MARCH 28^TH

FILMS IN COMPETITION 4
11AM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

Experimental and non-fiction films including one of Harun Farocki’s final works – Parallel I-IV, which focuses on the construction, visual landscape and inherent rules of computer-animated worlds.

FILMS IN COMPETITION 5 (AGES 6+)
11AM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM | $6

A program of documentary, animated, experimental and short narrative films for bright and curious people (ages 6+).

FILMS IN COMPETITION 6
1PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

New experimental, documentary, narrative and animated films.

FILMS IN COMPETITION 7
1PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

New experimental, documentary, narrative and animated films.

LE RÉVÉLATEUR AND
KARL LEMIEUX / ROGER TELLIER-CRAIG
LIVE CINEMA PERFORMANCES
3PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

Le Révélateur is Montreal video artist Sabrina Ratté and musician Roger Tellier-Craig (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Fly Pan Am). They will present a live audio/visual performance using a varying array
of digital and analogue technologies. Karl Lemieux (filmmaker and projectionist for GY!BE) will perform a work for five 16mm projectors with live music by Roger Tellier-Craig.

FILMS IN COMPETITION 8
3PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

New experimental, documentary, narrative and animated films.

IRON MINISTRY 铁道
FEATURE IN COMPETITION
5PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

Filmed over three years on China’s railways, The Iron Ministry traces the vast interiors of China, a country on the move: flesh and metal, clangs and squeals, light and dark, and language and gesture. Scores of rail journeys come together into one, capturing the thrills and anxieties of social and technological transformation. The Iron Ministry immerses audiences in fleeting relationships and uneasy encounters between humans and machines on what will soon be the world’s largest railway network. JP Sniadecki (director of Foreign Parts and People’s Park) will be in attendance.

THE CREATION OF MEANING

FEATURE IN COMPETITION
7PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

The second film from Simone Rapisarda Cassanova who was awarded “Most Promising Filmmaker” at the 50th AAFF for his film The Strawberry Tree. Set in the Tuscan Alps, where German occupying forces massacred hundreds of civilians during WWII, the film follows the daily life of Pacifico, a shepherd born in the wake of the war among those same breathtaking landscapes. The film blurs fiction, documentary and anthropology to explore the transient nature of meaning in capturing what Borges calls an Aleph, an allegorical singularity in space and time where past, present and future overlap and intertwine. Simone Rapisarda Cassanova in attendance

FILMS IN COMPETITION 9
7:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

New experimental, documentary, and animated films including Buffalo Juggalos by Scott Cummings.

SPECULATION NATION

FEATURE IN COMPETITION
9:15PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

Filmmakers Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat travel across Spain to document the consequences of the housing crisis. What they find are Spanish citizens, inspired by the politics of The 15M Movement and Occupy Wall Street, who are mobilizing, collectivizing, and fighting for their right for a decent place to live. “Speculation Nation” examines the ideologies that separate housing from home, and real estate speculation from speculations about a better way to live.
Bill Brown & Sabine Gruffat in attendance

FILMS IN COMPETITION 10
9:30PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

New experimental, documentary, and animated films.

CINEMA & MUSIC PERFORMANCE
JANE CASSIDY & JUSTIN WALTER
ALVAREZ & DYE
PERFORMANCE NETWORK | 120 EAST HURON ST. 11:30PM–2AM | $5

Ann Arbor-based musician and Kranky recording artist Justin Walter will perform analog electronics with projections by Jane Cassidy.
Bay area filmmakers Alfonso Alvarez and Steve Dye will perform In This Tunnel, a work for four 16mm projectors, sound, and FM broadcast.

MIDNIGHT MOVIE

TRON

12AM | STATE THEATRE | $8

A part of the Computer Age series (see Wednesday),
Steven Lisberger’s 1982 film will be presented on LaserDisc.

AFTERPARTY

TBD | 11PM–2AM | FREE

Dance the night away with a special DJ set from Shigeto!

SUNDAY, MARCH 29^TH

FOREST OF BLISS: ROBERT GARDNER
11AM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

Poet Seamus Heaney wrote of the ‘deep and literate gaze’ Robert Gardner (1925-2014) transmits ‘with an intensity that passes
from the documentary into the visionary’ in his film Forest of Bliss (1986), a landmark work of non-fiction filmmaking and controversial within visual anthropology. An unsparing look at the chaos of daily life in Benares (Varanasi), India, one of the world’s most holy cities, Forest of Bliss unfolds from one sunrise to the next with no voiceover commentary, dialogue or subtitles, forcing the viewer to focus on the larger issues of life and death that gradually and inevitably take hold.

REGIONAL FILMS IN COMPETITION
11AM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

Recent narrative, documentary, animated and experimental films from southeastern Michigan and northern Ohio including A Park for the City, Nicole MacDonald’s essay film on Belle Isle. Filmmakers in attendance with discussion moderated by co-programmer Jen Proctor.

THE ROYAL ROAD

FEATURE IN COMPETITION
1PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

A cinematic essay in defense of remembering, The Royal Road offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia,

butch identity, unavailable women and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo — all against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes, and featuring a voiceover cameo by Tony Kushner. This bold, innovative film from acclaimed San Francisco filmmaker Jenni Olson combines rigorous historical research with lyrically written personal monologue and relates these seemingly disparate stories from an intimate, colloquial perspective to tell a one-of-a-kind California tale.

FILMS IN COMPETITION 11
1PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM

New experimental, documentary, narrative and animated films.

TRIBUTE TO GEORGE
SPEAKERS, FILM & PERFORMANCE
2:45PM | MICHIGAN THEATER MAIN AUDITORIUM | FREE

George Manupelli was a filmmaker, painter, sculptor, poet, songwriter, teacher, political and environmental activist, raconteur, and the founder of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Prolific as an artist until his demise in September 2014, Manupelli touched numerous people during his lifetime, several of whom will speak today including performance artist Pat Oleszko. The presentation includes a rare screening of Manupellli’s film Portraits, Self Portraits and Still Lives 1972-73 with Special Reference to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, or This is Not Aufwiedersehen This is Goodbye, which will be accompanied by an original score performed live by Los Angeles- based composer David Rosenboom. The tribute to George also includes a special exhibition of the artist’s work in the Michigan Theater lobbies.

MAÏDAN: SERGEI LOZNITSA
3PM | MICHIGAN THEATER SCREENING ROOM

One of the most critically acclaimed non-fiction films of the past year, Maïdan is Sergei Loznitsa’s monumental documentary portrait of a revolution in the making. Maïdan captures the events in Kiev’s eponymous public square over the course of ninety crucial days: from late 2013, when citizens gathered to demonstrate against Ukrainian President Ianoukovitch’s regime, to March 2014, when the protest became an outright insurrection. — Andréa Picard

Self Portraits, Portaits and Still Lives (1974) – George Manupelli, 3pm

Comments

comments