NEWS

63rd Ann Arbor film festival dazzles Michigan Theatre

Courtney Prielipp | Photo Editor

The Michigan Theatre is shown at night with a brightly lit sign advertising the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

The Michigan Theater hosted the 63rd Ann Arbor Film Festival. It was built in 1928 and is still in use to this day. The theater still remains a “focal point for arts and entertainment,” according to the Michigan Theater website.

A banquet of food is shown with many people gathering and filling their plates.

Before the opening night screening, food was offered in the Grand Foyer at the Michigan Theater. All of the food was from local restaurants in the Ann Arbor area.

Valerie Egan stands behind a banquet table and serves shrimp from a large tray to Tom Bray.

Valerie Egan (left), the event manager for Sava’s, serves food to Tom Bray, the technical director for the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Bray said it is amazing that the Ann Arbor Film Festival has been going on for 63 years and what it stands for as an alternative film celebration for local and international filmmakers.

Serving food was Hediye Batu Zakalik from Zola Bistro. Zola Bistro is a local Ann Arbor restaurant.

Christopher Taylor, the mayor of Ann Arbor, spoke during the opening of the festival. Taylor said to the audience, “You are here because you don’t mind your beauty being a little different. In fact, you kind of like it. You don’t mind your beauty being a little weird.”

Jule Korperich (left), Joanie Wind, Justin Kaminuma, Stephanie Miracle, Auden Lincoln-Vogel, and Karin Fisslthaler are six of the nine directors of the films being shown on Tuesday the 25.

Joanie Wind (left), Justin Kaminuma, and Stephanie Miracle are 3 film directors from films in competition 1. Kaminuma answers a question from the audience about how he made his film, The Last Thing I Think I Saw, that was all photographed then scanned.

Leslie Raymond (left) listens to Jule Korperich, the director and animator for Fotorevolte, answer questions from the audience. An audience member asked if Korperich did any research about the history of photography since her short film depicts how the world’s global storage space is filled with digital photographs and films that came to life.

Stephanie Miracle and Auden Lincoln-Vogel filmed and directed the short film, Purgatorio. It was a six-minute film showing abstract angles that followed from one frame into the next.