Ann Arbor Film Festival Totally Explained

Everything about The Ann Arbor Film Festival totally explained

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the 2nd oldest film festival in North America and has become one of the premier film festivals for independent and, especially, experimental filmmakers to showcase their work. Now in its 46th year, the Ann Arbor Film Festival attracts over 2,000 entries from filmmakers in more than 30 countries, and distributes over $23,000 in awards. Created as an alternative to commercial cinema, the annual week-long festival remains true to its original goal of promoting film as an art form. The Ann Arbor Film Festival also fosters the growth of emerging and established film and video producers. The festival is open to film and video of all lengths and genres, including experimental, narrative, animation, and documentary. The festival’s mission is to provide a worldwide public forum for moving image exhibitions, to encourage and showcase artists of the moving image, to promote the moving image as art, and to offer educational outreach. The Ann Arbor Film Festival has become one of the most active film organizations in the country championing artists' rights of expression and free speech. This year's festival runs March 25-30, 2008.

History

The Ann Arbor Film Festival was founded in 1963 by University of Michigan professor George Manupelli. Manupelli originally screened only films in the 16 mm format, and thus the festival was called the 16 mm Film Festival. The festival gained prominence quickly, as it was one of the few outlets for experimental filmmakers to screen their work. The festival began accepting entries in the 35 mm format and moved from Lorch Hall on the University of Michigan campus to the Michigan Theater, an Ann Arbor landmark with a seating capacity of 1700. In 1980, after becoming independent from the University of Michigan, the festival changed its name to the Ann Arbor Film Festival. In 2003 the festival began accepting entries in digital formats, opening up the festival to more filmmakers.
The Ann Arbor Film Festival recently received cuts to its state funding for exhibiting films that some state legislators deemed to be in violation of MCACA funding guidelines. This came in reaction to an article describing several recent festival entries written by the free-market oriented Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which is critical of using tax dollars to fund artistic pursuits, regardless of their content. Because MCACA guidelines are vague and restrictive, and because artistic compromises would be required to adhere to them, the AAFF board of directors voted unanimously to not apply for MCACA funding for at least two years as long as the guidelines are in place.
With support in the midst of this controversy, the AAFF recently received a $10,000 grant from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (www.oscars.org), to be used to raise awareness of the arts funding issues. At the 45th festival in March 2007, special programming addressed government censorship and 1st Amendment issues that arts organizations often face, and panel discussions addressed the AAFF situation, as well as the importance of public funding for the arts.

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