Opening Night Gala Reception & Screening

 

 

 

When: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Where: Michigan Theater
Tickets: $20 general / $15 members* / 8$ Screening Only

*AAFF and Michigan Theater Members, this event only.
 Free to Festival Pass holders

6:00 - 8:00PM Gala Reception
Kick-off this year's celebration of cinema by joining the electric atmosphere in the lobby of the Michigan Theater. You will be treated to a delectable catering spread by local favorite Sava's State Street Cafe, a selection of high-quality wines from Italy, Spain, and Uruguay by U.S. Wine Imports of Ann Arbor, microbrews from Ann Arbor Brewing company, Absolut vodka, Maker's Mark and chocolates by Schakolad. Live music performed for your partying pleasure by Los Gatos.

8:10PM Screening
Opening remarks from executive director Christen McArdle, Mayor Hieftje of Ann Arbor, and Russ Collins of the Michigan Theater are followed by a screening of some indelible, can't-miss shorts from this year's films in competition.

Shorts Playing

Doxology (Michael Langan, 7 min) [link]
An experimental comedy about tennis, dancing cars, and God.

My Olympic Summer (Daniel Robin, 13 min) [link]
Against the backdrop of his own failed marriage, the director re-examines old 8mm films of his parents as seemingly blissful newlyweds, while revisiting the international drama of the 1972 Olympic Games that gave their marriage a new beginning.

Yours Truly (Osbert Parker, 7 min) [link]
Film icons burst through yesterday's emulsion in this mix of animation and footage gathered from live action films.

Phantom (Luke Sieczek, 6 min) [link]
Rearticulating scenes from Jacques Tourneur's CAT PEOPLE, actress Simone Simon's face is a luminous surface in a permanent state of unrest.

America in Pictures (Georg Koszulinski, 7 min) [link]
Various non-conventional film-developing and light exposure methods were used to create the strange and frenetic visual effects of America in Pictures.

Frog Jesus (Ben Peters, 2 min) [link]
He thought he could make a frog Jesus.

Safari (Catherine Chalmers, 8 min) [link]
A startlingly intimate adventure through one of earth's "smaller" ecosystems.

Portrait #2: Trojan (Vanessa Renwick, 5 min) [link]
The Portrait Series is part of an ongoing series of filmed places, stories and histories of Cascadia with scores by musicians living in the Pacific Northwest.

Bullet Proof Vest (May Lin Au Yong, 6 min) [link]
Welcome to Richmond California, where children neither walk to school, nor go to the park - not if they want to live past the age of 18.

I Met the Walrus (Josh Raskin, 5 min) [link]
In 1969, fourteen-year-old Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room with his tape recorder and persuaded him to do an interview.

Smells Like Teen Spirit (Jem Cohen, 8 min) [link]
A captivating portrait of legendary singer Patti Smith and her son, Jackson.