Opening Night was a packed house with a stylish, spirited crowd. Chick Strand’s first film “Angel Blue Sweet Wings” started this year’s screenings with beauty and music while Laidi Lertxundi’s “My Tears Are Dry” concluded the evening on another musical note, this time longing for more. In between we experienced a full spectrum of filmmakers exploring the world through the art form of film.

Flying Lotus delivered on the promise of his world premiere live score to Harry Smith’s “Heaven & Earth Magic” with a bonus appearance by Dr. Strangeloop and improvised audience Q&A. Those attending the sold out after party were not disappointed as FlyLo rocked the foundation of the Blind Pig.

The following night Kenneth Anger transfixed a packed house with his films and charmed everyone in his conversation with New York film critic Dennis Lim. Seemingly inspired by the gorgeous Michigan Theater, Anger was in fine form and stayed well beyond his program to sign autographs for adoring fans. Special thanks to AMPAS for making this unforgettable evening possible.

The Kids Are Alright program featured a pre-show puppet parade by FestiFools and music on toy instruments by Little Bang Theory, who later brilliantly scored a short silent film - The Mascot. Sandwiched in between were short films in competition that engaged and challenged filmgoers of all ages, including students from several area high schools that participated in AAFF media literacy workshops this winter.

This year’s festival also had its share of funny press headlines. My personal favorite was Cinema Chat during fest week: “Ann Arbor Film Fest highlights, dragons, hot tubs and more.” Read quickly it seemed to summarize our festival offerings; read more carefully it clearly was covering film happenings beyond the AAFF. But with our festival you never know what might appear - hot tubs and dragons are not farfetched...next year perhaps.

Donald Harrison
Executive Director
Ann Arbor Film Festival

They were talking about Jack Cronin's short film Sleeping Bear, which screened in closing night's Awarded Film Program 2.

"What was the point of that?" one asked. "I mean, were we supposed to be impressed because it was black and white?"

"I thought it was all right," the other piped in.

"You liked that?"

"Kind of."

And they disappeared into the bathroom.

Fifteen years ago if I had watched the same short film, a quiet evocation of a visit to Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore, I probably would have had the same reaction as the first woman.

Countless movies later, I can appreciate Cronin's patient meditation on the natural world, the way we experience it in a more immediate way. Sleeping Bear isn't about picture-postcard beauty or the grand idea of a natural setting but rather the small details that add up to a whole. When we encounter the natural world it isn't only through our eyes. It's the sounds and feel of a place. It's the bugs crawling through the loam and the pattern of sunlight that breaks through the upper branches of a tree and the way the breeze draws tears from our eyes. In 11 short minutes Cronin's film, if you let it, reminds you of what it feels like to be in the details of a place without revealing the big visual picture.

In many ways, this is a terrific way to experience the Ann Arbor Film Fest as a whole. Don't get hung up on the weird tangents, odd misfires or herky-jerky rhythms of the programs. Instead, lose yourself in each moment. Accept what's coming at you, roll it around your brain pan then decide whether you liked it or not. Whether it moved you. Or frustrated you. Or challenged you. The joy of the short film program is that no matter how off-putting, alien or uncomfortable a film might make you, there's another one just around the bend. Maybe the next will make you laugh your ass off. Or tweak your sense of nostalgia. Or just plain impress you with its virtuosity. Unlike any other film festival you'll attend, AAFF rewards its audiences by surprising them. There is no formula or predictable plot to follow. It isn't safe. But with the right attitude, it's immensely rewarding. Come out next year.

-Jeff Meyers
Jeff is a film critic with the Metro Times (catch his reviews there or on Rotten Tomatoes) and the managing editor of e-mags Concentrate and Metromode. He is also a screenwriter and filmmaker.

Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival  - $3,000 [co-winners]
Beauty Plus Pity - Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby
Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis - Daichi Saito


Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film - $1,000
Seven Songs About Thunder - Jennifer Reeder
Some Days Are Better Than Others - Matthew McCormick

Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film $1,000
Please Say Something - David OReilly


The Barbara Aronofsky Latham Award for Emerging Experimental Video Artist - $1,000
The Burning Blue - Jesse McLean

Prix DeVarti for Funniest Film - $1,000
El ataque de los robots de Nebulosa-5 - Chema Garcia Ibarra
Passage Briare - Friedl vom Groller (Kubelka)

Peter Wilde Award for Most Technically Innovative Film - $500
Travelling Fields - Inger Lise Hansen

\aut\FILM Award for Best LGBT Film - $500
City of Borders - Yun Suh

Award for Best Sound Design - $500
way fare - Sylvia Schedelbauer

Kodak/Filmcraft Imaging Award for Best Cinematography - $3,000 [$1,500 film plus $1,500 processing]
Songs from the Shed - Melika Bass
I Know Where I’m Going - Ben Rivers

Award for Best International Film - $750
Lost World - Gyula Nemes

Award for Best Michigan Filmmaker - $500
Sleeping Bear - Jack Cronin

Food Gatherers Feeding the Soul Award - $500
Portrait #3: House of Sound - Vanessa Renwick

The Eileen Maitland Award - $500
Twist of Fate - Karen Aqua

The No Violence Award  - $512
Golden Hour - Robert Todd

Jury Awards - $1,200
The City is Cinema Award: Vineland - Laura Kraning
The Doubling of Space Award: Simultaneous Contrast - Chris Kennedy
The False Fiction Award: Atlantropa - Samuel Stevens
The Lost and Found Award: From the Archives of an Inventor - Stephen Wetzel
The Map of Time Award: Piensa en Mi - Alexandra Cuesta
The Memory and Magic Award: A Letter to Uncle Boonmee - Apichatpong Weerasethakul