ANN ARBOR, Mich. — On Tuesday, March 21, join us as we kick off the 61st Ann Arbor Film Festival with Experimental Style at the Opening Night Party! See old friends, meet new ones, and do a Spiral Coil Turn About below artist Noel Stupak’s Michigan Theater lobby installation of the same name. Sample some of the best food and beverages that Ann Arbor offers while the excitement builds for the first screening of the Festival, Films in Competition 1, which begins our six-day celebration of experimental film. The Party begins at 6pm and the screening starts at 8:15.
You better come early, though, because the Festival day begins even earlier at 4 pm with the opening reception for the Off the Screen Installations at North Quad Space 2435, featuring a live cinema performance at 4:30 by Darrin Martin. You should also plan to stay late for Tuesday night concludes with the first After Party of the Festival, across the street at Knight’s featuring music by Trip Flammonds Trio from 9:30-11:30.
Noel Stupak’s installation for the 60th AAFF in 2022
If you are joining us online this year from wherever you find yourself in the world, head to Gather Town for a post screening conversation with other festival attendees and probably a handful of filmmakers too!
For more information and to buy in person or online tickets and passes for the 61st AAFF head to our homepage. We can’t wait to you in person or online for another spectacular celebration of experimental film and filmmakers from around the world!
TUESDAY, MARCH 21 | NORTH QUAD SPACE 2435 and MICHIGAN THEATER
Reception 4-5:30pm | North Quad Space 2435 Join us at a reception for AAFF’s New Voices program as well as expanded cinema artwork by David Opdyke, Dawn Roe, and Darrin Martin. Along The Perimeter Darrin Martin 4:30-5pm | North Quad Space 2435 As part of the AAFF reception, Darrin Martin will present the live cinema performance Along The Perimeter, a recording of which will remain on view for the duration of the festival as a two-channel video installation.
Opening Night Party | 6:30 – 8pm
Michigan Theater Grand Foyer
Celebrate the first night of the festival with drinks and food generously provided by Ann Arbor area businesses including Ann Arbor Distilling Company, Bigalora, Bløm, Dalat, Everest Sherpa, Frita Batidos, Havana Island BBQ and Tapas, Side Biscuit, Teahaus, Vinology, and more. DJ set by Alvin Hill, and open bar.
$50 general admission
$40 students / seniors / AAFF and MTF members
$12 screening only
A ticket to Films in Competition 1 is included in the price of admission.
Films in Competition 1 | 8:15pm
Michigan Theater Main Auditorium (available online at 11:59pm ET)
The 61st Festival kicks off with this screening of experimental, documentary, narrative, and animated films, featuring a minimalistic musical, plant sentience, a guided pseudo-mindfulness exercise, the last thing left of the Aral Sea, smear frames through the history of painting, a recently discovered monarch butterfly subspecies, members of the UK polyamorous community, and three masters of football.
A selection of still from Films in Competition 1: Grasshopper, Eclipsis, Diomysus, Aralkum, and 11
Source: Ann Arbor Film Festival