ABOUT LESLIE RAYMOND:
Leslie Raymond joined the Ann Arbor Film Festival as its executive director in August 2013. In September 2019, Raymond’s leadership role expanded to include festival programming. Prior to her position with AAFF, as a teaching artist and educator, she founded the New Media Program at University of Texas at San Antonio and served as an assistant professor of art in digital video and new media art at Oakland University, where she was recognized with an Innovations in Teaching award. Raymond is a Film Festival Alliance board member, and a third-generation American of Chinese and Jewish descent. She holds a BFA in film/video from the Rhode Island School of Design, MFA in new genres from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design, and also studied film, video, and new media art at the Art Institute of Chicago.
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TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and a good Thursday to you! I'm David Fair, and this is one of my favorite times of year. Why? Because we know the Ann Arbor Film Festival is right around the corner. The 63rd edition kicks off next week. So, today we thought we would have an extended conversation with the executive director of the film festival, so that you know all you need to know. Leslie Raymond, thank you so much for coming in today and spending time with us and giving us all the information that you possibly can fit in 10 minutes!
Leslie Raymond: It's great to be here!
David Fair: Well, right off the bat, one of the great parts of the film festival is its opening night each year, and this year looks to be bigger and better than ever!
Leslie Raymond: That's right! It's always a fun party known as the best party in town!
David Fair: You call it the best party in town, so does everybody who attends! And this year, what are we going to get on opening night?
Leslie Raymond: Well, the party itself starts at 6:30 on next Tuesday, the 25th. And we have a lot of vendors who support the festival. I mean, this festival wouldn't be possible without the community. We have a lot of folks who are coming out to provide food and drink and music for us. It'll be a 90-minute party that people from all over town, all over southeast Michigan, people coming in from around the country, around the world. We're gonna celebrate with like Ann Arbor Distilling, Cafe Zola, Frida Petito, hear.say Brewing, Mothfire, Sava's, of course, Tea House, Venue by 4M, and alvin hill's gonna provide live electronic music for us, and we'll gather in the Grand Foyer. There'll be beautiful new lobby decorations by artist Noel Stupak. And then, at about 8:00, we'll all go into the screening room--or the main auditorium--of the beautiful historic Michigan Theater and watch the first program.
David Fair: And that is just a kickoff to what will be six days of fun and frivolity.
Leslie Raymond: That's right.
David Fair: Now you'll be going crazy, but the audience is going to love it this year around. I think sometimes people forget that this is a juried film festival, and that films are put into competition. And there are actually awards that go along with that. So, what does the competition film group look like this year?
Leslie Raymond: Yeah, great question! So, we received about 2,650 films to review, and it went through our very rigorous multi-tier review process with a cadre of very enthusiastic volunteer screeners, for the most part. And then we ended up with, I think, 112 in the end. And that is eight feature films and 14 short films and competition programs that will span the entire six-day festival.
David Fair: And the winners are declared the final day you get to go see the winning films.
Leslie Raymond: Exactly! We always bring in three different distinguished jurors to watch all the films in the auditorium with the audience. And then, they have about a couple dozen awards that are, I think, this year they're over $36,000 total--everything from the Ken Burns Best of Festival, Lawrence Kasdan Best Narrative Film, Leon Speakers Best Sound Design....
David Fair: Just tossing around some names there, aren't you?
Leslie Raymond: Exactly, exactly! And all those folks are people who support the film festival.
David Fair: And I want to point out this is not a traditional film festival. This has always been based on experimental and alternative film. Used to be sixteen-millimeter film, but now there's all sorts of formats that are utilized
Leslie Raymond: That's right. And, yes, it's important to point that out. Being so close to it, we forget sometimes that we are different from all the other film festivals.
David Fair: Different in Ann Arbor. Hm...
Leslie Raymond: Yeah, I know. Because usually it's like, "Oh, film festival! Like Sundance or something like that." But, yeah, I like to encourage people to think more like you're going to the art museum as opposed to the cineplex, and that each of the films that you're going to see, it's more like an experience of like walking through the art gallery and stopping and staring at a painting for a while and thinking about it and kind of having a back and forth, shall we say.
David Fair: Yeah, well, it has been an experiment and a successful one at that through all these years. This is the 63rd edition. This is Cinema Chat on 89.1 WEMU. I'm David Fair, alongside the Ann Arbor Film Festival Executive Director Leslie Raymond. I want to talk about some of the highlights that will be available to folks. There are a couple of members of the band Devo, which really helped kick off and launch MTV and helped a musical cultural shift. They're going to be in town for a film about Devo!
Leslie Raymond: That's right! We are showing the restored works of Devo, so we are showing a documentary about them later in the festival on Saturday at 5:30. But on Wednesday night at 7:30, Mark and Gerald, the founding members, will be here with restorationist Peter Conheim, who has restored their music videos. And so, we'll have a program of that work. And then, they will be in conversation afterwards, so I think a lot of people are excited about that.
David Fair: So, like a panel discussion but with a Q&A?
Leslie Raymond:More just like a Q&A. Like, Peter, I think, will lead a conversation with with Mark and Gerald and discuss I don't know what. We'll find out!
David Fair: We will! They've certainly had an interesting perspective on music, and their artistic endeavors go well beyond that. So, it should be a fascinating conversation.
Leslie Raymond: That's right! Yep, we're looking forward to that.
David Fair: Well, one of the things that I'm interested in. You have what's called an "out night". And there's a particular focus on the LGBTQ-plus community and films about it.
Leslie Raymond: That's right. And this will be our 24th year of doing it. It's interesting because, over the years, like I've been doing this for about a decade, and there was a moment where we thought, "Well, you know, this community has become so much more integrated in our general community. Do we even have to have an 'out night' anymore?" And we do program LGBTQ content across the festival, but we decided we do want to have that space to celebrate. And it's interesting how the times just kind of pendulum back and forth. So, on the Thursday night, we'll be showing films in competition, a five-program of short films. And preceding that, we will show the feature in competition, "Roohrangi" by Tushar Madhavv from India. This will be the world premiere of his new feature film, and it's adjacent because it is LGBTQ-themed. So, it's going to be kind of whole night, out night, and then the after-party will be at Uplift, the new LGBTQ bar, down near the Blind Pig and so on.
David Fair: So, it's going to be a great evening, but you brought up the fact that this film is from India. And sometimes, again, we forget this is a worldwide film festival, and there are all sorts of different perspectives that are brought to it. I'm curious. This is the 63rd edition, but each film festival you put together and probably have some idea of what kind of personality the festival is going to have. But until the audience comes and experiences it and you get to have that part of the information database, then how do you determine whether you were on target or whether it was just going to come together on its own without you?
Leslie Raymond: Gosh! This festival has such momentum being 63 years old. So, I mean, that's a great observation. Yes, it does have a personality, depending on what films were made and came out and are going up on the screen. And then, really, it's great! You can make a film, but it's not really complete until the audience gets there and it's projected on the screen. And we have this communal experience of viewing together. And then, to take it to the next level, the audience talking amongst themselves, or talking with the filmmakers--we always do a Q&A on the stage right after any program for any filmmakers who are there. So, that kind of opens the door for more exchange. And I think, in this day and age, it is so important to open these spaces where people can come together and celebrate through art, learn about the world, themselves, each other through watching and having conversations with each other.
David Fair: There are always new and different things that come to the festival each year, and it depends on whom you partner with or whom you come across or whom reaches out to you or whom you reach out to. This year, you're going to bring us "Bodies in Motion".
Leslie Raymond: That's right. "Bodies in Motion" is a special program of short films within the screen dance category. And this was put together by Screen Dance International, which is a festival here in southeast Michigan. And so, what they've done is they've created this one screening within our festival of a series of probably about 10 or so films that have screen dance as their common element. So, we're excited to have them as a new partner this year.
David Fair: That's going to be interesting to experience. And, of course, you do create family programming and do want to involve children and get them interested early on. And this year, it's a special family program.
Leslie Raymond: That's right. We have this "Almost All Ages" on Saturday at 1:30--Saturday the 29th. And it is true. We are known that our content, it might be a little challenging in the many ways, but we have this program--films in competition nine--for families. So, come on out! The price is half-price tickets to encourage families to come. And come early and do the looping workshop at the north quad space!
David Fair: That sounds like fun as well! Well, I'm glad you brought this up, because, for some people, if they have kids, they may only want to go to certain shows. But the best way to experience the festival is to buy a pass and go and see a lot of different things.
Leslie Raymond: That's right. Having a pass allows you to sort of dip in and out, come and go. You might decide you think this feature film is really interesting and then be like, "Nah, I'm not really interested." And you can pop over to the other theater and see something else.
David Fair: Well, there are a lot of options. We hope you're going to take some and go experience the festival. This sounds like it may be the biggest and best edition yet. We'll find out. Leslie Raymond, thank you so much for coming in and giving us a bit of a preview!
Leslie Raymond: Thank you so much, David! It's great to be here!
David Fair: That's Leslie Raymond, Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. It's an exciting time of year around town! Everything kicks off on next Tuesday night, March 25th. Hope you're going to be a part of it! Six-day festival! Experience it! Let us know what you enjoyed! This is 89.1 WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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