RESOURCES:
Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF)
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU and I'm happy to say it's that time of year again and the wait is just about over. I'm David Fair and tomorrow marks the beginning of the 64th Ann Arbor Film Festival. It is the oldest experimental and avant-garde film festival in the world and over the decades has become a part of the cultural fabric and identity of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. I'm glad to say that the director of the film festival took time out of her relentless schedule to stop by and talk with us today. Leslie Raymond, always great to see you. Thanks for coming into the studio. I appreciate it.
Leslie Raymond: Thank you so much. It's always a pleasure to be here with you, David.
David Fair: A full year's worth of work is about to come to fruition. How are you feeling about the 64th edition?
Leslie Raymond: Well, I'm feeling very excited, very pumped about it. Can't believe it's opening tomorrow.
David Fair: Tomorrow is opening night. What is the plan to welcome the filmmakers, special guests and patrons to the festivities?
Leslie Raymond: Well, we always have the quote-unquote best party in town on Tuesday night of the festival, which launches the entire six-day thing. We, at 6.30, we'll have a big party in the Michigan Theater lobby. We have lots of local vendors supporting. And we usually see a crowd of anywhere from 350 to 400, sometimes a little more than that, turn up for this celebration kicking off. I guess it's the 64th Anaheim Film Festival this year, and then that will be followed at 815 by the first shorts and competition program.
David Fair: I'm just curious, when all of these people are coming in, as the director of the festival, do you start to get a sense or a vibe of how the rest of the Festival is going to go on an opening night, or does it remain a mystery?
Leslie Raymond: Well, there is some mystery for sure. But definitely we see, you know, people come and see each other again, you know whether they're people who live here in Ann Arbor, Southeast Michigan, or our filmmakers coming from around the country and around the world. So there are a lot of reunions, just people happy to see each Other people getting excited for what's in store.
David Fair: You can tell when you walk into the lobby of the Michigan Theater on opening night that something very special is going on. There are artistic installations through the years, each different, each with their own personality, all beautiful, all perhaps come with a message that is either apparent or non-apparent, nonetheless. What is the idea of putting forth that kind of art in the lobby?
Leslie Raymond: We really want to transform the space. We really wanna help elevate that celebration. We want people to feel when they're walking into the beautiful lobby, grand foyer of the Michigan Theater, that there's something different happening, that the space has been transformed and they're in for something different.
David Fair: Well, it's been successful through the years, and I imagine it will be again from the outside looking in. It feels like each year the Ann Arbor Film Festival takes on a bit of a different identity than the last. Has this year's film festival revealed itself to you yet?
Leslie Raymond: Yeah, that's a great question. And you probably know that I usually say, oh, well, we'll see what the filmmakers say. This year, though, we did something a little different. So, we have two special focuses. Number one, we are celebrating films from Ukraine. So, we a shorts and competition program on Saturday at 3.30. I think it's six short films, contemporary films from the Ukraine. And then on the Sunday, there will be two feature films playing also from Ukraine and then what we'll have a VR installation in the lobby where you can put on a headset and be taken to Ukraine. So, we just wanted to keep awareness about the situation there. But I think even beyond that, I mean, we're living in a time where there is a lot of war going on and it's just important to remember who's caught in the crossfire and that or certain vested interests who, you know, are. Creating and profiting off of these wars, and it really doesn't have anything to do with the people, you know, kind of just trying to live their lives.
David Fair: It is said through the years that art most definitely influences our perception of the world and do you think through watching some of these films about and from Ukraine that we may have a new perception?
Leslie Raymond: I definitely think that, I definitely think that part of what we're seeing are the artists just trying to kind of get on with the normal life and make work. And at the same time, I mean, I'll just say with drone technology, one of the feature films on Sunday, Divya, it alternates between drone footage of the landscape and then people in the landscape trying to clean up. You know, it's just like an impossible task. So the level of devastation that we can see from this technology, I mean, it just mind blowing.
David Fair: I mean my heart is breaking thinking about it because you know we've had the luxury around here to not have war at our front door and when you see the impacts it can really pull at your heartstrings and kind of make you think differently about what it is that's being done. Well, we'll certainly look forward to that part of the festival. This is 89.1 WEMU we're talking with Ann Arbor Film Festival director Leslie Raymond. The grand opening of the sixty-fourth edition is Tuesday night, and the festival will run through March 29th. An online rewards program will run from March 30th through April 13th. For those who don't know, the Ann Arbor Film Festival is a juried event. There are winners and cash prizes. Many films were in the jury part of the festival this year.
Leslie Raymond: This year, I want to say it might be 89.
David Fair: A lot.
Leslie Raymond: Well, it's a lot. We had about 2800 submissions and we have time to show we have 12 shorts and competition programs and I'm trying to remember how many features we're showing this year, I think 11. So it's not a huge percentage of acceptance, but it's amazing every year, the work that comes in is just, it's amazing, and I'm always... Inspired that there's so much creativity going on, so much production of original stories, experimental ways to work with the medium, and it's a good problem to have that we can only program a small.
David Fair: I think it is part of the human condition to want to watch those that are nominated for awards, those that winning awards, and there is a way to view all of the award winning films. But seeing just those films takes you outside the entirety of the festival. There is so much to experience beyond just the juried part of the festival
Leslie Raymond: Well, in addition to all the competition work, we have some specially curated programs. I want to call out the fact that we have on Sunday a special out night 25th anniversary program, which is kind of, it'll be the end of the quote unquote tip of the iceberg of a celebration of 25 years of our LGBTQ special focus. We've always had like a- That's become part of-
David Fair: Become part of the identity of the festival too, for sure.
Leslie Raymond: We've always had an in-competition program and that'll continue this year. So special programs kind of complement the work that's in the competition. They give a little more context and something to kind of compare and push off of a lot of historic work, a lot of retrospective type work, or sometimes thematic. Um, and I would just say being there in the theater with everybody, there's something very amazing that happens when we as humans are in contact with other human beings, that's part of our fabric of what, what we really need. And so many, uh, amazing things can happen, things unexpected and just being able to experience sitting in the room, watching the films with everybody, you know, you hear how other people react and you sort of like get into a. Resonance, you know, through the film and everybody sitting together, reacting together, and I'll also mention that the jurors sit in the room and they watch all of the shorts and competition programs with the audience.
David Fair: Lot of fun, lot of fun. Another great part of the Ann Arbor Film Festival is the opportunity to hear from some of the filmmakers and content producers and interact with them. Are there some special opportunities along that line this year?
Leslie Raymond: Yeah, absolutely, thanks for bringing that up. We always have a Q and A session after each of the programs. We ask any of the filmmakers who are present to come up on the stage and then we'll moderate a conversation with the audience and the filmmakers. And so you get a chance to see them, put a face to the film, and then hopefully, if you wanna talk to them later, you'll find them and be able to continue that conversation. Right, because they're gonna be there. They are.
David Fair: Well, as our time winds down together, Leslie, let's talk about access and the various ways people can be a part of the festival. Individual show passes, day passes, full festival passes, after-hour events, what are our options?
Leslie Raymond: So the way to go all the way is to get a full festival pass and that gets you into the opening night party and all of the programs and all the after parties. We also have a weekend pass if you just too busy to come Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. The weekend pass is Friday, Saturday and Sunday gets you all that access. You can get tickets to individual programs. We also have some free programs we have two Student programs this year, we've moved them into the theater. Those are gonna be free on Wednesday and Thursday at one o'clock, and then the jurors’ programs are free. Those are going to be Wednesday and Thursday at three and Friday at one. We want to really give people access and help people see not only who's up and coming, but who are the people who are conferring the awards. And then, let's see, there's also going to be the awards programs will play on Sunday at five and seven that's right thank you and then will also have online access to the awards program for two weeks following the festival
David Fair: That is a fantastic a lot of opportunity and I certainly encourage all of you to uh...take it in, particularly if you've never done it before. I think you're going to have an enjoyable experience. Leslie thank you for stopping by and talking with us when you and the festival team are in the middle of working so very hard to get this thing underway. I appreciate it
Leslie Raymond: My pleasure, thank you so much for having me.
David Fair: That is Leslie Raymond, executive director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The 64th edition opens tomorrow night, runs through March 29th, again with the online awards program available to you online March 30th through April 13th. For more information, including on how to get your festival passes, stop by our website at WEMU.org. We'll get you everywhere you need to go. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89-1 WEMU, Ypsilanti.
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