'~ ~ ~ ~ I i ~ ~ ~ I Vote today or tomorrow at vote.www.umich.edu I For the Daily's endorsements, see page 4 Tuesday, March 21, 2006 News 3 Navajo Supreme Court visits 'U' Arts 8 New Liars anything but "Dead" Sports 9 Cagers survive 2 OT scare with buzzer-beater £4i One-hundred-sixteen years of editorial freedom www.michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 95 ©2006 The Michigan Daily Film fest Spromotes avant garde A record 2,000 films from 31 countries were submitted this year By Amanda Andrade Daily Film Editor From its humble inception in 1963, when a modest assembly of local film students and filmmakers crammed into the Lorch Hall auditorium to screen a few indepen- dent movies, the Ann Arbor Film Festival has relied on the give-and-take of goodwill: nurture and be nurtured. * The festival, which kicks off tonight at 7 p.m. at the Michigan Theater, strives to be a guardian of creative expression by fos- tering independent and experimental film. Created in a decade when constant innova- tion in the film medium dared artists to step * onto the very edge of the avant garde, the festival will retain its original mission of promoting filmmakers who accomplish the unconventional and the extraordinary. "There's total creative freedom here, as a forum for the avant garde, and that is so rare," said Christen McArdle, the festival's execu- tive director. "It's a showcase for the arts and for the people who do cutting-edge work." But film junkies cramped in a dim and smoky auditorium could only do so much. It took the community's support to transform such inauspicious beginnings into the inter- national event the festival has become, boast- ing more than 2,000 film entries from 31 countries (13 of the films were programmed at the world-famous Sundance Film Festi- val). Having separated from the University in 1980, the festival is now an independent nonprofit arts organization, relying entirely * on the Ann Arbor community. "Something like (the Ann Arbor Film Festival), which is a celebration of experi- mental art, is something that the commu- nity should be aware of and celebrate and keep strong," McArdle said. "It's the first thing to get cut when money goes down, like we're seeing in Michigan right now, and the only way to keep arts organizations strong is through community support." McArdle, who makes her debut as festi- val director this year, has a new strategy to encourage precisely that kind of audience participation and patronage. This year will see the unveiling of the Audience Awards, in which audience members vote on their favorite film of the night. A $500 award will be bestowed daily during the six-day festi- val for a total of $3,000 in prize money. "I think it's one of the most interesting awards, and I hope it encourages people to be more invested," McArdle said. In addition to the audience awards, the festival doles out $15,000 in prize money to a film or films selected by a three-per- son jury. This year, the jury is composed of experimental filmmaker Courtney Egan; * last year's festival winner for Best Michi- gan Director, Richard Pell; and David Baker, director of the Kalamazoo Anima- tion Festival International. The judges will choose the top in artis- tic achievement from the approximately 100 films in competition. But win or lose, the films selected to compete have already made it through a rigorous screening process. Filmmakers submitted a record 2,000 entries this year. McArdle said the current method for culling the very best - amounting to only 5 percent of the submitted works this year - will probably need to be revamped because of such overwhelming interest in the festival. For this year's process, two commit- tees, consisting of three members each, spent between 20 and 30 hours per week watching all the entries. The process took months. While the overall quality is exemplary, the festival headlines a handful of major films. "Wassup Rockers," a film focusing on a group of L.A.-based Latino teenagers, has had a particularly large amount of pre-festival hype. Lease- In short : Co The ordinance will push provi back the date when renters viewi can see a property or sign a lease to 90 days into the cur- - By Andr rent rent period. Daily Staf It is designed to alleviate : In the< the fall housing rush. an unpr tion bete At last night's meeting, Assembl landlords argued against the cil, last n ordinance and students for it. - approved : lease-sig date ordinance OK'd uncil leaves out sion to stagger ng, signing dates ew Grossman ff Reporter culmination of what has been ecedented level of collabora- ween the Michigan Student y and Ann Arbor City Coun- ight the Council unanimously an ordinance pushing back ning dates. The ordinance, first proposed by Mayor John Hieftje in an interview with The Michigan Daily almost exactly a year ago, prohibits the sign- ing of rental agreements until the cur- rent lease has been in effect for 90 days. It also prevents landlords from showing property to potential tenants for the same period. For September-to-September leases, that means contracts for the following fall could not be signed until Dec. 1. One version of the ordinance stag- gered the earliest date a property can be shown and when a lease can be signed, creating a one-month "shopping peri- od." The Council unanimously voted to remove that provision last night after landlords pressured them to do so. With- out staggering, students will have less time than they wanted an abundance of time to appraise the true quality of the property they are renting. Students showed strong support for the ordinance throughout its develop- ment. Landlords generally opposed it. "We're jumping out of our seats for this one;' MSA President Jesse Levine said. Levine was so eager to lend his sup- port to the proposal that he rushed to the microphone at the first opportunity for public comment. The mayor informed Levine that the first public comment period at last night's meeting was on the rezoning of a lot on South Division Street, not the lease-signing ordinance. Landlords were not nearly as enthu- siastic about the proposal. Landlord Mike Davalos sprinted from his South Forest Street home when he saw the proceedings under- way on television. Although he arrived just after Hieftje closed the comment See ORDINANCE, page 7 MSA ELECTIONS 2006: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PROFILES FOR PROFILE OP$F RESE LFX AND N1(C01LE STALL I ING ( S, TO M41C1GADA*\JIXC (AM Monica Smith DFEN AFFIRATIVEACI N PAT PHOTOS BY MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily Ryan Fantuzzi By Dave Mekelburg Daily Staff Reporter The chants were echoing in the courtroom. The signs were hung out the window. Protesters brandished slogans on poster boards: "Save Brown v. Board of Education" and "Don't turn back the clock." And Monica Smith, now the Michigan Student Assembly presi- dential candidate running on the Defend Affirmative Action Party ticket, was there. On April 1, 2003, thousands of affirmative action supporters gathered on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Building and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. They were there to support the University as it faced the Supreme Court and a lawsuit that threatened its use of affirmative action in admissions. Smith was with them. Smith wasn't always politically active. In high school, she cap- tained the softball team. She said she was curious about politics in high school, but remained uninvolved. Smith grew up in western Detroit. She attended Lewis Cass See SMITH, page 7 Fast Not currently involved in MSA Major: Sociol- ogy Favorite book: Karl Marx's "Com- munist Manifesto" Campaign promise: Fight the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative By Caitlin Cowan Daily Staff Reporter Ryan Fantuzzi deals with a lot of hot issues. But what are his thoughts on arguably the most ferocious debate on campus? "It is pop!" the Sterling Heights native said when asked about the eternal soda vs. pop debate. "It is pop, it is pop, it is pop!" Fantuzzi's booming voice has a resonant power. He argues about all issues with equal relish: from the minutiae of pop culture to polit- ical issues and back again. The lively Student Conservative Party presidential candidate, who makes a habit of speaking bluntly and had all the most memo- rable lines of Sunday's presidential debate, realized the transforma- tive power of pop early last year while writing a paper. "I was filled with four liters of Mountain Dew," he said. "And I think that's the secret to success: Johnny Cash and Mountain Dew." Pausing a moment, he smiled and said, "No, make those four liters of Coke." Bringing Coca-Cola products back to campus is just one of many See FANTUZZI, page 7 Fast Sfacts - Not currently involved in MSA Majors: Politi- cal science, crim- inal justice Greek affiliation: " Pledging Phi Alpha : Delta (pre-law fra- ternity) " Campaign prom- ise: Bring Coke back to campus THE DIRECTOR SPEAKS MSA parties vie for majority 62 candidates Voter participation numbers are said he anticipates that S4M will I4 expected to rise from the abysmal remain the majority party on the compete to win z4 representative seats By Neil Tambe Daily Staff Reporter In one of the most competitive levels of previous years, according to party leaders. Some attribute the likely spike in voting to an increased choice of can- didates, the emergence of SCP and MPP and more visible campaign- ing. assembly. DAAP is fielding eight candi- dates. "I think we'll do well," said DAAP party chair Kate Stenvig. Jon Koller, campaign manger for MPP, said he wasn't sure how suc-