The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
the b-side
Thursday, March 19, 2015 — 3B
53rd Ann Arbor Film
Fest keeps its charm
By KATHLEEN DAVIS
Senior Arts Editor
Every year for the past 53 years,
mid-March brings a change in the
air for the city of Ann Arbor. It’s
not due to the first breaks of spring
that melt the snow, or the mix of
dread and excitement that comes
with the end of the scholastic year.
This March, like the 52 before it,
film aficionados flood to the city to
celebrate the oldest experimental
film festival in the United States,
the Ann Arbor Film Festival,
housed downtown at the Michi-
gan Theater.
Established in 1963 by George
Manupelli, a former University
professor, the festival has a long
and impressive history of artists
and filmmakers brought to Ann
Arbor. Ahead of its time, the fes-
tival showcased early work by big
names like George Lucas, Yoko
Ono and Gus Van Sant, and can
boast an appearance by Andy War-
hol and the Velvet Underground
and Nico in 1966. Manupelli, who
passed away in September 2014,
will be honored at this year’s festi-
val with an exposition of his early
art as well as with a showing of one
of his early films, accompanied by
a live musical performance.
Executive
Director
Leslie
Raymond and Program Direc-
tor David Dinnell have both been
involved with the festival for quite
a while. Raymond has been execu-
tive director for a year and a half,
but has been involved with the
festival since 1991, when she began
as an intern. Dinnell has been pro-
gramming for the festival for the
past seven years, and both are very
familiar with the process of estab-
lishing a firm lineup each year.
The screening process for the
festival begins with an open call
to artists, available to anyone who
has made an experimental film
in the past two years. This pre-
liminary process goes from July to
November the year before the fes-
tival, which are then viewed by 20
volunteer screeners and reviewed
multiple times in a narrowing pro-
cess. The films come from about 30
countries, with the United States
sending the most, but with many
pieces coming from Europe and,
increasingly, South America and
Asia.
“I think the festival has really
grown internationally and we’re
seeing more and more works com-
ing from abroad, which has been
really interesting,” Dinnel said.
Submissions
have
increased
from 300 to 3,000 since the accep-
tance of digital film mediums
starting at the 42nd AAFF. The fes-
tival also features artist retrospec-
tives, a revisiting of early works
by experimental filmmakers who
have made a lasting impression on
the field. This year’s festival will
include the first ever North Ameri-
can retrospective of Polish film-
maker Wojciech Bakowski, as well
as Tacita Dean.
“We take into consideration
that the festival is a week-long
event, so we include some historic
work but most is contemporary,”
Dinnel said. “The historic works
that we do feature allow someone
to deepen their appreciation for
historical precedent.”
The festival is very integrated
into the Ann Arbor community,
relying heavily on local volunteers
to keep it together each year. There
is also a current and historical con-
nection between the University
and the festival, beginning with its
creation by Manupelli.
“It’s very much a community
organization,” Dinnel said. “That
has helped the festival not only
survive, but foster over the past
decades due to a lot of community
support. People who live in town
really value the organization so
they’re willing to help us out every
year in various years.”
“The festival has relationships
throughout the University, with
the Stamps school, the Depart-
ment of Screen Arts and Cultures
is a natural fit and we’ve had a very
longstanding relationship with
them,” Raymond added.
In the past five decades, there
has been much room for change,
yet the festival has maintained a
sense of familiarity in its dedica-
tion to showcasing the top experi-
mental films of the time. Arguably
the biggest change in its history
was the expansion of accepting
films other than 16mm, which was
the only accepted platform until
the 42nd festival.
“(16mm) was a medium readily
available to artists, and the 1960s
were really a heyday of artist-
made, avant-garde film because
of it,” Raymond said. “It started
to become apparent in around the
late ’80s that maybe it was time to
open up to video. It allowed the
festival to remain contemporary,
to look at work being made in a
contemporary medium by contem-
porary artists.”
The current prevalence of digi-
tal media has changed, for many,
what constitutes a film view-
ing experience. The festival is a
reminder of the beauty of viewing
a film in the way it began, in a the-
ater.
“With the advent of digital
tools, the Internet has allowed art-
ists to readily share their work on
YouTube or other platforms,” Din-
nell said. “We find ourselves really
thinking about what it means to go
with a couple friends on a Thurs-
day or Friday night and sit in the
Michigan Theater with hundreds
and hundreds of other people and
give your attention fully over to
what’s on the screen.”
“We appreciate that that’s a
completely different experience
than just watching a 10-minute
film that somebody shares that
you click on a link to watch.
It’s a fundamentally different
experience even if that work is
the same work,” Dinnel added.
“It’s almost like listening to
something on your iPod and then
listening to it live in a concert
hall. There’s a real energy that
happens when you’re watching
film, giving it your full attention
and sitting with hundreds of
other people, and the image is 20
feet tall with an amazing sound
system.”
“The scale and the social
context still remain essential
and important,” Raymond said.
VIRGINIA L OZANO/Daily
The Ann Arbor Film Festival is held each March at the Michigan Theater.
SINGLE REVIEW
Start with a beat – sure and
steady. Then layer in lyrics,
the first of which being
“Everything
I’ve
ever
known
is
wrong,”
mask
them
with
the
driving
beat and an
angelic tone
of
voice.
The
result
is a juxtaposition of sound
– the kind of thing listeners
absentmindedly sing along to
before taking a closer look at
the meaning – in the form of
“Entropy,” a collaboration of
Grimes and Bleachers.
The unusual duo teamed
for
a
feature
on
HBO’s
“Girls,” and the track has
now been released in full.
Reaching a stable middle
ground, the track does not
play too heavily on Grimes’s
electronic background nor on
Bleachers’ indie-rock sound.
Instead,
Jack
Antonoff,
previously
of
fun.,
uses
choppy guitar strokes and
sporadic bursts of drumming
to replace what could have
been
entirely
synthesized
beats.
Grimes
provides
the
vocals,
transcending
the
seemingly
two-
dimensional space of music
by weaving in and out of the
instrumentation
with
her
signature, echoing tone.
The track blossoms into
something
equally
quirky
and catchy as it plays on,
drawing listeners in with a
pop-like structure and lyrics
of ill-fated relationships. But
just as quickly as it began, the
layers begin to dissolve and
listeners are left only with
the beat once again.
-CARLY SNIDER
RCA RECORDS
B+
Entropy
Grimes and
Bleachers
RCA Records
LITERARY COLUMN
Literary Spring
Break in Boston
H
ow was your Spring
Break? Did you jet
set off to some exotic
locale? Is your mind still full of
memories of sunshine, white sand
beneath
your toes
and crystal
blue waters?
Well, dear
readers, the
water I was
surrounded
by
was
mostly
of
the
frozen
variety
as
I decided to visit that illustrious
spring break capital known as
Boston. Yes, the Boston that is still
recovering from the record-setting
104 inches of snow it’s gotten this
winter. It goes without saying that
I sometimes make interesting life
decisions.
But fear not, because though
there were a few times I thought I
might have been in the early stages
of frostbite while waiting for the
T, I still managed to have a highly
enjoyable and informative trip
thanks in large part to Boston’s
expansive literary heritage.
In October of last year, Boston
created
the
country’s
first
Literary Cultural District, which
according to the Massachusetts
Cultural Council is “a compact,
walkable area of a community
with a concentration of cultural
facilities, activities, and assets,” in
this case, pertaining to literature.
In addition to notable places, the
Literary Cultural District also
promotes literary events like book
festivals and poetry slams.
Literary districts are the latest
development in a phenomenon
known
as
literary
tourism,
when we bibliophiles visit places
associated
with
our
favorite
writers or mentioned in fictional
texts. It’s a rapidly growing
industry in cities across the globe,
from “Sherlock Holmes” tours in
London to following the footsteps
of “The Girl With the Dragon
Tattoo” in Stockholm.
To be honest, there’s probably
no better place in the U.S. to start
a literary district than Boston. The
entire city is pretty much your
high school American Lit class
come to life.
Of course, the first stop I made
was to the recently installed
Edgar Allan Poe statue. Poe and
Boston have a somewhat fraught
history, although that may be an
understatement. Poe once said,
“Bostonians have no soul.” While
he was born in the city, Poe often
criticized some of its most popular
writers, especially those associated
with
the
transcendentalist
movement.
Though his birthplace has long
since been demolished, there has
been a recent effort by the city
to reclaim the Poe legacy from
Baltimore. As I have heard many
Bostonians say of Baltimore, and
I quote, “All he did was die there.”
(In all fairness though, Richmond
and New York could also stake
claims to Poe.) In any case, the
battle royale has resulted in one
really cool statue, complete with
raven and tell-tale heart.
(This particular statue may
have also inspired a number of
selfies in which Poe was captioned
as “bae.” Interesting life decisions
abound.)
The Literary Trail also includes
the residences of a number of
famous authors, including Louisa
May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Robert Frost, Henry James, Henry
David Thoreau and John Updike.
If none of those names interest
you, why are you even reading this
column?
There’s
also
an
apartment
building that poet Sylvia Plath
may have lived in at one time, and
if not, I apologize profusely to any
tenants I may have creeped out
while staring at it from across the
street.
Then there’s the luxurious hotel
Taj Boston, where Tennessee
Williams revised his pièce de
résistance, “A Streetcar Named
Desire.” And the Tremont Temple,
which hosted a variety of speakers
including Charles Dickens for his
first public reading of “A Christmas
Carol.”
You can visit the Old South
Meeting House, the church of
Benjamin Franklin (who was
baptized
there)
and
Phillis
Wheatley, the first published
African American poet whose
works garnered her great fame
in England and helped gain her
freedom.
And of course, don’t forget to
visit the Old Corner Bookstore,
internationally
known
in
the
nineteenth
century
for
revolutionizing book publishing
and releasing works by Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Thoreau, Ralph
Waldo
Emerson
and
Henry
Longfellow, just to name a few.
The Old Corner Bookstore,
which happens to be built on
land once belonging to Puritan
troublemaker Anne Hutchinson,
is a stop on the Freedom Trail,
Literary
Trail
and
Women’s
Heritage Trail, so obviously, it now
houses a Chipotle. I can personally
testify to the unique feeling of
being
surrounded
by
period
architecture and literary history
while asking for more corn salsa.
You
might
be
wondering,
“Is this chick being paid by the
Boston Department of Tourism?”
The answer, sadly, is no. Though
if packages of cream pies and
clam chowder showed up on my
doorstep after the publication of
this column, well, let’s just say I
wouldn’t ask too many questions.
As
someone
who
avidly
loves
to
read
and
travel,
literary
tourism
just
seems
like a match made in heaven.
If Boston’s Literary District
proves successful, the idea will
hopefully catch on in other cities
with rich literary heritages like
New York, New Orleans and
Minneapolis/St.
Paul.
Heck,
with a little research, maybe
even here in Ann Arbor.
Prosniewski is pahking the cah
in Hahvahd Yahd. Send her some
chowder at gpros@umich.edu.
GRACE
PROSNIEWSKI
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
By WILL GREENBERG
Daily Arts Writer
You may have read Yardain
Amron’s piece in The Michigan
Daily on Wednesday titled “Who’s
Vic Mensa? You’ll know soon”. In
it, Amron reviews a secret show of
Mensa’s he caught in Chicago and
also declares that Mensa’s work in
recent months has finally brought
the artist onto the hip-hop scene.
Well, I have to respectfully dis-
agree.
A brief disclaimer: Vic Mensa
went to Whitney M. Young Mag-
net High School in Chicago. So did
I. Vic Mensa performed with his
first band “Kids These Days” at
various locations across Chicago. I
was there — not at all of them, but
a couple of them. I am incredibly
jealous that I was not at that show
with Amron, since I am undeni-
ably a fan.
Still, while Vic Mensa is not a
new name for me, there’s plenty
of evidence to indicate he was on
the scene even before the “Kanye
effect.”
Before focusing on his solo
career Mensa was in the band
Kids These Days, an eight member
group with Mensa’s fellow Whit-
ney Young students and other high
schoolers across the city. It was a
rap-jazz-rock blend of sound that
was exciting and inventive. Songs
like “Darling”, “Bud Biliken” and
“Don’t Harsh My Mellow” show
the band’s impressive ability to
combine the clever rapping of
Mensa, the solid lead guitar and
singing of Liam Cunningham and
the hauntingly beautiful vocals of
Macie Stewart. Also in the band
was trumpet player Nico Segal,
now Donnie Trumpet, who has
since gone on to tour with Chance
the Rapper’s band The Social
Experiment and is taking the lead
on their upcoming Surf album.
KTD formed in 2009 and
quickly caught the local spotlight.
However, it was their 2011 perfor-
mance at Chicago’s Lollapalooza
music festival that earned them
national acknowledgement. From
there, the group landed a spot on
“Conan” as a musical guest in 2012.
All the while, Mensa’s name and
face was slowly penetrating the
music world.
Kids These Days split up in
2013, after finding it difficult to
financially support such a large
group. From there, Mensa would
go on to drop his first solo album,
Innanet Tape, a superb debut
featuring infectious beats like
“Orange Soda” and “Hollywood
LA”. While the album allowed
Mensa to flex his muscles a bit
more as a rapper — and earned
him recognition as one of XXL
magazine’s “Freshmen of the Year
2014”— it was largely overshad-
owed by fellow FOY and “Save
Money” companion Chance and
his “Acid Rap” mixtape.
Things started to change with
Mensa’s hit single, “Down On My
Luck”. The song jumped to the top
of the iTunes song charts, beat-
ing out Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”
and Drake’s “0 To 100/Catch
Up.” The song was a driving-beat
party tune, a diversion from the
more prototypical rap Mensa had
done previously, but was clearly a
hit. And then, of course, his most
widely known accomplishment to
date: featuring on a Kanye West
single “Wolves” and performing
with him on national television.
It also can’t be forgotten that
Mensa isn’t a stranger to Ann
Arbor either, having performed at
Hill Auditorium just last year.
So, even coming from a long-
time fan, it’s clear that Mensa
had plenty of notoriety and at
least some name recognition
before this collaboration. Mensa
was already on the stage before
his performance with West, but
“Wolves” pushed him directly
into the spotlight.
As part of the wave of younger,
inventive and fearless hip-hop
artists, Mensa is indicative of an
exciting couple of years to come for
the genre. Mensa’s dabbling in an
array of musical styles is evidence
of his philosophy that music should
be fun and this creative openness
is something to be celebrated. In
fact, it’s probably the reason West
thought he’d be a good fit for what-
ever unknown sorcery he’s putting
into his next album.
We know Vic Mensa
VIRGIN EMI
“Kanye told me to crouch and put the microphone next to my ear.”