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Thursday, August 10, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS
University students screen films
at Traverse City Film Festival
University-wide
collaboration on
films impress
festival audience
By AMARA SHAIKH
Daily Staff Reporter
At the 13th annual Traverse
City Film Festival, two short
films created by University
of Michigan undergraduates
were showcased on the big
screen. The five-day event fea-
tured a variety of films, work-
shops and discussions about
filmmaking.
The two student produc-
tions,
“Malignant
Humor”
and “Chasing the GOAT,” were
developed
throughout
the
semester by students in screen-
writing program director Jim
Burnstein’s and lecturer Rob-
ert Rayher’s Screenwriting 423
class and carried out with the
help of fellow undergraduate
writers, actors and producers.
Though his students provid-
ed the plot and stage direction,
Burnstein said the productions
required
participation
from
across the University.
“Two teams are assembled
out of (Screen Arts and Cul-
tures), with our top filmmaking
students,” he said. “Then we
bring in from Stamps School of
Design art designers, costume
designers,
sound
designers,
composers from the School of
Music and even producers from
Ross School of Business. So it’s
the University-wide kind of
collaboration.”
Burnstein worked with the
LSA Department of Screen
Arts and Cultures to establish
a partnership with the Tra-
verse City Film Festival that
allows two University films to
be showcased each year. Now
in their ninth year of collabo-
ration, Burstein said attendees
at the festival continue to be
impressed with the talent of
the students.
“This
all
started
when
Michael Moore, who runs the
Traverse City Film Festival,
and festival director Deb Lake
contacted me asking if I would
do something up there at the
festival — meaning talk about
screenwriting as a profession-
al screenwriter,” he said. “I
agreed, but I said I would like
to, in return, show a couple
of the films that are made in
the class. When we did it for
the first time and when it was
done, Michael Moore turned to
me and said, ‘So we’re going to
do this every year, right?’ And I
replied, ‘Absolutely.’ ”
Malignant Humor, produced
by LSA senior Matthew Bar-
nauskas, an Arts writer at the
Daily, follows the story of an
improv comedy troupe that,
upon arriving at a high school
they’re supposed to perform
at, find out a student there has
committed suicide.
“Malignant
Humor”
was
the second film produced by
Barnauskas. He said the most
rewarding part of producing
was seeing the finished prod-
uct.
“With
producing,
what
you’re basically doing is you’re
giving the supplies to others to
do their work,” he said. “You’re
giving locations, you’re making
sure there is room for the crew,
you’re making sure everything
is locked down tight so your
crew can go out and make the
film they want to make.”
LSA senior Annie Cohen, the
supervising editor for “Malig-
nant Humor,” expressed her
excitement for the festival.
“I personally was incredibly
excited to attend the festival
and get to see the hard work of
so many people projected for
new audiences to enjoy,” she
said. “By the time the festival
rolled around, I had been work-
ing on the movie for about six
months and was just so happy
to be able to share the work
that we did over the course of
the winter semester with those
involved. Many people who
were involved with the produc-
tion, both cast and crew, hadn’t
seen a final version of it all put
together so it was amazing to
hear their new thoughts on the
movie that I had seen probably
50 times already.”
Matthew Solomon, associate
professor of film history and
theory, was one of the mod-
erators invited to the festival
to lead discussions about film
with the audience. Solomon
said he was also very impressed
with the two student produc-
tions.
“I just think they’re tre-
mendously impressive high-
level
productions
done
by
undergrads,”
he
said.
“It’s
remarkable,
the
production
values and the quality of those
films always wows the audi-
ence at Traverse City, and it’s a
great tradition that our depart-
ment has built.”
Solomon has been attending
the festival for nearly six years
now, and he recommends it to
anyone who has an interest in
film.
“It’s a really great festival,”
he said. “It’s really nice to meet
the filmmakers and have such
a vibrant audience that loves
movies around you, so it’s a
great experience. I highly rec-
ommend it to anyone in the
area who has any interest in
films. It’s one of the best festi-
vals I’ve been to.”
Both Cohen and Barnauskas
said they are excited to contin-
ue working in filmmaking, and
said they were grateful to have
their experience with the Tra-
verse City Film Festival help
them with their goals.
“I hope to work in editing in
the future once I graduate, so
the festival definitely helped
with that,” she said. “This was
the first time that I had worked
in a setting of many editors all
working together to create a
mass amount of content. The
festival turns out daily vid-
eos of recaps from the day’s
events that had been happen-
ing throughout the week. So
although Kat and I were only
working on a small part of the
festival’s editing process it was
definitely beneficial to learn
how a space like that can be
run.”
Next year, both Solomon and
Burnstein intend on heading
back to Traverse City for what
will be the 10th anniversary of
showcasing University films at
the festival.
“psychosexual disorder.”
The University of California, Los
Angeles report now estimates about
15,500 members are still on active
duty. The U.S. military is often called
the largest employer of transgender
individuals in the world — Daven-
port estimates about 20 to 25 percent
of the adult transgender community
has served.
On July 26th, President Donald
Trump sent out a series of tweets
proposing a possible banon trans-
gender individuals from serving the
military on the basis of high health
care costs.
The move faced negative reactions
from the Democrats and mixed reac-
tions from the Republicans. The U.S.
joint chiefs of staff were not aware
the tweets were about to be made. As
of Wednesday, five active duty trans-
gender individuals are suing Trump.
In Michigan, Democrat delegates
also called the move “discrimina-
tory,” while many Republican del-
egates have yet to comment.
In Royal Oak, Samantha Rogers,
founder of transgender organiza-
tion TG Detroit, held a rally in sup-
port of the troops in response to
Trump’s tweet. With 400 people in
attendance and no counterprotest-
ers, Rogers said it was a great turnout
as the mayor and ex-mayor of Royal
Oak spoke to the protestors and
transgender veterans as well.
Rogers said she was told that it
was the largest transgender-driven
rally in Southeast Michigan.
“Frankly I was disappointed we
didn’t have more people because of
the nature of the situation,” she said.
LGBT Michigan President Emily
Kaufman, an LSA senior at the Uni-
versity of Michigan and a transgen-
der woman, said Trump’s actions
create a culture of discrimination.
“Now the conservative people on
Fox News are talking about trans
people, and they’re saying the mili-
tary is not a social experiment,” she
said. “When their ignorant viewers
are watching and being brainwashed
by them, they think that’s the gospel
truth.
Kaufman said the ban would have
a considerable impact on employ-
ment.
“It will increase unemployment
for trans people — the ones that
are serving, if they get kicked out …
The unemployment rate is already
extremely high, because it’s legal to
discriminate against trans people in
most states in employment.”
She compared the abrupt pro-
posal of the ban and its repercus-
sions to the Trump administration’s
guidance on transgender bathroom
choice in February — forcing trans-
gender people to use the bathroom
of the assigned birth gender. She said
such discrimination appears to be
becoming a trend — something that
is unacceptable.
“By Trump doing this, it just sort
of adds to the stereotypes about trans
people not being fully human and it
creates lots of problems,” she said.
“I think saying or doing one thing —
like with the bathroom bill — that’s
bad enough. It’s starting to be a trend
— and this is just out of the blue, he
didn’t even discuss it with anyone.
It really is just dehumanizing trans
people by saying that.”
Lilianna Angel Reyes, Trans Sis-
tas of Color Project founder, said
while she stands with her trans-
gender brothers and sisters in the
military, she wanted to emphasize
that the publicity the issue has
received has been largely in con-
junction with only the white trans-
gender community.
“There technically hasn’t been
a policy change for banning trans
people in the military, it was Twit-
ter,” she said. “It may be coming,
but it hasn’t been official policy.
But when people thought it was the
possibility of a policy, they rallied.
When different things are going on
in the trans community on a larger
level, they rally — by they, I mean
mostly white trans people.”
According to Reyes, 16 transgen-
der women of color were killed in the
first six months this year but have
received little rally or support. Trans-
gender women of color are also pun-
ished with heavy prison sentences,
she said.
“So I think that it is very difficult
— race always plays a part,” she said.
“Racism is always alive.”
Reyes noted many transgender
white people transition later in life
— after they have had careers, stable
jobs and homes. She said their transi-
tion — though still very impactful — is
much different than that of a trans-
gender person of color who transi-
tions at 14 or 15, who could become
homeless or have to partake in sex
work.
“Many of my trans brothers and sis-
ters who are of color, who transitioned
at 15 and 16, couldn’t have even went
into the military when they were 18
because they were noticeably trans,”
she said. “They had already started
their transition, and at that point they
could very well push you out of the mili-
tary and not let you go in...”
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