The Ann Arbor Film Festival’s 
series of short film competitions 
showcases the beauty and unique 
nature of experimental film. The 
festival’s Films in Competition 
2 session featured seven films 
ranging from five minutes to 
around half an hour. Each film 
was 
completely 
different 
in 
style and theme, requiring me 
to constantly readjust. From 
the pastels of “Roses, Pink and 
Blue” to the startling acoustics 
of “South Los Angeles Street” 
to the microscopic visuals of 
“2cent / 10coil,” I attempted to 
create meaning through my own 
interpretations, story-searching 
in the darkness of the Michigan 
Theater.
“Roses, Pink and Blue”
“Roses, Pink and Blue” (Julia 
Yezbick, “How to Rust”) tells 
the story of two lost balloons on 
a pastel-colored beach. We never 
see the balloons. White words 
written against visuals of the 
ocean and sunset tell us that a 
young girl has lost them. They are 
now drifting away, somewhere 
we cannot see. While the words 
tell us the story, the screen shows 
us the water and sand where the 
balloons floated away. 
In just six minutes, “Roses” 
tells a poetic story about loss 
and the intangibility of moments 
in the past. The short combines 
poetry with visuals that maintain 
the aesthetic of a disposable 
camera. 
These 
faded, 
fuzzy 
images create a sense of nostalgia 
for the day on the beach when 
the young girl lost her balloons. 
Watching 
the 
film 
felt 
like 
looking through a photo album, 
remembering a moment in time 
when things were happier. 
“South Los Angeles Street”

“South Los Angeles Street” 
(Leighton Pierce, “Everything’s 
gonna be OK”) is a portrait of 
Skid Row in Los Angeles from the 
vantage point of a fourth-floor 
loft. A helicopter flies above, 
cars drive below and the sound 
of honking can be heard from all 
directions. 
The short film begins by 
showing the helicopter moving 
in slow motion across the clear 
blue sky. At first glance, the 
shot resembles a painting. The 
camera then moves below to 
the cars and then around the 
apartment, capturing the word 
“Home” written on a building. 
It’s clear, without words, that 
this street holds significance to 
the filmmaker — he carefully 
characterizes the strip of LA from 
every angle. “South Los Angeles 
Street” was a tour of the areas 
above and below the loft through 
its windows, sights and sounds 
included. The film feels like a love 
letter written to home, taking in 
all of the beauty that can be seen 
from all angles. It made me miss 
the trees and birds I would see in 
my own hometown.
“2cent / 10coil”
“2cent / 10coil” (Monteith 
McCollum, 
“Rabbit 
in 
the 
Sand”) explores the qualities 
of a U.S. postage stamp under 
an electron microscope. These 
visuals are difficult to grasp as 
they appear, resembling close-
ups of thread or cloth, and are 
interspersed with quotes from a 
speech given by former President 
Warren G. Harding after his 
journey known as “The Voyage 
of Understanding,” where he 
explored 
the 
wilderness 
of 
Alaska. The quotes appear on 
screen as clips from a newspaper 
article. 
“I 
become 
somewhat 
philosophical when I travel. I am 
sorry.”

“Words seem inaccurate. I 
wish I could convey the lure and 
fascination with which I grow.”
These 
statements 
were 
scattered 
throughout 
the 
10-minute film, each contributing 
meaning to the visuals placed 
behind them. In addition to 
the close-ups of the stamp, the 

filmmaker includes images of 
nature. I was unsure what to 
make of what I saw or read until 
the context was provided at 
the end of the film: Harding’s 
exploration of Alaska came weeks 
before his unexpected death. 
Before passing, he explored the 
lanscape of Alaska, land that no 

other sitting president had seen. 
Only then could I appreciate the 
visuals I had analyzed for the 
previous 10 minutes. There is 
beauty in the unknown. Her page 
became more of a series of diary 
entries accompanied by a photo 
of a beautiful Cambridge student, 
living a life of deeply curated 

beauty 
and 
adventure. 
This 
was an early predecessor of the 
“radical vulnerability” approach 
to garnering Instagram fame, and 
it successfully launched Calloway 
into being the aspirational and 
vaguely literary influencer she 
had been attempting to become 
since the beginning. 

Two years after opening, does 
Side Biscuit hold up to the hype?
Short answer: yes
Side Biscuit sits on the edge of the 
student neighborhood at Packard 
and Woodlawn streets. It emerged 
in the midst of the COVID-19 
pandemic as the brainchild of chef 
Jordan Balduf. Balduf originally 
started Side Biscuit running online 
orders out of his driveway before 
buying the restaurant space. Side 
Biscuit’s cult status in the Ann 
Arbor restaurant scene has steadily 
risen since it first opened its doors 
in 2021. Just after its two year 
anniversary celebration, I decided 
that it was finally time to see if it 
lives up to the hype.
Walking into the store, you 
are immediately struck by how 
much energy is flowing through 
such a small space. Off to the 
side, they have merchandise for 
sale prominently displaying their 
Buffalo Bills inspired logo. I took 
about two steps before reaching the 
order counter with the rest of the 
space being occupied by a tight open 
kitchen where the temperature, 
volume of the classic rock and vibes 
were all sky high.
The “driveway plate” is Side 
Biscuit’s marquee deal, coming 
with six wings and the side biscuit 
of the week. I ordered the driveway 
plate with the open pit BBQ sauce. It 
was definitely sweet; in fact, it was 
one of the sweetest BBQ sauces that 
I have had. This was no detriment, 
however, as the sweetness came 
with equal tanginess. In addition 
to the BBQ, I tried the OG buffalo 
sauce. It absolutely blew me away. 
The buffalo sauce had the correct 
level of heat; I could totally feel it, 

but it wasn’t too much to handle. It 
had a subtle butteriness to it that 
smoothed out the heat. 
These 
sauces 
are 
nothing 
without the masterfully prepared 
wings underneath them. As a 
broke college student, I eat so much 
dining hall food and fast food that I 
was beginning to think that generic 
and processed food had gotten 
pretty good in terms of quality and 
taste. Yet these wings reminded 
me how good wings can really 
get. The meat was a much higher 
quality than what is normally seen 
in chicken wings. The chicken was 
noticeably juicy, as opposed to the 
all-too-often dry chicken wings 
you might see from a fast food wing. 
The skin was fully crispy and was 
clearly fried to perfection. Overall 
I thought that the chicken wings 
were spectacular.
The real star of the show was 
the namesake side biscuit. Every 
week Side Biscuit features a biscuit 
of the week and in honor of St. 
Patrick’s Day, they featured an 
Irish soda biscuit studded with 
raisins and topped with orange 
zest. The biscuit managed to outdo 
the wings in terms of quality and 
taste. It had a perfectly crispy 
outside with a hot, soft and buttery 
inside. Speaking of butter, keeping 
with the theme, it came with a 
side of orange marmalade butter. 
The butter was incredibly creamy 
and so good that my roommate felt 
justified in finishing it on its own.
Side Biscuit celebrated its two-
year anniversary of opening last 
weekend with a tailgate-type party 
outside the store. This celebration 
included a wing eating contest, 
free biscuits and a guest DJ. Over 
the last two years of its operation, I 
have heard constant claims of how 
elite Side Biscuit is and now I can 
finally attest to its cult status.

Side Biscuit celebrates 
two years

LAURA MILLAR
Daily Arts Writer

Courtesy of Will Castle

Courtesy of the Ann Arbor Film Festival

4 — Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

14
15
16

17
18
19

20
21
22

23
24
25
26

27
28
29
30

31
32
33
34
35

36
37
38
39

40
41
42
43
44

45
46
47
48

49
50
51
52
53

54
55
56
57

58
59
60
61
62

63
64
65

66
67
68

SUDOKU

WHISPER

“If you dream it, 
you can make it 
so.”

“Don’t be afraid 
of the space 
between your 
dreams and reali-
ty. ~Belva Davis”

WHISPER

Ann Arbor Film Festival 2023: Searching for stories in Films in Competition 2

WILL CASTLE
Daily Arts Contributor

