39th Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour makes a stop at Cornell Cinema

Cornell Cinema hosts the touring program of the 39th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, a showcase of the best new 16 mm short films. Part One will be offered as a free screening on Sunday, Sept. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Uris Auditorium. Part Two will be shown in the Schwartz Center Film Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Cornell Cinema and the Pentangle Film Program present the 39th Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour, a selection of awarded and highlighted films from this year's festival.

The first part of the program will be offered as a free screening by the Pentangle Film program Sunday, Sept. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Uris Auditorium. The second part of the program will be shown as part of the Cinema Off-Center series in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts Film Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the Tuesday screening is $3. Cinema Off-Center is co-sponsored with the Cornell Council for the Arts.

The program includes a selection of award-winning and highlighted films from this year's festival. Part One features 11 short films, including "Why I Don't Go to the Movies," the tale of an obsessive moviegoer brought low by a goddess; "Mesheen," winner of the Most Technically Innovative Film Award; "Hedwig Page, Seaside Librarian," winner of a Special Jury Award for its use of live action filmmaking and puppet animation to tell the story of a retired librarian; and the experimental "Biker Dave," winner of the Prix DeVarti for Funniest Film.

Part Two of this year's touring package includes 11 short films, including two by Jay Rosenblatt, a former student of film professor Don Fredericksen. Also on the program are SUNY Binghamton Professor Ariana Gerstein's "Images of Flying and Falling," winner of the Gus Van Sant Award for Best Experimental Film; "Deep Creep," three vignettes about sexual fantasy by a cast of feminists and the Carl Sagan Institute of Reciprocal Studies; and Mike Hoolboom's "Jack," an experimental bio-pic.

Since the 1960s, the Ann Arbor Film Festival has showcased the latest in 16 mm independent and experimental film from all over the world, giving many innovative filmmakers their first public recognition. Among those honored in previous festivals are James Benning, Alan Berliner and Tony Buba, all of whom have made appearances at Cornell Cinema in recent years. Icons of experimental and independent cinema, such as Andy Warhol, Leighton Pierce, Kenneth Anger and Bruce Conner, also have been part of past festivals.

This year's festival was selected from 425 entries from around the world, and the touring program features some of the best shorter works from the hundreds of hours of footage submitted to the judges.