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PROJECTIONS: the Ann Arbor Film Festival eNewsletter

1. Endangered Campaign Update
2. Honeydripper - Special Event with John Sayles
3. Style Wars - Movie Night @ Neutral Zone
4. Filmmaker Focus: Caveh Zahedi
5. Call for Entries - extended late deadline


News from the Campaign Trail
We've now surpassed $27,000 with the Endangered campaign to preserve the AAFF and we would like to share a hearty, heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported us. We still have a long way to go - the deadline to reach our next goal of $35,000 is November 28th - so please help us and make a contribution!

In addition to preparing for our next Act of Audacity, we are also hard at work on fundraising events, including an octet of house parties hosted by our Board of Directors. There are even rumors buzzing about plans for creative fundraisers: a rock benefit, a bowl-a-thon, and an underground bunker party. If you would like to host an AAFF benefit, let us know!

John Sayles presents Honeydripper
Join us at the Michigan Theater on Friday, December 7 @ 5:30pm for a special evening with acclaimed independent filmmaker John Sayles and an advance screening of his new film Honeydripper. Ths film is a colorful fable about the birth of rock n' roll - a quintessentially American subject, but with a fidelity to time and temperament that is unusual in an American director.

John Sayles is a MacArthur Fellowship recipient and has written/directed more than 15 independent feature films, including Lonestar, Passion Fish, Sunshine State, and Brother From Another Planet. Honeydripper features an all-star cast including Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen, as well as such notable musicians Keb' Mo' and Dr. Mable John.



Movie Night at Neutral Zone: Style Wars
Movie Night is a new, monthly collaboration between the AAFF and the Neutral Zone. Programmed by local high school students, the evening will include the screening of a related short film from the Ann Arbor Film Festival's archives, followed by the featured film and a discussion.

Style Wars serves as an indispensable record of the golden age of youthful creativity in the exploding graffiti, breakdancing, and hip hop culture. For more event info: http://www.aafilmfest.org/events/

Filmmaker Focus: Caveh Zahedi
The AAFF is committed to championing bold, pioneering, experimental and artistically-inspired filmmakers. And we're dedicated to bringing creative, quality content to our audience. Thus, the beginning of Filmmaker Focus, which will periodically feature AAFF "alumni" providing personal insights into their approach on new projects. First up, Caveh Zahedi who screened at the 39th AAFF with Worm (co-produced with Jay Rosenblatt).

My current project, The Prime Minister, The Shah, The Ayatollah, and I, is a personal documentary about growing up Iranian-American at a time in which the United States and Iran went from being allies to enemies. At least that's how I pitched it to the funders who ended up giving me some money. But the trick is to make it interesting for myself, something that I discover, something that I haven't seen before. In short, I can't really know what it is I'm going to do. If I did, the film would lose all magic and all life.

Obviously, one needs to have a certain intention in making a film, and one has to do one's best to describe this intention in any grant proposal. But most intentions come from a deep, personal, and ultimately ineffable place, and putting them into words can be misleading. My intention is to make a film that says something important about the human condition. Could you be more specific? Yes and no. You really just have to see the film, but I need you to trust me and to give me that money.

In my case, I wanted to make a film that dealt with politics and with current events in Iran. But in trying to conceive the film, I immediately came upon a big problem, namely the fact that I don't know all that much about the subject. Well, do your homework, you could say. But the fact is there are people who spend years of their lives studying these things, and anything I would have to say would be second-hand knowledge.

"Use your own life" is another strategy, and this is the strategy that I've adopted. But the film needs to both feel organic and to have structure. How do I make a film about my own life that also talks about Iran? My parents are Iranian, so there's obviously a certain amount of overlap. But I was born in the U.S. and there isn't all that much overlap if you come right down to it. The last thing I want to do is to make another film about identity politics, because that has been done to death and I'm personally allergic to that approach.

So what to do? Here is the difficult work of writing, of digging more deeply into what the film is trying to be. Wallace Stevens describes this process as "the finding of a satisfaction." My problem is that very little satisfies me. But some things satisfy more than others, and if you keep at it, eventually the satisfaction quotient starts to build, and that is where I hope to arrive.

A structure is needed. In my case, I am using The Thousand and One Nights, because 1) it's a Persian story and 2) it provides a framework that can incorporate a lot of disparate strands - the personal as well as the political. But there is an even more important reason, and that has to do with the nature of story.

The Thousand and One Nights offers the framework of a fable, which I find infinitely more appropriate for a discussion of politics than what I would call the conventional documentary's claim to truth. Such a claim is part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. We have already been told enough fables masquerading as truth, whether about Iraq or Iran or Vietnam or human sexuality. What is needed is a discourse that is aware of the fabular nature of all stories, and that eschews the truth discourse epitomized by the local news.

I am still searching for the form of my film. I write, and I write, and I re-write until it seems to me to be satisfactory, and then and only then will I start to shoot. The film will go through many transformations, just like a person, but that is the most beautiful thing about the process - this not knowing and then, slowly, gradually, finding out.

Extended Late Submissions Deadline for 46th AAFF
Didn't get your film finished in time to submit for the 46th AAFF? There's still one last chance. We're offering an extended late deadline for $65 on entries postmarked by December 1, 2007.

The AAFF is an Academy Award-qualifying festival, awards more than $20,000 in prizes, and provides the opportunity to go on our acclaimed national tour. You can submit through Withoutabox or directly through our website. Click here for full details.

Dear Friends, Fans, & Supporters:

Two dollars. It might not even buy you a gas station cappuccino these days. But right now for the AAFF, two dollars goes a long way... especially when multiplied by the strength of our community.

Thanks to a generous offer from OurStage.com, the AAFF will receive $2 toward its Endangered campaign for each person who signs-up at http://www.ourstage.com/go/aaff/.




More News on the Endangered campaign

We have a frontrunner for Act of Audacity #2 - giant animal badminton! It's off to a healthy lead, so if you're wanting to see Chris and Donald stage a public street protest against uninspired cinema or recreate the Singing in the Rain dance scene with super-soakers, get your vote counted. You can donate and vote easily on our website - just click on the animal button for which level you choose: http://www.aafilmfest.org/endangered

We also have confirmed a special fundraising benefit with acclaimed writer/director John Sayles coming to Ann Arbor for an advanced screening of his newest film Honeydripper. So mark your calendars for December 7th at 5:30pm at the historic Michigan Theater - more details to come!

Like a posse of pikas,

-The AAFF Team

Labels: Endangered Campaign, OurStage