'Film in small packages?

SU^AY ",'.

By Rich Quackenbush

Talk to Woody Sempliner about the
Ann Arbor Film Festival, and he'll tell
3'uu thai what yotr-see—Avhat vou get at
the festival is • •:. ,,^ act in
the mail."

"In the mail.;, . . . ;n:^,!i
: tiers. Or you get advertising and

he explains. "It's all communica-
.ut it's all very different.
» guess what I'm trying to stress is
that what's seen at the festival is film in
small packages"

FILM IN small pack? ih,-
re's a catchy phrase, a I,
ble as Peter Bogdanov .....igo
definition of movies as pieces of
dreams."

But what exactly are the Ann Arbor
"" "..i—,,,. ..-.-..,, packages,"

which the
nationally

historic Michigan Theatre Tuesday
through next Sunday^

"JUST AfiOI-T anything; every-
thing,' .pliner, manager of
the fesi ; several years.

"netimes just the expression of a

And how do these "small packages"
differ from commercial Hollywood mov-

FIRST, THERE are the obvious differ-
ences such as length and the festival
films' status as ••"•)—--,--•--•" products.

Most festival short; as
many as a qua.' ;•,.• than 290
films submitted -., :„.--„; ,.l:inners rn
date could be shown during tin.'!
six-day tenure at the Michigan

The word "independent" nx

;ommercial Hoi
independent filn

'tention more to the tilm-
. the illusion he or she has
^.™»™. .... independent film is an ex-
ercise in individual artistry."

AS SUCH. Sempliner says the prospec-
""" viewer might have to acquire a taste
• independent film.

in really have to be attuned to the
i storv behind tilmmaking," he ex-
' have to view these films in
ay, be aware of what the

' '; I think you have ti :'
.' and maybe attc.
i0 really get into ;

the medium."

SUCH AN exercise might be particu-
larly rewarding to those who saw early
works by, for instance, George Lucas,
who went on to direct the commercial
smash hits "Star Wars" and "Amci ,

of "Carrie," at previous festivals

Those interested in animation migni
• rcall that works by Academy Award-
'.inning animators Will Vinton and

u'is work first shown at

win an Oscar lor animal]
"Frank's Film," describr
er as "a film that dazzled;

body else."

STILL, DESPITE the transition some
festival independents have made to com-

the festival remains committed to the in-
dependent.
That wn

one festival press ri.'] i ihose
words and further sir ;D|-
lywood movie palaci :n "
will "house undergroui.u.

While Sempliner himself sees a cer-
tain amount of irony in a "movie pal-
ace" built tor Hollywood efforts being
this year's site for the festival, he's not
sure about the labels which are used to

first years of the festival,
"Back then (the early 1960s), the films

tact that an artist had picked up a cam-
era and decided to work with film: mak-

But times have changed, Sempliner
stresses, and a lot of the "crudeness"
has disappeared from festival entries

"THE FILMS used to be easy to de-
fine. But now, people seem to have a lot
more access to information about mak-
ing films; the quality has been creeping
un and the films we receive are very ma-

Ann Arbor Film Festival was born
:ii2, the brainchild of director George

Manupelli, a major figure In American
16mm film who was teaching at the
University of Michigan at the time, and
the laf Prni Marvin i.'dheim, founder
"' ' which eontin-
i!. :ival with the
1" Ann Arbor.

Now at York University in Toronto
and soon to become Dean of the School of
the San Francisco Art Institute,

THIS YE.
be dedic;!;

new fesli- .

v and a
iilished

ommittee of eight local
rent'.y is selecting the 25
i"' T'ethan
tt> shown
n.. ..,.-s this

tilm experts ci

140 hours subn
to the public

ie festival opening will
selected by the Cinema
and Manupelli watch-
•le public at 7, 9 and 11

SCREENINGS will be at the same
See 1- ilm, Page E-5Film ... SU^Yf^ ^
Continued (rom Page E-l ' .ind that Is the iier, surprisingly enough, six univerisites, with a minin aumo f»350 Whitney Museum, the Museum of Mod-
times through Friday and at 1. 7 and ; ; the "most prizes. aw arded at ea ich locatii an by li ocal11 iries. ern Art in New York City and the Chi-
p.m. on Saturday. : the festival. ..-Ci™riCALLY, there is no win- cago Art Institute - who are seeking
By Sunday morning, the judges must be ready to award prize money, from an expected pot of some $6,000 provided by local merchants, U-M film groups and private Individual awards. T. : prize.d<; ividual share of ths ,.l distributes the cash an ;ees fit. ". ... is then will be shown says. ways Sen festi-i Begin ihe Ann Arbor Film Festival," he 'Frankly, the judges aren't al-r^ht."l, .'.i;;: ,, , -30 An cla pla n An ilmed . ,^;it; ty ae-itives outstanding films for their theaters and archives. Series tickets for the festival will go on sale 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Michigan Theatre. Individual screening tickets also are expected to be available at the
There is only one pre-determlned at 7. a Him n p.m. next Sunday •works shown during the festival will tour frommajul n ISUlUllUll! > ~ plo lues like the door.

'Pat's Tow' big winner

Festival gets 130 films

By Richard Vander Veen

'Pat's Tow," a film depicting
women's confrontation with
male-dominated police and care
tow-away system in America's big
cities, was the top-prize-winner in
the 9th annual Ann Arbor 8 mil
limeter Film Festival.

The festival, the oldest competi-
tion in the United States devoted
exclusively to 8 mm films, drew
130 films from Canada, the United
States and Italy to the University
of Michigan campus this weekend.

The judges do not try to rate the
films one, two, three in awarding
prizes, so winners are not as
clear-out as in such events as the
Academy Award or Emmy con-
tests.Part of the problem is that
some films may be creative and
well directed and acted but poorly
filmed. Others may be slickly
done but may show less original-
ity.

"Pat's Tow" which won a $900
Bell and Howell Mamiya camera
fore filmmaker Ann Schaetzel,
showing belching two truck dirvers
"arresting" cars, then forcing
them open with coat hangers, Fes-
'tival judges said the film was
probably the most creative work
submitted.

JEFFREY POLN'S "Two
Days," a slick" 12-minute film
portraying the life of a
businessman-father, was labeled
the best all-around-work by festi-
val judges. With carfully selected
images, the filmshows how a hus-
band and father gives his all to his
business, then feel its cold walls
close him out. Poln won $115 for
his work.

The S125 Keith Clark Memorial
prize was awarded to Bill Know-
land for "Implosions - Parts I
and II." Knowland's 12-minute
film emplys rock music at an
ever-quickening pace, time-
lapsed, accelerating cinematogra-
phy and intensifying white, red,
and yellow city lights to push view-
ers to the final image, an explod-
ing A-bomb.

THe festival's most controversi-
al film was Willard Small's "Disco
Dog," according to festival direct-
tor Gerry Pialka.

The film gives the viewer 15 mi-
nutes of the latest disco bits while
subjecting him to two of the most.
gruesome images ever filmed: A
scene from Luis Bunuel's "Un
Chien Andalou" ("The Andalusian
Dog" in which a razor blade used
to cut a cow' appears to cut a
woman's eye and the bloody exe-
cution scene from the Vietnam
War.

LOCAL FILMMAKER John
Nelson produced a delightfully dif-
ferent effect in his "Roofdreams"
which begins and ends quietly
with a dancer asleep in a conapoied
bed, Fialka said. Filmed on build-
ing rooftops in Chicago and Ann
Arbor, the film shows an agile
chimne dancer moying snesuous-
ly beofre the setting sun and disap-
pearing randomly into brick walls.

Festival judges examined 60
films varying in length from three-
to 59 minutes on Friday and Satur-
day, and the 19 best films were
shown Sunday night, Fialka siad

THE FESTIVAL is designed to
encourage creativity among non-
professional film producers in a
"home movie" medium that is
"easy to learn, easy to do and
more easily available than any
other," Fialka said.

This year's festival drew fewer
applicants and viewers than the
record 183 films and 800 spectators
last year, Fialka said. About 550
people attended last year, he said.

The festival is sponsored by the
Ann Arbor Film Cooperative, a
non-profit U-M student organiza-
tion which also offers film series
on campus.