The Ann Arbor Film Festival is one of the United State's oldest forums for showcasing experimental films. Unfortunately, due to some backwards thinking politicians who are under the notion that cultural conscience is a show on MTV, the festival recently had to forgo their state funding. Why, exactly have they lost their funding? Well, for starters for their non-compliance with state regulations that proclaim any film that receives state funding should:

I: Not depict human waste on any religious symbols.
II: Not show the desecration of the flag.
III: Not depict sex acts.

When a kind reminder that the Civil War is over didn't deter the politicians stance, the festival decided to take matters into their own hands and are trying to raise the money themselves. And they're going to sue the pants off the state for grossly violating the first amendment, but more on that at a later date.

But what you can do now is log onto their website and make a small donation in the name of art, cinema and politics. You'll feel good about doing this because you're supporting the filmmaking community, you get to vote to make the festival volunteers do something outrageous and a small percentage goes to the wildlife federation.

Here's a further press release:

Censorship Controversy

The Latest Update
In March 2007, the Ann Arbor Film Festival – working in conjunction with the ACLU of Michigan – filed suit against the state of Michigan in an attempt to overturn arts funding legislation that we believe is unconstitutional according to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The suit was in response to a movement by a small group of state legislators who used the rules to prohibit the AAFF from receiving state arts funding.

While the case is still pending, the Festival is working hard to recover from the loss of funding and the strain of defending itself against those who seek to abridge our right to Constitutionally protected speech. But there’s a lot more work to do – both in protecting the rights of artists and in returning the AAFF to a healthy position as one of the world’s leading showcases for cutting-edge films that provoke, challenge and inspire.

The Whole Story
In early 2006 an essay written by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy – a group that is opposed to all state funding of the arts – used the frequently provocative films we screen at the Festival to attack all public arts funding. The essays says, “one person’s highpoint of artistic achievement may be deemed a cesspool of silliness by another,” and then goes on to name several films that were screened at the AAFF.

After the essay was published, a small group of state legislators, claiming that taxpayer dollars were going to fund “pornography” at the Festival, used Michigan’s Constitutionally-suspect arts funding language in a political grandstanding maneuver that singled out the Ann Arbor Film Festival for special treatment. Our past-due funding was pulled and they attempted to pass new legislation preventing the AAFF from receiving any future state arts money.

In response, the Festival’s board of directors voted unanimously to forego state arts money as long as the vague and restrictive guidelines were in place. The board felt it was more important to uphold the Festival’s artistic integrity and protect the expression of its exhibiting filmmakers than it was to accept dollars that limited artistic expression.

But the decision wasn’t an easy one. The AAFF had been getting money from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs for over ten years and, until the Mackinac Center published its essay, no one had ever found our films problematic before. We are an international festival and we take pride in the diversity of people and ideas the AAFF draws to Michigan. All of us at the Festival believe in protecting the rights of our participating filmmakers and that they should be allowed the full range of Constitutionally protected speech to express their artistic vision.

Economic Benefits & Cultural Tourism

Ann Arbor Film Festival’s Contribution to Michigan’s Culture and Economy

According to the June 2006 Economic Impact of Arts and Culture Report (pdf), a healthy arts community is an asset for economic development and helps attract the educated, creative work force that businesses and states seek to attract. As a local Festival that attracts work, artists and audiences from countries all over the world, the Ann Arbor Film Festival is a prime example of that.

While the overwhelming majority of small, community arts organizations in Michigan rely on their local communities and audiences to support their work, the AAFF is an economic engine that brings money into the state from across the United States and the globe. For example, in 2006, the Ann Arbor Film Festival received over $58,000 in submission fees – our single largest revenue line – yet only 5% of those fees came from Michigan filmmakers.

But the festival does more than draw money into the state through submission fees from the international filmmaking community. We bring audiences as well. In the past two years, the AAFF hosted 79 filmmakers from outside of Michigan – 14 from outside of the United States. In fact, at the 44th Ann Arbor Film Festival, we hosted filmmakers from five continents. And we know there are more – non-filmmakers who come from all over the world to attend the Festival – we just don’t track them.

Christen McArdle, the Executive Director of the AAFF, talked about attending our filmmakers’ reception the Saturday of Festival saying, “I was sitting at a table with filmmakers from Rwanda, the United Kingdom, Canada and New York. None of them had ever been to Michigan before; all were having a great time and enjoying the festival, and all of them talked about coming back.”

Visitors to the AAFF spend time and money at local restaurants, hotels, clubs, bars and retail stores and when they return home, they’ll tell their friends, neighbors and family members about the wonderful experience they had in Michigan.

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the oldest festival in North America showcasing independent and experimental film. As a non-partisan festival created to celebrate film as an art form, we exhibit work that challenges ideals, pushes techniques and styles in artistic expression, and celebrates cultures and countercultures from around the world. Since our founding in 1963, we have screened works by filmmakers like Kenneth Anger, Brian DePalma, Barbara Hammer, George Lucas, Yoko Ono, Gus Van Sant, Will Vinton and Andy Warhol.

And while our programming has represented a wide variety of viewpoints over the years – including those of the far left and far right and avant-garde and mainstream themes – and we are justifiably proud of the role we’ve played in bringing alternative viewpoints and glimpses into other cultures to Michigan, we’ve also played a key role in bringing visitors to Ann Arbor and dollars into the state and local economies. Your support in continuing to help us do so is both needed and greatly appreciated.

See you at the Festival!

# posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 9/25/2007 08:41:00 PM

Comments (5)

 
There's separation between church and state why shouldn't there be separation between "art" and state?
# posted by Amanda Pray @ 9/26/2007 10:07 AM  

 
Well, Amanda, because a religion is a specific ontotheological perspective on the origin and behavior of humanity. "Art" is an all encompassing phenomenon which acts as semiotic record of our culture. Art by it's very nature is inclusive and religion exclusive.
# posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 9/26/2007 4:19 PM  

 
That's a manifesto about art that I have to take into serious consideration, Benjamin. I'm not convinced, even from a perspective as an appreciator of the arts, that's it's inclusive, particularly with regards to the experimental scene that Ann Arbor so doggedly advances.

With that said, the festival is doing a tremendous job, having put up with this issue for two years, and I commend you for writing about that topic.
# posted by Short End @ 9/27/2007 1:29 PM  

 
Of course they haven't actually shown these sorts of films in YEARS. But nevermind, saying they do is enough, right?
# posted by Anonymous @ 9/27/2007 7:15 PM  

 
I don't know what the person above is talking about. Ann Arbor still shows many experimental and underground films.
# posted by UncleWally @ 9/29/2007 1:32 PM  

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