Film – Page 87 – [art]seen

REVIEW: M-Agination Film Festival

April 10, 2015April 10, 2015 Phillip Wachowiak

Going to any event at the Michigan Theater makes the event itself a hundred times more grand. Despite a tornado warning and wretched weather, the 14th Annual Festival put on the student group M-Agination Films was a smashing success.

Each year 10-15 short student films are created with the help of M-Agination films and the results are shown together at the end of the year. I have seen this festival for the past three years, and every year the overall quality of films has improved.

As with many festivals, the genres of the films varied: “Oreo Therapy” was about a man getting over a recent breakup with the help of food-related gifts from his hall neighbor, while “Awaken Ann Arbor” was a documentary about a meditation group of the same name on U of M’s campus, and “Dreamer” was a full-on avant-garde piece that I will not even attempt to decipher.

This was a full event, with multiple half-hour films–“Co-Education” and “A Sense of Sound”–to end each block of the festival. There was a nice mix of comedies and dramas to take us on a subtle emotional roller coaster throughout the night. “Looking Back,” a depressing piece about a young student reminiscing about his lost lover, preceded “Babysitter,” a hilarious comedy about a young teen jumping through hoops to get the title job, and then we went to the documentary “Awaken.”

The second half of the festival was much the same. We opened with “Fortune Teller Gynecologist” which is a comedy that needs no further description, on to “A Study in Tokyo,” which was a documentary shot during a class trip. The best part about “Tokyo” was that, despite being shot almost entirely with a GoPro, it was entertaining and edited well enough to keep the audience focused.

“Legs” was a groovy music video shot literally below the waist. “Three” followed three individuals with various disorders (OCD, Anorexia, Social Anxiety) and used images, rather than words to describe their daily lives. To cap off the night was “A Sense of Sound,” which was a lot like Whiplash, but with elderly people.

Overall, amazing festival and something to attend in future years.

Festival Line Up

Oreo Therapy Directed by Monica Dollive (4 minutes)
Looking Back Directed by Leo Sheng (7 minutes)
Babysitter Directed by Jameson Duggan (8 minutes)
Awaken Ann Arbor Directed by Will Ellis (11 minutes)
Hero Directed by Claire Holloway (2 minutes)
Co-Education Directed by Anna Baumgarten (25 minutes)

Intermission 15 minutes

Fortune Teller Gynecologist Directed by Michael Wylie (6 minutes)
Dreamer Directed by Layne Simescu (6 minutes)
A Study in Tokyo Directed by Rachel Goldberg (9 minutes)
Three Directed by Karen Hua (7 minutes)
LEGS Directed by Jorge Gonzalez (4 minutes)
A Sense of Sound Directed by Jeremy Borison (30 minutes)

PREVIEW: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

April 5, 2015April 5, 2015 Phillip Wachowiak

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is about an awkward high school senior and a gravely ill classmate who surprise themselves by becoming inseparable friends. It stars Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke, and Jon Bernthal, and is not even scheduled to be released until June 2015!

Through Fox Searchlight pictures, there are free screening passes available to get a free viewing of the film (see below)!

When: April 14 at 7 PM

Where: State Theater

Cost: FREE (With Screening Pass, available here)

This drama premiered at Sundance 2015 to a standing ovation. If it is anything like The Fault in Our Stars, I would recommend you bring a box of tissues to the screening.

A picture of the cast:

PREVIEW: M-Agination Films 14th Annual Film Festival

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 Phillip Wachowiak

M-agination Films is a student run organization on campus that runs similarly to a production class in the Screen Arts and Cultures department. Our goal is to help dedicated, creative students create their own passion projects.

Who: Students like you (possibly) and me, who worked on independent movie projects the past two semesters. They are presenting the fruits of their labor on the big screen for one night only.

Where: The Michigan Theater

When: April 9th at 7:30

Cost: FREE!

There are a wide variety of films this year, from documentary, to narrative, to straight avant-garde.

There’s a link to the Facebook event here

REVIEW: TEDx U of M 2015

March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 Phillip Wachowiak

Whatever opinion you might have about TED (Technology Engineering Design) Conferences, it would be impossible to say that you don’t walk out of a conference feeling like you’ve absorbed a semester’s worth of information.

Each year TEDxUofM puts on an independent conference at the Power Center, and this year’s theme was Constructive Interference. The format is always the same: the doors open and people stream in to get their creative name tags, activities and coffee charge everyone for the day ahead, speakers ranging from activists to cartoonists.

I am always surprised by how big the event is. Weeks after ticket sales open, there are no spots left. This showed at the Power Center, where students, faculty, and outsiders filled every seat and streamed into the walkway outside. That’s the beauty of going to the conference rather than streaming it online–during the conference it was ridiculously easy to bump into someone and learn about their lives. Furthermore, TED attracts a certain type of curious personality that makes it easy to talk about issues other than the weather during lunch.

As for the speakers themselves, I was pleased that I didn’t see any bad speakers. Sometimes it happens. Not at U of M.

Some of the highlights were Herbert Winful, who talked abotu how hidden passions can connect people. As he states “It was love at first sight when I first laid eyes on Maxwell’s Equations.” This man studied electrical engineering at MIT, so he was not lying. Jill Halpern, another graduate of MIT, also spoke about tying together math and creativity.

Probably my favorite event of the day, however, was Raj Mehta’s talk called “Addiction 101.” It was simple, yet challenged the way in which we view addicts and stereotypes. Furthermore, he stated some unsettling facts about the apathy of our system. One example was that there are 40 institutions for juvenile detention in Michigan, but only 1 for rehabilitation. Even more astounding, this man was a former heroin addict, yet recovered and managed to graduate Michigan with a 4.0 GPA. That’s more than I’ll be able to pull off by the time I graduate.

The picture above is another one of the highlights of the conference. Two Michigan students, Marisa Diamond and Charley Leonard, showcased incredible acrobatic talent on stage. They flipped, flew, and astounded us. I felt guilty for not doing anything better with my life as a student.

While several of the speakers were famous and big-shots in their industries, TEDxUofM is wonderful because it also brings in alumni and faculty alike to speak to current students and faculty. Cliff Lampe, for instance, teaches at the School of Information, and what is incredible is that if you liked his talk today you could easily have him as a professor next semester!

If you get a chance, follow TED, TEDxUofM, and attend next year’s conference. It will be worth it.

REVIEW: Sister Africa 2015

March 14, 2015March 14, 2015 Phillip Wachowiak

This was the 17th annual Culture Show put on by the African Students Association, and after weeks of hype and social media frenzy, the Michigan Theater was filled to capacity.

Comedian standup comedian Foxy P took the stage and did not hesitate bringing up diversity. It was a pleasant surprise to hear him complementing the diversity in Ann Arbor, as he told us a story about walking into a barber shop downtown and having his hair cut by a white guy named Tim. This story and every other time he came on stage was filled with an energy that kept the audience filled with passion.

There were no bad performances. Whether it was the Amala dancers flowing across the stage, the Uprizin Steel Drum Band reminding us of warming weather, or a blisteringly frank spoken word poem by Adedolapo Adeniji, the audience was on the edge of its seat.

Two standout dance performances by the Michigan Center for Capoeira and the Zuzu Dancers book-ending the second half truly made the Africa Show a worthwhile experience. Not only were the dancers shaped like bodybuilders, but we watched them flip and spin and fly through the air as if they were superhuman. The Zuzu Dancers especially condensed several acts into a short performance that deserved a standing ovation at the end.

Spaced at different points through the show was a fashion show. This was a reminder of Africa’s wide range of cultures and dress, as well as a reminder of how beautiful its people and clothing are.

Like the Fusion Show put on by ASA months before, the Culture Show was something that can only truly be enjoyed in person. This time, at least, there will be a video available of show online at 1Africa. For future reference, this is not an event to pass up when it comes around again next year.

PREVIEW: TEDx 2015

March 10, 2015February 16, 2015 Phillip Wachowiak

Surely you have heard of the name before. TEDx: an incredibly wide range of “ideas worth spreading” touching on the three themes of Technology, Entertainment, and Design [the “x” denotes an independently organized event].

If you haven’t already, spend twenty minutes (or hours) on their website and you will quickly feel inspired to do something.

Each year, the University of Michigan brings its own TEDx event to campus, and this upcoming conference will the the 6th iteration of the day-long experience.

Where: The Power Center

When: Friday, March 20 (all day)

Who: An incredibly wide range of artists, speakers, & people

Cost: $15 (Pay in Advance)

This year’s theme is “Constructive Interference,” and you can find more information on the website here. Even better, you can apply to be part of the even itself.