The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the longest-running independent and experimental film festival in North America. Internationally renowned as a premiere forum for film as an independent art form, the AAFF screens works across a broad range of genres including: experimental, animation, documentary, narrative and hybrid works. The AAFF is steeped in a rich tradition of ground-breaking cinema.
The Ann Arbor Film Festival serves as an Academy Award®-qualifying festival in the United States for the Short Films category. The AAFF presents over $20,000 in cash awards to filmmakers in competition, as determined by the awards jury. The AAFF is highly competitive, receiving over 3,000 submissions annually from more than 60 countries. All submissions are reviewed by a minimum of 2 trained screeners, with many films watched and discussed collectively by 6 – 10 members of the festival screening team. The festival main venue, the Michigan Theater, is a gorgeous 1920s movie palace with a historic organ that is performed prior to many of the programs. The AAFF is committed to high quality exhibition of all films at the festival and presents work on 16mm, 35mm, super 8mm and digital formats.
Many accepted filmmakers attend the festival as guests each year and receive complimentary festival pass, housing with host families, shuttle transportation to/from airport, filmmaker party, catered green room and a filmmaker dinner. The AAFF also provides additional opportunities for select filmmakers accepted into the festival. As a pioneer of the traveling film festival tour, each year a “best of” shorts program travels to more than 35 theaters, universities, museums and art house cinemas throughout North America. Filmmakers participating in the tour are paid for each screening of their work.
EARLY BIRD DEADLINE: AUGUST 15, 2014
REGULAR DEADLINE: OCTOBER 1, 2014
LATE DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 1, 2014
Categories: Features (Narrative, Documentary, Experimental, Animation), Shorts (Narrative, Documentary, Experimental, Animation), Music Videos
