Hell's Half Mile 2011

The guy in the cowboy hat is Ramblin' Eric, in case you're wondering.

Experimental Film

The 49th Ann Arbor Film Festival concluded Sunday night. This year's festival presented 40 programs over six days with 188 films, videos and live performances, including more than 20 premieres. Personally, the highlight of the festival was a feature-length documentary called “Foreign Parts," a beautifully shot and edited two-year examination of life in Willets Point, a neighborhood in Queens, New York, where scrappers survive in an automobile wasteland facing the shadows of a new Mets stadium. Another highlight of the festival was a series of short documentary pieces produced by Sam Green. Check them out here.

Photos From Hell Part V

One of the coolest parts of the Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival is the small gatherings that happen between films and other events in a small room upstairs in the Masonic Temple in downtown Bay City. Pictured in the first photo here is Alan LaFave, the festival director and co-founder, a.k.a. the glue that holds everything together.

Photos From Hell Part IV

Director and producer Ben Hickernell was on hand Saturday night in Bay City for the screening of his film "Lebanon, PA," a narrative feature about a liberal-minded urbanite from Philadelphia who ventures to the rural town of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, after his father's death and finds himself at odds with the town's conservative culture. It's a well done film and worth checking out. Matt Pond PA provides the soundtrack for the film.

Photos From Hell Part I

Hipsters in Bay City are celebrating "five years of hell" this weekend with it being the Fifth Annual Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival. I'm in half-photographer mode, half-festival-goer mode, and half-catching-up-with-old-friends mode (and half bad at math) so, photo-wise, I'll get what I get and I'm not going all out. Here are a few takes from opening night on Thursday, which included a block party downtown and a screening of the opening night film Cherry. The lead actress and producer were on hand. In my opinion, this festival is the coolest thing about Bay City and it runs through Sunday with lots of great indie films and music at multiple venues. Hope to see you in hell.

Final Cut

I scoped out the Ann Arbor Film Festival this weekend. This is what I came away with. This fully describes every one of my thoughts and emotions after watching the two films I sat in on.

Michael Moore

Michigan filmmaker Michael Moore appeared at Angell Hall on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor tonight for the 20th anniversary screening of his first film "Roger & Me," a documentary on the demise of his native city of Flint. Moore passed up on an opportunity to nationally promote the DVD release of his latest film "Capitalism: A Love Story" on the Stephen Colbert show to instead appear in Ann Arbor before a mostly college student crowd of about 300. He spoke candidly of the many mistakes he made in making the film and candidly offered the sentiment that there's no hope for Flint.

Film Noir

Walking down Liberty Street after lunch on Tuesday, I came across this scene. Literally, it's going to be a scene in a short film being shot by these students from the University of Michigan. I took a few minutes to take shots of them shooting what appeared to be a dramatic encounter between two guys who looked like agents from "The Matrix." It was kind of one of those "hunter becomes the hunted" moments. I bet they didn't expect to run into some guy on the street heavily armed with a Nikon D700.