Ann Arbor Film Festival 2009

A feminist adaptation of a traditional Argentinean folktale about the monstrous woman, as recounted by Eduardo Galeano. This playful short remakes images from fashion magazines into a luscious landscape peopled by hauntingly beautiful creatures. At the same time it asks questions of the gaze, gender conformity, and the relationship between modern day myths of woman and those of the past.

Rising fundamentalism and a government that cites faith to defend its wars have helped foster a desperate society. Between ecstasy and despair, transcendence and absurdity, there is a hidden space where you can lose your way, lose yourself in the moment, lose your faith in a system of beliefs.

A neglected teen takes refuge in the dreams that used to haunt her and orchestrates a shocking plan to prove her worth to her disapproving parents.

Twelve distinctive female voices come together to form a mosaic of heartbreak and vulnerability set against the backdrop of a modern city both comforting and confrontational. This film explores the isolation of pain and loss and the shared journey toward reconciliation

A boy struggles to understand his strange, silent father - a Lithuanian immigrant who has become an emotional refugee in his own home.

Through the use of stop-motion animation and projection, the relationship between a projected image and its painted representation and between the location of the projected image and its original source shifts constantly throughout the film like the infinite variations of waves in the sea.

A colorful mix of shorts that will engage even the youngest film-goer with high-caliber indie films. Co-Presented by: Ann Arbor District Library Sponsored by: Edward Jones Films in screening order: The Collection (Keren Albala) Bewick's Mambo (Peter Snowdon) Life on a Limb (David Chai) Ten Counting Cat (Robert Chaplin) Immersion (Richard Levien) Le Noeud Cravate (The Necktie) (Jean-François Lévesque) C Block (Vladimir Kooperman) Ridder (Hedvig Lien) Love Child (Daniel Wirtberg) My Happy End (Milen Vitanov)

An animated short film that tells the compelling story of a senator who must confront his secret deeds of corruption.

In a future-past world crumbling and wracked by perpetual war, frantic preparations for a music recital are underway in a disintegrating theatre.