Southeast Michigan’s Cinetopia Film Festival Announces Their 2017 Film Lineup
The festival will feature a record number of Michigan Premieres and three
U.S. Premieres
Cinetopia Film Festival has announced the schedule of films taking place at this year’s festival, which will run June 1-11 beginning in Ann Arbor and ending in Detroit. The 2017 lineup features a record-breaking 24 Michigan Premieres, as well as 3 U.S. Premieres, including the racing documentary, McLaren, which will premiere at the Henry Ford on Friday, June 2.
Spanning ten days, Cinetopia brings more than 60 films to the Detroit, Dearborn and Ann Arbor area – representing the best feature-length dramas, comedies, and documentaries from the world’s best festivals, including Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin, SXSW and Tribeca. Visit cinetopiafestival.org for full film descriptions, trailers and dates/times/locations of all screenings and events.
The festival will begin in Ann Arbor on June 1, with the Ann Arbor portion taking place in the historic Michigan Theater and Lorch Hall on the University of Michigan campus. The festival continues in Dearborn, where partners again include the Arab American National Museum and their Arab Film Festival, as well as The Henry Ford and their Giant Screen Experience. The festival finishes in Detroit, with screenings at the Detroit Film Theatre, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, College for Creative Studies, Cinema Detroit, and The Maple Theater.
A special Midwest Premiere of the documentary Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry will take place at Zingerman’s Cornman Farms in Dexter on Wednesday, June 7.
Cinetopia will open on the evening of Thursday, June 1 at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, with an opening night party at 5:30 PM in the foyer followed by the Michigan Premiere of Sundance favorite The Hero starring Sam Elliott, Nick Offerman, and Laura Prepon at 7:00 PM.
A list of the films currently announced is attached here and also available at cinetopiafestival.org. More films, events, panels, and guests will be announced in the weeks to come.
Some of the 60+ films being screened at the festival include:
12TH AND CLAIRMOUNT Metro Detroiters’ vintage home movie footage provides the heart of 12th and Clairmount, a documentary looking back at the cause, duration, and aftermath of the 1967 Detroit riot/rebellion. Those five days in July were among the most pivotal – and divisive – in the city’s history, with the turmoil leaving 43 dead. While the impending 50th anniversary of the summer of ’67 was the impetus for the film, the found footage in 12th and Clairmount captures a wide spectrum of Detroit life, from proud streetscapes to dance parties to neighborhood sporting events. Drawing from more than 400 reels of home movies from the era, other unearthed footage, and newly recorded oral histories, the documentary was produced by the Detroit Free Press in collaboration with Bridge Magazine, WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) and a group of metro Detroit cultural institutions, led by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Sponsored by the Detroit Free Press.
BAND AID MICHIGAN PREMIERE Tired of having the same fights over and over again, a struggling married couple (writer-director ZOE LISTER-JONES and ADAM PALLY) decide to turn their anger and dissatisfaction with each other into something more fun and productive: a rock band. Soon they’re clearing out their Los Angeles garage for rehearsal space and enlisting the help of their neighbor, “Weird Dave” (FRED ARMISEN), on drums. With their upbeat, garage punk songs, they find a new, healthy way to communicate their range of issues – both the comical ones (not doing the dishes) and the more serious one at the heart of their rift (their struggle to conceive a child). It’s not long before they realize that their problems may be too great for any indie-pop song to mend. This honest comedy from an entirely female-led production crew uses music to show how we hurt, how we heal, and how we can move on together.
THE HERO MICHIGAN PREMIERE Western star of yesteryear Lee Hayden (SAM ELLIOTT) likes to reminisce with his drug dealer buddy Jeremy (NICK OFFERMAN) about the good times gone by. But when Lee runs into a roadblock, he gets a fresh chance to reclaim the spotlight with the help of his new lover Charlotte (LAURA PREPON) and an industry award for his work. Director BRETT HALEY (I’ll See You in My Dreams) gives a strong, funny, and touching take on a man in his later years making the best of being in the moment.
IL CINEMA RITROVATO Cineteca di Bologna, one of Europe’ s most renowned archives for film restoration and preservation, organizes the world-renowned festival Il Cinema Ritrovatoevery summer in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore. The festival’ s purpose is to make sure that important cinematic restorations – which are often undertaken as a matter of genuine rescue, rather than simple “sprucing up”– aren’t just hidden away in a deep, dark film vault that only scholars will have access to. This year’s touring program of nine rare, newly-restored feature-length and short films will take place during Cinetopia exclusively at the DIA’ s Detroit Film Theatre. This series is curated by Guy Borlée of Cineteca di Bologna and Elliot Wilhelm of the Detroit Film Theater, in collaboration with the Italian Consulate in Detroit.
LOOK & SEE: A PORTRAIT OF WENDELL BERRY MIDWEST PREMIERE CORNMAN FARMS SPECIAL SCREENING. Told through the lens of writer, environmentalist, and farmer WENDELL BERRY, Look & See takes you on a journey that challenges how you think about land. This meditative look at the culturally- and physically-changing landscape explores the ideological struggle between the deeply ingrained values of local farmers and the growth of industrial agriculture. Directors LAURA DUNN and JEF SEWELL delicately blend interviews with residents of Henry County, Kentucky (Berry’s birthplace) with stunning images of the landscape through all four seasons of the farming cycle. They invite you to look through the window Berry looks through as he explores the natural world with an artful eye. Winner of the SXSW FILM FESTIVAL SPECIAL JURY AWARD.
MCLAREN U.S. PREMIERE Born 80 years ago in New Zealand, BRUCE MCLAREN overcame a childhood illness to realize his dream of becoming a racecar driver. Ultimately, his unfaltering commitment to himself, his family, and the art of racing has inspired generations of sports fans around the world. Acclaimed director ROGER DONALDSON (Thirteen Days, The World’s Fastest Indian) punctuates this fascinating story with first-hand accounts from racing luminaries EMERSON FITTIPALDI, ALASTAIR CALDWELL, MARIO ANDRETTI, DAN GURNEY, and SIR JACKIE STEWART, along with an unprecedented look into the McLaren family archives. The “favourite son” of two nations and one of motor racing’s greatest icons is a shining example of the human spirit.
Cinetopia passes are available on cinetopiafestival.org and include Festival Passes (offering unlimited film screenings, priority admission, opening night parties and other hospitality events), Movie Passes (unlimited film screenings and priority admission) and a Student Passes for those with valid student identification (unlimited film screenings). A Personal Sponsorship Pass is also available for individuals interested in supporting special features like guest filmmaker appearances and post-screening panel discussions.
Tickets to individual films are $12 for the general public and go on sale May 12, while members of the Arab American National Museum, Cinema Detroit, DIA, Charles H. Wright Museum, The Henry Ford, and Michigan Theater can begin to purchase tickets on May 9 at the member price of $9. All tickets can be purchased at cinetopiafestival.org.
The Cinetopia Film Festival would not be possible without the generous support of our title sponsors University of Michigan Health System and The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and our presenting sponsors, The Ford Motor Company Fund, Masco Foundation, and Comerica Bank.
Media support has been made possible by Detroit Public Television, WXYZ Detroit, Detroit Free Press, WDET, Metro Times, Hour Detroit, WEMU, 107one, Michigan Public Radio, Between the Lines, and the Ann Arbor Observer.
Further important support of the Cinetopia Film Festival was provided by their supporting sponsors Dickinson Wright, Exchange Capital Management, Kerrytown District Association, Michigan Film & Digital Media Office, Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, the Washtenaw County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, State Street District, Altarum Institute, Arbor Networks, Domino’s, Sesi Lincoln, Stroh’s, and these departments at the University of Michigan: Weiser Center for Europe & Eurasia in partnership with the Digital Islamic Studies Curriculum, the Center for Japanese Studies, the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, the Confucius Institute, the International Institute, and the NAM Center for Korean Studies.
