6:00 - 8:00PM Reception - Purchase tickets to the Reception + Screening
Celebrate the opening of this year's 48th festival with music from Dark Matter’s Forest Juziuk, catering from local favorites including Seva, eat catering & chef services, Morgan & York, Silvio’s Organic Pizza, Sava’s Cafe, Schakolad, Cupcake Station, open bar with beer by Arbor Brewing Company, wine by Brys Estate and Vineyards, coffee provided by Roos Roast and teas by Arbor Teas. Stylish attire is encouraged. Tickets to this event include admission to the Opening Night Screening.

8:15PM Screening - Purchase tickets to the Screening only - More info
This Opening Night Screening delves into the depths of independent and experimental, art-focused cinematic work with a selection of short films across all genres. The screening begins following festival director's welcome and opening night remarks.

Angel Blue Sweet Wing (Chick Strand, 5min.)
The first film by Chick Strand (1931-2009); an experimental film poem in celebration of life and visions. Techniques include live action, animation, montage and found images.

El ataque de los robots de Nebulosa-5 (Chema García Ibarra, 7 min.)
Almost everybody is going to die very soon.

Missed Aches (Joanna Priestley, 4 min.)
Have you ever worked very horde on a paper for English clash, just to get a very glow raid? Proofreading your peppers is a matter of the the utmost impotence! Missed Aches demonstrates how the shortcomings of spell check can result in unexpected double entendres.

Photograph of Jesus (Laurie Hill, 5 min.)
Looking for photographs of Jesus, yetis and Hitler in 1948? Help is at hand with this documentary-fantasy based on true stories of requests for impossible images. Real-life archives become the stage where fact and fiction collide, belief runs amok and unruly images have a life of their own.

Sleeping Bear (Jack Cronin, 11 min.)
Shot over three years, this film is a study of the landscape of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and an attempt to represent the unique character of this region loosely following the cycle of seasons.

Nous (Us) (Oliviers Hems, 11 min.)
A police officer carries out a search of a man's apartment and enters the life of someone who has been forgotten by everyone.

The Place Where We Were (Naoyuki Tsuji, 6 min.)
Tsuji's beautiful, haunted charcoal animation portrays an angel, a gathering in a forest and an otherworldly visitation to a couple in their home.

de Mouvement (Richard Kerr, 7 min.)
Inspired and created in honor of Bruce Conner and Arthur Lippsett this film is constructed from monochromatic French 35mm film trailers and features the transitional wipes en vogue during the first half of 20th century cinema.

Fantasy Suite (Kent Lambert, 7 min.)
A strange meditation on mainstream American heterosexual romance. 

The Unmaking of 'I Am A Sex Addict' (Caveh Zahedi, 8 min.)
The story of a film shoot gone awry.

Portrait #3: House of Sound (Vanessa Renwick, 11 min.)
Radio reminiscences and a photography-driven visit to the neighborhood of record shop "House of Sound" long after the wrecking ball, this film reflects the heart of a pre-digital era of music. Renwick's latest in her ongoing Portrait series of stories in Portland, Oregon.

My Tears Are Dry (Laida Lertxundi, 4 min.)
A film in the three parts of a dialectic. Hoagy Land’s song is played and interrupted as guitar makes sound, two women, a bed, an armchair, and the beautiful outside. The lyrics of the song reference the eternal sunshine of California and its promises.