Faculty, students and graduates of the Peck School of the Arts Film, Video, Animation and New Genres Department are gaining attention for their work.
Senior Lecturer Lori Felker returns to the Ann Arbor Film Festival on March 15 with her new short narrative film “Discontinuity.” The film focuses on human relationships and communication and miscommunication, and will screen in the festival’s opening night program.
“Human interaction is difficult and constant. Our efforts to communicate are genuine and sweet and sad and misguided and hilarious. I knew I wanted to play with the absurdity of conversation but also how much we can miss out on in each other’s lives when we’re not around each other for months or even a minute,” Felker said in a recent interview with Current Magazine. “Discontinuity” also screened at this year’s Academy Award-qualifying festival, Slamdance.
Ben Balcom, associate lecturer in film and recipient of the 2016 Mary L. Nohl Emerging Artist award, will join Felker at Ann Arbor with his experimental short “Notes from the Interior,” which also qualified for Slamdance. A graduate of UWM’s master’s of fine arts program, Balcom co-founded and curates the Milwaukee neighborhood cinema, Microlights, which specializes in avant-garde film and video work.
Graduate student Sky Hopinka will also attend the Ann Arbor festival with his Sundance qualifying short, “Jáaji Approx.” The film, which traces Hopinka’s journeys and conversations with his Ho-Chunk father, was also recently featured at the Palm Springs as part of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum’s Native Film Festival this past week.
Balcom, Hopinka and graduates Julie Murray, Naz Dincel, Jason Halprin and Josh Weissbach also screened their work at the 2016 Onion City Film Festival in Chicago.
