The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the 2nd oldest film festival in North America and has become one of the premier film festivals for independent and, especially, experimental filmmakers to showcase their work. Now in its 46th year, the Ann Arbor Film Festival attracts over 2,000 entries from filmmakers in more than 30 countries, and distributes over $23,000 in awards. Created as an alternative to commercial cinema, the annual week-long festival remains true to its original goal of promoting film as an art form. The Ann Arbor Film Festival also fosters the growth of emerging and established film and video producers. The festival is open to film and video of all lengths and genres, including experimental, narrative, animation, and documentary. The festival’s mission is to provide a worldwide public forum for moving image exhibitions, to encourage and showcase artists of the moving image, to promote the moving image as art, and to offer educational outreach. The Ann Arbor Film Festival has become one of the most active film organizations in the country championing artists' rights of expression and free speech.
This year's festival runs March 25-30, 2008.
