If you're thinking about taking in a movie this weekend and looking for sprawling, big-budget excess, "Spy Game" and "Harry Potter" are both playing at your local cineplex - don't forget to bring an extra $20 for popcorn.
Bit, if you're looking for something a little more down to earth - perhaps a bit of gritty cinema born of soul rather than special-effects - look no further than UNM's Southwest Film Center.
The Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour rolls into town this weekend with 22 new works by independent filmmakers from all over the United States and world.
Culled from more than 425 films submitted to a panel of judges by artists, students, animators and assorted oddballs, the films on tour this weekend represent the choicest selections from the six-day Ann Arbor Film Festival, held in March at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, Mich.
During the festival, audiences and judges screened a mix of 16mm animation, experimental, documentary and narrative films and eventually awarded a total of $16,000 in prizes to 40 filmmakers. Prizes ranged from cash to free rental of equipment provided by noted filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant and various celluloid-oriented companies.
Screened in three chunks, the films on the tour offer more than 200 minutes of viewing pleasure, and with the longest film topping out at 36 minutes, boredom poses no threat.
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Some highlights include Londoner Suzie Templeton's animated "Stanley," in which a man finds life and love in a cabbage growing in his backyard as his frustrated wife wreaks violence and death in the kitchen.
Austrian filmmaker Paul Divjak's "Sonnenland," creates a documentary about children playing outdoors - handicapped children, that is. But rather than attempt to manipulate the audience into pity, Divjak makes the film with the children, not necessarily about them.
Valencia, Calif., animator Kathleen Lolley's "Scurry" takes the viewer to the office with an apathetic worker who one day finds himself distanced more than usual from his coworkers. While on a walk to escape the routine, he finds peace and purpose in an unlikely role model - a fluffy bunny.
Clocking in with the longest film, Nancy Andrews, an experimenter from Seal Harbor, Ma., uses puppets and live action to depict the life of "Hedwig Page, Seaside Librarian," a retiree with an uncanny grasp of the Dewey Decimal System.
"Deep Creep" - a seven-minute film about sexual fantasy - took a cast of feminists five years to make. Filmmaker Kate Haug of San Francisco explores the interdependence of repression and desire in three short vignettes.
And finally, Brooklynite Peter Miller's "The Internationale" explores the uncertain fate of once-thriving left-wing movements by drawing on people's stories about an emotionally-charged radical song to celebrate the relationship between music and social change.
These are just few of the offerings - the festival offers something for everyone. Many of the films are obscure experiments in image, sound and cinematography, while others eschew the method to get at the meaning.
The Ann Arbor Film Festival will run at the Southwest Film Center, Room 2018 in the Center for the Arts, Friday and Saturday beginning at 7 p.m. For more information, call 277-5608.
