HOUGHTON - Presenting another year of cinematic explorations, the 41 North Film Festival returns November 2-5 to the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. With a lineup of over 20 films, the festival includes panels, special guests, music, and more.
This four-day event is free and open to the public. The opening night film, Time Bomb Y2K (Becker/McDonald, 2023), takes a sometimes hilarious look back at how the world prepared for the Y2K millennium bug. Using all archival footage from 1997-2000, the filmmakers present both a time capsule and an opportunity to reflect on our current state of technological dependency.
Continuing the discussion about technology on Sunday with a different set of questions is Another Body (Hamlyn/Compton, 2023), about a college student who takes us on an investigation when she finds herself a victim of a disturbing deep fake. Both films will offer panel discussions following the films.
On Friday night, the spotlight turns to the Elephant 6 Recording Company (Stockfleth, 2022), an inspiring story about the music collective that gave rise to such bands as Neutral Milk Hotel and the Apples in Stereo, among many others. Core member of the collective, Robert Schneider, who is now part of the Michigan Tech faculty in mathematics, will be joined by producer Daniel Efram for a Q&A.
Saturday afternoon’s films expand our field of view on history, culture, and current events. In King Coal (Sheldon, 2023), Elaine McMillion Sheldon takes a poetic look at the people and places of central Appalachia where she grew up; Black Barbie: A Documentary (Davis, 2023) examines Black female representation through the history of Black dolls; and The Mission (McBaine/Moss, 2023), investigates the legacy of colonialism and the death of John Chau, whose missionary zeal led to a fatal encounter in 2018.
Saturday evening, the festival presents The Erie Situation (Ruck, 2022), which takes a hard look at the confluence of science and politics around a great lake’s toxic algae problem. Co-sponsored by the Great Lakes Research Center, the film will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with filmmaker David Ruck.
The animated film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Camp, 2023) will lead the lineup on Sunday. Made using stop motion animation, the film introduces us to a one-inch talking shell which inspired a documentary filmmaker. For those who want to learn more about this animation technique, stop-motion artist Ian Raymond will offer a demonstration.
To explore the full program, please visit the festival website: http://41northfilmfest.org.
Major sponsors of the festival include the Department of Humanities, the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, and the College of Sciences and Arts, and the Great Lakes Research Center. For more information, contact Erin Smith, ersmith@mtu.edu.