The Planet Ant Film & Video Festival

2005

The 2005 Festival took place June 16th through 18th at Planet Ant Theatre leading up to a full day of screenings and an awards ceremony June 19th at Detroit's Majestic Theatre. Showing over seventy-five movies selected from hundreds of submissions from over fifteen countries the Planet Ant Film & Video Festival offered something for everyone to enjoy. 2005 was also our first year of awards recognition in the festival offering two awards chosen by our audience and six by our collected jury.

The 2005 Jury:
Larry Joe Campbell (" According to Jim", ABC, The Second City)
Josh Funk ("Wild 'N Out", MTV, The Second City)
Keegan-Michael Key (" Mad TV", Fox, The Second City)
Charles F. Cirgenski ("Stardust", HBO)
John Maxwell (Director of 2003 & 2004 Planet Ant Film Festival)

2005's Award Winners:

Best Comedy
Somebody's Watching Me (Michigan)
Dir: Ryan Archibald

Best Drama
Winter Sea (California)
Dir: Erika Tasini

Best Documentary
Our Road to Kosovo (Illinois)
Dir: James Saldana

Best Animation
Gramps Big Day (Michigan)
Dir: Dan Nienhuis & Kyle Emery

Best Experimental
Tascam 224 (New York)
Dir: Luke Lamborn

Best Music Video
Unraveling- On a Sun (Wisconsin)
Dir: Jerry Riedel & Carl Whitney

Local Favorite
Somebody's Watching Me (Michigan)
Dir: Ryan Archibald

Audience Award
21 Carbs (Michigan, Illinois)
Dir: Marty Shea

2005 sponsors included:

Heineken, Comerica, WDET 101.9FM, HD Studios, Filmcraft Imaging, The Detroit Film Center, The Metro Times, Made in Detroit, Sonicbids.com, The Majestic Theatre The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Plan Nine Print, Thomas Video & DVD Cafe Detroit

2005 Schedule

THURSDAY
8:00pm program

2 Years (California)
Dir: Larry Joe Campbell 16 min.
Known for comedy Larry Joe Campbell makes his directorial debut with this dramatic short which shows the after effects of losing a loved one

Serious Fitness (Russia)
Dir: Alexander Maryagin 26 min.
14 year old Masha wishes to live the beautiful and dazzling life she sees in an expensive fitness center. She is ready to do anything to make her dream come true, but the shining new world suddenly turns its dirty side on her.

Gramps Big Day (Michigan)
Dir: Dan Nienhuis & Kyle Emery 9 min.
A stop-motion animated short film in which a neglectful young man is confronted with the ghost of his father.

Greg Likes Me (Michigan)
Dir: Margaret Edwartowski 15 min.
The new mail guy Greg continually tries to pick up his co-worker Cindy. Greg's moves are definitely not slick, but with the "help" of Greg's friend Dave and Cindy's friend Annette, they may actually hit
it off.

Frog & Fly (Canada)
Dir: Johna Latouf 1.5 min.
An animated short featuring a tree frog who befriends a firefly

Turkey Shoot (California)
Dir: Dug Ward 3.5 min.
The story of a hunter on a mission to shoot a turkey who seems to have other ideas.

De-Meure (France)
Dir: Eloïse Sohier 2 min.
De-Meure is located like a feature of union between two realities: life, death.

Molly (Michigan)
Dir: Ted Kennedy 6.5 min.
A girl in a green dress.

Changing the World, One Folk Song at a Time (Michigan, Illinois)
Dir: Jenny Hagel 7 min.
A comedic piece in which as amateur folk singer named Jenny explains her work and personal relationships from her point of view.

Lily's Detroit (Michigan)
Dir: Kevin Leeser 20 min.
"Pour a cup of tea, pull up a chair, and settle in across from Lily Tomlin as she reminisces about growing up in Detroit. When the filmmaker shows her footage of her old neighborhood as it stands now, she reacts with love and sadness."... Lansing State Journal

10:00pm program

Crushed (Illinois)
Dir: Lauretta Tagli 93 min.
Shot on location in Chicago, Lauretta Tagli's Crushed is a raw improvised comedy about an ad agency Christmas party held on the night the agency is forced to shut down. Twenty of Chicago's top performers (including Seth Meyers of subsequent Saturday Night Live fame and Stephanie Weir of Mad TV) followed a script for the first half-hour of the movie; after that, each was free to use their wit and extensive improv experience to decide the fates of their characters. The result: a raucous and unpredictable movie depicting 24 outrageous hours in the fictional lives of the crazy people who make your TV and newspaper ads. Don't touch that dial!

12:00am program Planet Ant Presents Experimental Animation

Zooms (Michigan)
Dir: Henry Birdseye
Zooms is an experimental music video of animated mathematical functions called "fractals". Zooms explores a fractal's property of infinite detail, which makes possible magnification into the colorful functions to minute proportions.

Def Wig Presents (Michigan)
Dir: Troy Wehner
Def Wig Presents is an animated synthesis of trance visuals layered with the syncopated rhythms, measured to involve the viewer in a state of psychic projection.

Friday

6:00pm program Planet Ant Presents Experimental Selections

De-Meure (France)
Dir: Eloïse Sohier 2 min.
De-Meure is located like a feature of union between two realities: life, death.

Not Too Much Remember (Colorado)
Dir: Tony Gault 11 min.
Maybe it's the CIA and the LSD they gave Richard, or America and its vast imagery screwed into our brains and restructuring our identity. Whatever it is, get ready for a found footage film that deconstructs the mighty power of drug narrative and their pervasive effect on the formation of consciouness.

Vida (Canada)
Giselle Acosta 1.5 min.

State (Michigan)
Dir: Scot Kerivan 10 min.
An anti-propaganda film for post 9-11 America.

Tascam 224 (New York)
Dir: Luke Lamborn 6.5 min.
A fragmented transmission from a bizarre wasteplanet whose signal became distorted and ghostly as it traveled through the harsh radiation of galactic space and time.

Look (Ohio)
Dir: Andrea Anderson 1.5 min.
Experimental video of eyes moving to music projected upon female breasts.

Late (Michigan)
Diane Cheklich 7.5 min.
Late night radio evangelist Sister Agnes Phillips dispenses hope to troubled souls.

It Could Happen toYou (Colorado)
Dir: Elizabeth Henry 8.5 min.
The great divorce. What we're left with. What still haunts us.

Consenting Adults (New York)
Dir: Neil Ira Needleman 3.5 min.
A perverted look at my family's old home movies.

Reality (Michigan)
Dir: Alisa R. Lomax 5 min.
Reality portrays the experiences and feelings of a woman whose life is happening to her.

Settings (Michigan)
Dir: Potter-Belmar Labs 14 min.

Cycles of Repetition: An Homage in Observations (New York)
Dir: Deborah Wing-Sproul 3 min.
A series of vignettes document the repetitive nature of fiber-based hand work in India and the people who perform those repetitive gestures.

Jump (Ohio)
Dir: Joe Nanashe 6 min.
A figure stands before the camera. It leaps into the air and crashes down. By repeating the action, the figure breaks through the floor and destroys the camera.

Fast (Canada)
Dir: Zoran Dragelj 1 min.
A burst of imaginative and dreamy panoramas.

Equitility (Massachusetts)
Dir: Sean O'Connor 11 min.

9-20-2004 (Michigan)
Dir: Brandon Walley 5.5 min.
9-20-2004 was a day that culminated emotional and actual events that forever changed my perceived reality as well as the future of my family. This film is an attempt to document the wide-ranging components that were realized on this day.

Run (New York)
Dir: Hsuan Hsuan Wu 1.5 min. Keeping up is a lonely way.

Soar (Germany)
Dir: Franziska Ruprecht 5 min.
Soar into metaphor emotion feelings mind insight. Listen to a language that could be yours.

bent (in the meantime) (Michigan)
Dir: Joel Denyes 9 min.
An old man, at the end of his days, reflects upon his past to uncover the reasons for his life of solitude.

8:00pm program

*Stationary Bike (California, Michigan)
Dir: The 313 6 min.

Arc (California)
Dir: Steve Gelder 30 min.
Two guys meet on a bench every day. At 9:21 each morning a crazy man yells at them. One morning he doesn't show.

El Beavers (Michigan)
Dir: Charlie Mooney 5.5 min.

Blood For Water (Michigan) Dir: Mike McGettigan 12 min.

Winter Sea (California)
Dir: Erika Tasini 25 min.
A secretive woman's intimate relationship to her brother is threatened when an unexpected guest shows up for dinner at their eccentric mother's house.

Richard (Texas)
Dir: Kelly Williams 5 min.
An awkward young boy daydreams about one day becoming a stand-up comedian. He takes every chance he gets to practice his routine, even if it means missing recess. Problem is, his classmates don't appreciate his unique brand of humor.

Somebody's Watching Me (Michigan)
Dir: Ryan Archibald 8 min.
http://www.somebodyswatchingme.com/
In a world of mannequins, the faces all look the same. But when a mischievous security system installer sees one of his female clients on an adult Internet web-cam site, he finds out that no one is who they appear to be.

10:00pm program

21 Carbs (Michigan, Illinois)
Dir: Marty Shea 14 min.
Shelly goes on a fad diet that changes her life.

Space Fuckers (Michigan)
Dir: Mike Ishaq & Mike McGettigan 16 min.
Scientists have recently intercepted an alien transmission from the year 2064.

*Kung-Fu (California, Michigan)
Dir: The 313 6.5 min.

Five Minutes in the Bead Room (Michigan)
Dir: Christopher Armstead Young 6 min.
The Do's and Don'ts of entering the back room of any local video store.

Spatula Madness (Florida)
Dir: Jason Steele 16 min.
Surreal and random, Spatula Madness is an animated comedy about fate, war and the importance of identity.

Balls (Austria)
Dir: Stefan Wolner 6.5 min.
http://www.wolner.at/
A man and his unusual love for a large red ball.

Panini di Melanzana con la Nonna (Eggplant Sandwiches with Grandma)(Michigan)
Dir: Thomas B.C O'Rourke 20 min.
An impromptu dinner between Pietro and his Sicilian grandmother takes an unexpected turn when their conversation leads him to new realizations about what real love and appreciation of family mean in his life.

12:00am program Planet Ant Presents Music Videos

Here With You-Beth Stalker (Michigan)
Dir: Brad Ayres
http://www.bethstalker.com/

Share Your Vanity-The Hard Lessons (Michigan)
Dir: David Dominic Jr.
http://www.thehardlessons.com/

Night & Day- Undercurrent (California)
Dir: Erin Strater

Play it American Way- Yankee (Serbia & Montenegro)
Dir: Studio Vila

Waste Some Time- Peter Prins (California)
Dir: Peter Prins
http://www.myspace.com/peterprins

God in Training- Breaking Laces (New York)
Dir: Brad Barnes
http://www.breakinglaces.com

ne Hand- Amy Vee & the Virtues (Austrailia)
Dir: Phil McCaan
http://www.amyvee.com

Caminos Confusos- Liliana Rokita (Mexico)
Dir: Demand-Gotts-Millonis
http://www.lilianarokita.com

Hangover- Shoe (Michigan)
Dir: Mike Ishaq
http://moreshoe.com

Hello Baby- The Spins (Italy)
Dir: Alessandro Ciola
http://www.thespins.co.uk

You're Gone- MO'AT (California)
Dir: Cris Judd
http://www.masterofalltrades.net/

Sad Thing to Wonder- Angela Taylor Band (Maryland)
Dir: Jim Ling
http://www.angelataylor.com

Get Back To Austin- BluesTrain (California)
Dir: Jim Matlosz
http://www.bluestrain.com

My Saving Grace- Maria Connel (Canada)
Dir: Navin Ramaswaran
http://www.mariaconnel.com

21st Century Omnivore Boy- Ben Krieger (New York)
Dir: Ben Krieger
http://www.benkrieger.com

Room to Breathe- Michael James (Colorado)
Dir: Dennis J. Hare
http://www.michaeljamesmusic.com

Unraveling- On a Sun (Wisconsin)
Dir: Jerry Riedel & Carl Whitney
http://www.onasun.com

Butterfly Girl- Moonlyn (Canada)
Dir: Moonlyn
http://www.moonlyn.com

Eliza's Over- Scotty Karate (Michigan)
Dir: Eric Yerges & Leif Krinkle
http://www.scottykarate.com

In It- Fizzgig (Ohio)
Dir: Eric and Evan Brass
http://www.fizzgigonline.com

Search & Destroy- Valeze (New York)
Dir: Alex Kane
http://www.valeze.net

Saturday

2:00pm program

Sangrita (Argentina)
Dir: Diego Fried 90 min.
Imagine a man on his way back home, driving a car on a dark night, after being warned that two naked girls await him on his bed, excited by an anesthetist with a lawsuit against him and taped by a desperate man with no trace of youth in his face, willing to do just about anything in order to record all the "set up". What would two girls and two mature men locked in a luxurious house, waiting for a landlord who won't come? The fantasy of this traveler is Sangrita.

4:00pm program

*Film Noir (California, Michigan)
Dir: The 313 5.5 min.

Simon (Michigan)
Dir: Bike Menson 3.5 min.
A coming of age tale. The story of two friends, hormones and an ouija board.

Shell Ear (Japan)
Dir: Satoru Sugita 33 min. The husband gave up the violin performance because of the decline of an ear which comes from advanced age.He pursues his wife who has already died and wanders about a snowy road. The image was spelled without using dialogue, a poetic tale.

Dream Train (Michigan, Illinois)
Dir: Andrew Maxwell 2 min.

The Empty Building (New York)
Dir: Giovanni Sanseviero 40 min.
http://theemptybuilding.org/
Random people within a snowy forest wait to enter a building, though they're not sure why. Inside, a man arrives on a floor all too eerily familiar. Slowly, he realizes this unassuming building has a plan for him all its own. The Empty Building is the story of a man with an abandoned, abusive past that comes back to haunt him. The Building has decided that it is time. Are the stakes too high to run away again? It is a wonderland where his choices will determine his fate, and for this man, it is where all origins of hope exist and can only be understood by himself.

6:00pm program Planet Ant Presents Documentaries

a small light (Michigan)
Dir: Julia Yezbick 33 min.
"a small light" looks at old age, death and dying in a Hindu temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. The film is a unique experimental hybrid of observational cinema and metaphorical narrative. Exploring cross-religious views on death and karma, "a small light" follows the daily life of a home for the elderly situated along the cremation ghats of Pashupatinath temple.

Taking the Path of Pain (Michigan)
Dir: Wm. J. Grindatti 10.5 min.
St. Michael's spiritual path transcends traditional societal boundaries and mores. He uses the pain and intense emotions from s/m sessions as his tools for growth.

Our Road to Kosovo (Illinois)
Dir: James Saldana 26 min.
The Road to Kosovo was traveled by six college students in this digital documentary chronicling two years of the refugee crisis during the 1999/2000 Kosovo conflict. From mainly a Kosovar Albanian standpoint we learn about life in a refugee camp and the process of reclamation that the refugees must go through, when they find that their once familiar society has become only livable under constant military supervision. Throughout the documentary, these young American students iscover that the Kosovars have become foreigners in their own land.

8:00pm program Planet Ant Presents Local Films

Share Your Vanity-The Hard Lessons (Michigan)
Dir: David Dominic Jr.
http://www.thehardlessons.com/

21 Carbs (Michigan, Illinois)
Dir: Marty Shea 14 min.
Shelly goes on a fad diet that changes her life.

Dream Train (Michigan, Illinois)
Dir: Andrew Maxwell 2 min.

Gramps Big Day (Michigan)
Dir: Dan Nienhuis & Kyle Emery 9 min.
A stop-motion animated short film in which a neglectful young man is
confronted with the ghost of his father.

Greg Likes Me (Michigan)
Dir: Margaret Edwartowski 15 min.
The new mail guy Greg continually tries to pick up his co-worker
Cindy. Greg's moves are definitely not slick, but with the "help" of
Greg's friend Dave and Cindy's friend Annette, they may actually hit it off.

Molly (Michigan)
Dir: Ted Kennedy 6.5 min.
A girl in a green dress.

Space Fuckers (Michigan)
Dir: Mike Ishaq & Mike McGettigan 16 min.
Scientists have recently intercepted an alien transmission from the year 2064.

El Beavers (Michigan)
Dir: Charlie Mooney 5.5 min.

Sunday

2:00pm

Spatula Madness (Florida)
Dir: Jason Steele 16 min.
Surreal and random, Spatula Madness is an animated comedy about fate, war and the importance of identity.

4:00pm

State (Michigan)
Dir: Scot Kerivan 10 min.
An anti-propaganda film for post 9-11 America.

Our Road to Kosovo (Illinois)
Dir: James Saldana 26 min.
The Road to Kosovo was traveled by six college students in this digital documentary chronicling two years of the refugee crisis during the 1999/2000 Kosovo conflict. From mainly a Kosovar Albanian standpoint we learn about life in a refugee camp and the process of reclamation that the refugees must go through, when they find that their once familiar society has become only livable under constant military supervision. Throughout the documentary, these young American students discover that the Kosovars have become foreigners in their own land.

5:00pm

2 Years (California)
Dir: Larry Joe Campbell 16 min.
Known for comedy Larry Joe Campbell makes his directorial debut with this dramatic short which shows the after effects of losing a loved one

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) (Spain)
Dir: Carlos Atanes 82 min.
http://www.faqthemovie.com/
France. A near and probable future. The Sisterhood of Metacontrol governs Europe. Angeline, an exemplary and irreproachable citizen has just joined the order... But her relationship with a special man, Nono, will make her question profoundly the principles of the Doctrine. North American Debut

7:00pm

Balls (Austria)
Dir: Stefan Wolner 6.5 min.
http://www.wolner.at/
A man and his unusual love for a large red ball.

Winter Sea (California)
Dir: Erika Tasini 25 min.
A secretive woman's intimate relationship to her brother is threatened
when an unexpected guest shows up for dinner at their eccentric
mother's house.

8:00pm

Awards Ceremony

9:00pm

After Glow

* Movie not entered in competition