Independent Film Festival Ypsilanti (iFFY) is an annual event that draws and develops diverse audiences for mind-expanding, independent movies in downtown Ypsilanti, MI.

Schedule:

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

7:30 - 9 PM: Michigan-ish - Riverside Arts Center Theater

Dynamic short films made by Michigan-area filmmakers that span possibilities, bridge ideas and share the creative spirit of our region.
Tammy Lakkis
Really Good Friends
Dear Anne - A Letter to a Friend
Don't Be Surprised
An Umbrella in Case it Rains
One Door Closes
Seek and You Shall Find
Adornment
Falling Forward into an Unknown and Dangerous Future
Sound is a Place
Reaching Out
Sons of Toledo

Ziggy's

Mingle with us after the opening night screening!

Join us after the screening to dance the night away at downtown Ypsilanti's finest intimate music venue. Music and decor provided by local "indie ******" dance party crew House of Jealous Lovers.

Location: 206 W. Michigan Ave.   

Thursday, April 20, 2023

5:30 PM: Gallery Reception & Artist Talk - Riverside Arts Center - North Gallery

Artist talk by Parisa Ghaderi accompanying her video installation in the RAC North Gallery. The video installation will be open throughout the festival.

8:15 PM: Sounds From Our Memories - Riverside Arts Center Theater

A mixtape of documentary, music video and visual experimentation. Open your mind to this hybrid illustration of human memory, lived experiences, ancestral calling, and personal dreaming.

Birds
Somewhere Higher
We Are In A Dream
Akoon
Showing Up Showing Out
The Fourfold
Ultraviolence
Open Your Eyes
Until There Was Nothing

9:00 PM: Hundreds of Beavers - Riverside Arts Center Theater

Keystone Bar & Arcade

Join us after the screenings!

Celebrate day two of iFFY by enjoying that other great modern audiovisual medium: video games! A mere hop, skip, and jump away from the festival, in the basement of Bobcat Bonnie's.

Location: 200 W. Michigan Ave.

Friday, April 21, 2023

7:00 PM: Gems Across the Seas - Riverside Arts Center Theater

A program of short films showcasing films from around the world, including works from South Africa, Mexico, Hong Kong, and more. A night of new truths and perspectives for the curious and open-minded.
Drummies
Learning Tagalog With Kayla
Zafar
Still Here
Ex Creta
1/4 Ante Meridiem
Flour & Mush

9:00 PM: Hauntologies - Riverside Arts Center Theater

This set of cinematic spectralities isn't for the faint of heart! Exploring themes of personal and cultural memory, identity, the expulsion of trauma, and more, a palpable sense of unease is all but guaranteed.

Unreel
A.I. Mama
Bedroom People
In The Flesh
The Anteroom
O, Glory!
Everybody Goes to the Hospital
Dead End

Bellflower

Join us after the screening!

After the screenings, we'll descend upon Ypsilanti's finest restaurant (don't take our word for it; the Detroit Free Press sang its praises to the heavens last year!) for after-hours drinking, hobnobbing, and lounge and exotica sounds courtesy of disc-jock-about-town DJ Batz.

Location: 209 Pearl St # 202

Saturday, April 22, 2023

1:00 PM: Cinematography on a Budget - Free Workshop - Riverside Arts Center - Off Center

1:00 PM: Best of the Children's Film Festival Seattle - Riverside Arts Center Theater

Dive into exciting adventures and vibrant colors with this joyful collection of award-winning and audience favorite short animated films from Children’s Film Festival Seattle. This program features films from the Netherlands, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, Czech Republic, and Greece.

Bristles
Kenya's Symphony
Bellysaurus
BENCH
Wash Day
The Girls of the Wind
Polar Bear Bears Boredom
Sounds Between the Crowns
Trails of the Morning
Kayak
Elevator Alone

2:00 PM: AI-Powered production - Free Workshop - Riverside Arts Center - Off Center

2:30 PM: I Feel iFFY: Animation Workshop with Gary Schwartz - Riverside Arts Center - Studio 2

Get immersed in the theory and practice of animation in this hands-on, process-oriented laboratory for creative inquiry into time-based media. Covering direct and handmade processes/techniques, students will develop animation concepts and skills through the areas of focus in the course. Students will complete a collaborative short film. Teens welcome.

3:00 PM: Movies for Your Ears: Radio Campfire - Riverside Arts Center Theater

Radio Campfire is a live listening event series featuring creative audio stories of all kinds, curated and presented by a collective of audio producers in Detroit, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

It’s like going to the movies, but for your ears. We gather together, dim the lights, and enjoy an evening of memorable radio documentaries, soundscapes and experimental sonic shorts.

4:30 PM: Unfinished Film Series: a Paranormal Parascope - Riverside Arts Center Theater

A behind-the-scenes exploration of footage from the Michigan Paranormal Convention, including interviews with ghost hunters, spooky vendors, and an actual ghost hunt, all part of a documentary about spiritual communication that remains incomplete. Filmmaker Jen Proctor in conversation with moderator (and filmmaker) Adam Sekuler.

7:00 PM: London International Animation Festival - Riverside Arts Center Theater

The London International Animation Festival is the UK’s largest, longest-running animation festival, screening annually since 2003. This programme is a snapshot of the most recent festival - 9 short films that promise to inspire, delight and challenge the notion that animation is merely for the 3D CGI blockbuster genre or cute cartoons for kids. Independent animation is an art form that continues to thrive and develop as a breathtaking medley of styles, materials, techniques and production - from hand drawn, paint on glass, collage, sculpture, cut outs, puppets, abstract, sand/salt, to some of the more interesting developments in CGI – all of which can be seen in this programme.

The Greatest Poem
Hotel Kalura
Catisfaction
A Taste for Music
Persona
Ice Merchants
Curiosa
The Record
The Dog Apartment

9:00 PM: Underground Picnic #2 - Riverside Arts Center Theater

Luna: The Julia Butterfly Story
It Takes A Village
T
Precautionary Measure
Hillocks
Greener Grass
Red Threads
Winners *****
Moradora
Tap Room
Join us to close out the festival!

Share some final thoughts, parting hugs, and tasty beverages with the iFFY crew at Ypsilanti's beloved corner tavern. The Tap Room is both one of our favorite hangouts, and one of our most dedicated sponsors!

Location: 201 W. Michigan Ave.

Date: April 19 - 22, 2023

Location: Riverside Arts Center, 76 N Huron St, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

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