March 24th – 29th at the Michigan Theater
The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the oldest avant-garde and experimental film festival in North America, founded in 1963. Internationally recognized as a premiere forum for independent filmmakers and artists, each year’s festival engages audiences with remarkable cinematic experiences. The six-day festival presents 40 programs with more than 180 films from over 20 countries of all lengths and genres, including experimental, animation, documentary, fiction, and performance-based works.
OPENING THIS WEEK
FORBIDDEN FRUITS – Opens Friday at the State Theatre
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of a mall store after hours. When a new hire challenges their performative sisterhood, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
From director Meredith Alloway, based on the stage play Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die by Lily Houghton (who also wrote the screenplay), produced by Diablo Cody, and starring Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, Emma Chamberlain, Alexandra Shipp and Gabrielle Union.
THEY WILL KILL YOU – Opens Friday in multiplexes
A woman answers a cryptic ad for a housekeeping job at a luxurious yet foreboding New York City high-rise. Upon arrival, she discovers residents have vanished without a trace for decades, fuelling whispers of a satanic cult lurking in the shadows. Starring Zazie Beetz, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette.
PALESTINE 36 – Opens Tuesday, March 31st at the Michigan
In 1936, as Palestinian villages revolt against British colonial rule, Yusuf navigates between Jerusalem and his rural home, amidst escalating unrest and a pivotal moment for the British Empire. From writer/director Annemarie Jacir.
Selected as the Palestinian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist though was not nominated.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
NO OTHER CHOICE (2025) – Saturday, March 28th at 1:00 PM at the State – Part of Korean Cinema NOW, presented with the U-M Nam Center for Korean Studies – FREE and open to the public
Abruptly laid off after 25 years at the same company, a desperate man goes to extreme lengths to eliminate the competition for the job he wants.
PARIAH (2011) – Tuesday, March 31st at 7:00 PM at the Michigan – Part of Films Made By Women, About Women.
From director Dee Rees – Teenager Alike (Adepero Oduye) lives in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood with her parents (Charles Parnell, Kim Wayans) and younger sister (Sahra Mellesse). A lesbian, Alike quietly embraces her identity and is looking for her first lover, but she wonders how much she can truly confide in her family, especially with her parents’ marriage already strained. When Alike’s mother presses her to befriend a colleague’s daughter (Aasha Davis), Alike finds the gal to be a pleasant companion.
SUPER MARIO BROS (1993) – On 35mm! – Wednesday, April 1st at 7:00 PM
Mario and Luigi, plumbers from Brooklyn, find themselves in an alternate universe where evolved dinosaurs live in hi-tech squalor. They’re the only hope to save our universe from invasion by the dino dictator, Koopa. Starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi and with Dennis Hopper as President “King” Koopa.
GOOD MORNING (1959) – Thursday, April 2nd at 7:00 PM – Presented with the U-M Center for Japanese Studies, FREE and open to the public
From director Yasujirō Ozu – Two young siblings go on to take a pledge of silence in an effort to persuade their parents into buying them a television.
FANTASTIC PLANET (1973) – Thursday, April 2nd at 8:00 PM – Part of Late Night Classics
Directed by René Laloux – A surrealist adult animated film set on a faraway planet where blue giants rule, and oppressed humanoids rebel against their machine-like leaders.
CONTINUING
PROJECT HAIL MARY – Now playing at the State
Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun, and save Earth. An unexpected friendship may be the key.
From directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, producers of the Spider-Verse films) and starring Ryan Gosling.
READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME – Now playing at the State
After surviving one deadly game, Grace and her sister Faith must now outrun four rival families competing for a powerful throne – winner takes all. Starring Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Elijah Wood.
TOW – Now playing at the State
The true story of Amanda Ogle (Rose Byrne), a homeless Seattle woman who fought her way out of tow-company hell to reclaim her life and car after receiving a tow bill for $21,634.
UNDERTONE – Opens Friday at the State
“The scariest movie you will ever hear”. The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way.
