The East Lansing Film Festival - ELFF

2004 Film Festival Report

This article was posted on Wed, Apr 07 2004

The seventh annual East Lansing Film Festival
Exceeded All Expectations!

The East Lansing Film Festival (ELFF), the largest and most diverse film festival in Michigan, exceeded all expectations for the quality of films, the size of the audience and the positive responses by the public.  The 2004 ELFF took place March 17 through March 21 at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center and on the campus of Michigan State University. A record number of people, over 8,700, attended the five-day film festival filling the theaters and the halls to near capacity. Ticket sales increased by 10 percent.

ELFF holds an AUDIENCE AWARD for the Best Feature Film, Best Documentary and Best Short Film by collecting ballots from the audience after the screening. The winner for Best Feature Film is the hilarious comedy, MARTIN & ORLOFF, directed by Lawrence Blume and written by and starring Upright Citizen’s Brigade members, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.  The runner-up is four-time Oscar nominated Brazilian film, CITY OF GOD, directed by Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles, about two friends growing up in a Brazilian ghetto who take divergent paths. In the Best Documentary Film category, the competition was tough with two docs winning Best Documentary - THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL, directed by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni, about the rejection of a rare white camel calf by its mother in the Gobi Desert, and Jonathan Demme’s film, THE AGRONOMIST, about the Haitian militant journalist, Jean Dominique.  The runner-up is THE CORPORATION, the highly intelligent, informative and humorous film that looks at the concept of the corporation throughout history. This year the Best Short Film category was broken into two groups: the films in the two Shorts Programs and the shorts that accompanied the feature-length films. The winner of the Best Short Programs short is SAY IT AGAIN, SAM, directed by Michelle Steffes, an East Lansing native, and the winner of the Best Short Film shown with a Feature is NOT FOR SALE, directed by Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young.

On Wednesday, March 17, ELFF kicked off the festival with a sellout of the much-acclaimed documentary, THE CORPORATION, which tackles a subject of global proportions: the concept of the corporation throughout recent history to its present-day global dominance. One of the film’s screenwriters, Harold Crooks, was on hand to discuss the film and answer the questions from the audience. The screening took place in the East Lansing Hannah Community Center Performing Arts Theater that holds 526.

On Thursday, March 18, the fabulous silent film comedy directed by Buster Keaton, THE GENERAL, was shown with live music accompaniment by the very talented Kalamazoo band, BLUE DAHLIA. There was a standing ovation at the conclusion of the film.

This year, ELFF presented a record number of films: 16 features, 18 documentaries and 73 short films, totaling 107 films. The following films were sellouts or near-sellouts with the number attending in parentheses:

THE CORPORATION (526); MARTIN & ORLOFF (600); ROBOT STORIES (260); CITY OF GOD(260); SHORTS PROGRAM 1 (250); SHORTS PROGRAM 2 (250); TRADING WOMEN(220); MICHIGAN’S OWN SHORT FILMS 1(250); MICHIGAN’S OWN SHORT FILMS 2(250); MICHIGAN’S OWN STUDENT FILMS (250); RELATIVELY SPEAKING (200).

On Sunday, the newly created Lake Michigan Film Competition (LMFC) was well attended. This year’s LMFC had 120 films submitted and the film competition judges had a difficult time narrowing down the following winners. First Prize for the best Feature Film and Best Documentary will receive a filming package including use of a Panasonic Hi-Definition camera and editing on an Avid system, generously donated by Message Makers of Lansing. First Prize for the Best Documentary will receive $1000 worth of film processing by Film Craft Lab and 1000 feet of Eastman Kodak Film.

FEATURE FILM

1st place: Bhavum directed by Satish Menon (IL)

2nd place: An Ordinary Killer directed by Anthony Hornus & Jeffrey Kennedy (MI)

3rd place: The Wind Cried Larry directed by Brady G. Stefani (MI)

DOCUMENTARY FILM

1st place: Dishes: Collecting Fiesta directed by Amy Levine (MI)

2nd place: Lustron: The House America’s Been Waiting For directed by Bill Kubota (MI)

3rd place: Inside Jazz: Everybody’s Welcome directed by Robert Albers (MI)

SHORT FILM

1st place: Flickering Blue directed by Harper Philbin (MI)

2nd place: River directed by David Moroski (MI)

3rd place: I was a mathlete until I met Margo Marris directed by Joe Denk (IL)

STUDENT FILM

1st place: Good Stuff: The Story of a Man, a Dream, and a Whole Lotta Kites directed by Matt Nie (WI/IN)

2nd place: Looking For You directed by Nick Phillips (MI)

3rd place: This is not a chocolate factory directed by David Ruck (MI)

“This year’s film festival was incredible!!” exclaimed the film festival director, Susan Woods.
“I am so proud of this year’s lineup of films. We had Oscar nominees, theatrically released films, politically timely documentaries and very funny comedies.”

For more information, call 517-336-5802

The East Lansing Film Festival, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, is supported by
Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs.