I thought I would report that the Ann Arbor Film Festival just won its  
federal lawsuit against the State of Michigan regarding arts funding.   
A couple years ago, a small group of conservatives attacked the  
festival, accusing it of showing pornography. They deployed a  
frequently used tactic:  stopping public funding. Soon they had enough  
political allies to get the state to make programming changes (no sex;  
no flag desecration) a prerequisite to further funding. The board of  
the festival refused, and fought back. They refused to take ANY state  
funds until the issue was resolved. They programmed an entire  
subsection on explicit films and videos, and held a special  
retrospective of the films the politicians singled out as  
pornographic. And they sued with the help of the ACLU. Today the State  
decide to settle the suit by repealing the unconstitutional  
restrictions on arts funding, bringing state law into line with the  
previous lawsuits filed in support of the National Endowment for the  
Arts.

For more information, check out:

http://www.aafilmfest.org/about/censorship/

This is really great news. Ann Arbor Film Festival is one of the grand- 
daddies of the festival scene (next March's festival is #46), and  
precious both to the independent film community and our local  
community. But their brave stance has cost a lot, as they took a  
mighty financial hit last year.

Thought you should know.....

Markus






A. M. Nornes
Professor
Department of Screen Arts & Cultures
Department of Asian Languages & Cultures
University of Michigan
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
Suite 6111, 202 South Thayer Street
Ann Arbor, MI  48104-1608
Phone:  (734) 647-2094; FAX: x0157
Homepage: www.umich.edu/~amnornes




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