by Erin Smith, Humanities
Presenting another year of cinematic explorations and provocations, the 41 North Film Festival returns November 2-5 to the Rozsa Center. With a lineup of over 20 films, the festival includes panels, special guests, music, and more. Major festival sponsors include the Department of Humanities, the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, and the College of Sciences and Arts. This four-day event is free and open to the public.
The opening night film, Time Bomb Y2K (Becker/McDonald, 2023), takes a look back at a moment of technological anxiety. Assembling archival footage from 1997-2000 as the world prepared to face the “Y2K millenium bug,” the filmmakers offer both a time capsule and an opportunity to reflect on technological dependency and its implications. Continuing the discussion about technology on Sunday with a different set of questions is Another Body (Hamlyn/Compton, 2023), about a college student who takes us on an investigation into deepfake pornography after she finds herself a victim of it. Both films will offer panel discussions following the films.
On Friday night, the spotlight turns to the Elephant 6 Recording Company (Stockfleth, 2022), an inspiring story about the music collective that gave rise to such bands as Neutral Milk Hotel and the Apples in Stereo, among many others. Core member of the collective, Robert Schneider, who is now part of the Michigan Tech faculty in mathematics, will be joined by producer Daniel Efran for a Q&A. Music and a reception will follow in the Rozsa Lobby.
Saturday evening, the festival presents The Erie Situation (Ruck, 2022), which takes a hard look at the confluence of science and politics around a great lake’s toxic algae problem. Co-sponsored by the Great Lakes Research Center, the film will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.
Continue reading about the lineup, and visit the festival website for the complete schedule. For more information, contact Erin Smith, ersmith@mtu.edu.