VDB at the 61st Ann Arbor Film Festival

VDB is excited to take part in the 61st Ann Arbor Film Festival! Artists John Muse and Brendamaris Rodríguez Vélez, Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, Deborah Stratman, as well as Sónia Vaz Borges and Filipa César, will present works in the festival, March 21 - 29, 2023. 

VDB Distribution Manager Emily Martin will be in attendance and will present her curated program "Remembrance/Vacancy: The Films of Edward Owens" on Thursday, March 23, at 7:00 PM. From AAFF:

"The recent re-emergence of Edward Owens' flash of experimental filmmaking in the New York avant-garde scene of the late '60s has the potential to animate new discussions around a largely unknown and obscure(d) history of early Black experimental filmmaking, one that predates the films of the L.A. Rebellion. Despite the artistic merits of the work, Owens' period as a young filmmaker was short-lived and his artistic career cut short by complicated personal issues related to addiction and mental health, which eventually led him to return to his hometown of Chicago. 

By the time of his death in 2009, the very year in which Owens’ work received notice outside of the time of its creation, the artist had only carried out a series of phone interviews shortly before passing away. The timing of Owens’ death renders the task of contextualizing and understanding his artistic output and life in their full richness a considerably difficult and complex one. This program considers the historical/personal space and vacancy of Owens' work within the void of its contextualization and historical placement in relationship to its aesthetic undercurrents."