Mark Maynard | independent film

Benicio del Toro’s upcoming film “A.K.A. Jimmy Picard” to feature the puppetry work of Ypsilanti’s super-talented Dreamland Theater crew

By Mark | March 13, 2013

One day earlier this winter, as I was making my way around town, pushing my sleeping son in his stroller, I decided to turn down Washington Street and see if I could find Naia Venturi, the owner of Ypsilanti’s Dreamland Theater. Fortunately, she heard me knocking on the door, and came out from behind the [...]

Posted in Art and Culture, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged A Christmas Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A.K.A. Jimmy Picard, Aimee Adams, Andrew Bruce Mitchell III, Arlo, Arnaud Desplechin, ass, Benicio Del Toro, Blackfoot Nation, Butoh, Carla Harryman, Catherine Taylor, Dina Goldman, Dreamland Theater, Dreamland Tonight, Elya Baskin, Film, France, George Devereux, Jamie Klenk, Jimmy Picard, Judith Goldman, Justin Lang, Katrina Whalen, knees, marionettes, Mathieu Amalric, mental illness, Michigan film incentives, Milwaukee, Monroe, Muriel Rukeyser, Naia Venturi, native american, post traumatic stress disorder, psychology, PTSD, Puck, puppet knees, puppets, Reality and Dream: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, sloppy puppeteering, Tyrone Williams, Unabomber, WWII | 17 Comments

Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interview: Becca Keating

By Mark | January 19, 2013

Becca Keating, the former Director of Development at the Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF), has spent the past several days driving across the country with the intention of transforming herself into an Angeleno. Following is our exit interview, conducted as she adjusted to life in a world with sunshine. MARK: Let’s start with where you’re [...]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Special Projects, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged abortion, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor Paper, avant-garde, Becca Keating, David Lynch, exit interviews, Grand Canyon, Gratzi, Ken Burns, Kevin Jerome Everson, Laida Lertxundi, Laura Abraham, Liberty Street Video, Los Angeles, Marcin Gizycki, Ohio, old white men making decisions on women's health, parade floats, Pasadena, pie, porn, reproductive justice, Rick Snyder, Rose Parade, Roswell, Scientology, Suzan Pitt, The Central Park Five, tiramisu, Toledo, Twin Peaks, Un Chien Andalou, Village Corner, Whitney Biennial, women's rights, womne's health, Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews | 11 Comments

Boots Riley of The Coup… on Communism, Corporatism, hip-hop, and the need to beat down scabs

By Mark | November 28, 2012

Last night, I had the occasion to speak with world-renowned hip-hop provocateur Boots Riley on a wide range of subjects spanning from his childhood in Detroit, spent in a household of Communist organizers, to his current work, organizing people in his neighborhood as a member Occupy Oakland. And, of course, we touched on his equally [...]

Posted in Art and Culture, Civil Liberties, Corporate Crime, Detroit, Economics, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 21 Grams, 9/11, advertising, Alex Rivera, American Splendor, anti-capitalist, at-risk youth, Barbara Ransby, Bill Maher, Boots Riley, California, Capitalism, civil rights, class, College of Ethnic Studies, Communism, Congress of Racial Equality, CORE, Danny Goldberg, dark comedy, fast food workers union, Five Million Ways to Kill a CEO, foreclosure defense, fundraisers, Greensboro, guillotine building workshop, Happiness, hip hop, ILWU, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, interviews, Japanther, Jeff Clark, K-Mart, Kev Choice, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, La Peña Cultural Center, labor history, labor movement, Led Zeppelin, Levi's, longshoremen, lunch counter sit-ins, Magic Clap, Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Granada Last Night, militancy, NAACP, Nirvana, North Carolina, Oakland, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Sandy, Ohio Players, Oscar Grant, Ozone House, picket lines, police brutality, political hip hop, political organizing, Politically Incorrect, Port of Oakland, Progressive Labor Party, Prop 21, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, rap, revolution, rhetoric of violent revolution, San Francisco, San Francisco State, San Francisco State strike, scabs, SDS, sit-down strikes, Sleep Dealer, social justice, Sorry to Bother You, speaking truth to power, Street Sweeper Social Club, Students for a Democratic Society, sympathy strikes, Taft–Hartley Act, Ted Hope, The Coup, The Guillotine, The Ice Storm, threat of violence, unions, United Steelworkers, USW, Walmart, Walter Riley, Washtenaw Eviction and Foreclosure Defense, we need a revolution, WEFD, Woodruff's, work stoppage, World Trade Center | 25 Comments

The Ypsi Film Shootout

By Mark | August 30, 2012

A few weeks ago, upon hearing that a local film competition was being planned, I submitted a list of questions to the organizers. Well, I just received the following answers from Mark Ducker, the man behind the Ypsi 24-Hour Film Shootout. (As his response came in the form of one long message, I’ve broken it [...]

Posted in Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Ann Arbor Film Festival, Cinema Sports, Corner brewery, Film, film competition, Hump, Mark Ducker, Mix Marketplace, Shadow Art Fair, The Ipsy, WDEE-TV.COM, Wild Rose Pictures, Ypsilanti Convention and Visitors Bureau | 3 Comments

Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews: Adrianne Finelli

By Mark | August 14, 2012

After living among us for the past half dozens years, Adrianne Finelli will be leaving shortly for Pennsylvania. I took the opportunity to ask her a few questions. MARK: Where will you be moving to and what will you be doing there? ADRIANNE: I’m moving back to Pennsylvania, not back to Philly, but the other [...]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, Special Projects | Also tagged Adrianne Finelli, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Bethlehem, Bethlehem Steel, Dan F. Friedlaender, documentary film, Edinboro University, exit interviews, Film, film making, home movies, Lehigh Valley, MFA, Nancy Heers, pain, Pennsylvania, Perspective on Pain, Philadelphia, Prison Creative Arts Project, Roseto, School of Art & Design, Shadow Art Fair, Shirley Axon, Slate, steel, suicide, teaching, Temple University, The Dance of My Grandmothers, time-based media, University of Michigan, urban farming, Work Gallery, Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews | 8 Comments

Tag Archives: independent film

Benicio del Toro’s upcoming film “A.K.A. Jimmy Picard” to feature the puppetry work of Ypsilanti’s super-talented Dreamland Theater crew

Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interview: Becca Keating

The Ypsi Film Shootout

Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews: Adrianne Finelli

Connect

Recent Comments

Elsewhere

Arts and Culture

Friends

Information, News & Politics

Organizations

SE Michigan Blogs

Special Projects

Ypsi Living

Search