Movie fun, outdoors and in
Detroit Free Press
June 14, 2007
BY JOHN MONAGHAN


Meanwhile, the fifth annual Planet Ant Film & Video Festival remains the premier local showcase for independently produced movies from Detroit and around the world. Corporate sponsors this year have ensured cash prizes in seven categories for the more than 80 films in competition.

Michigan titles are scattered throughout the schedule but play exclusively at 6 p.m. Saturday. Highlights include "Offshore" (10 p.m. Friday), a feature-length documentary from Diane Cheklich about the evils of American outsourcing, and Jason Catron's "Henchmen, Inc." (6 p.m. Saturday) about a pair of losers who aspire to serve some bad guys.

"There is no set criteria as to what gets picked," says festival coordinator Mikey Brown. "It's about trying to find something that has technical proficiency and also an original idea."

Planet Ant Film & Video Festival in Hamtramck
June 13, 2007
absolutemichigan.com


Planet Ant Film & Video FestivalThe 5th annual Planet Ant Film & Video Festival will be held Thursday, June 14th through Saturday, June 16th at Planet Ant Theatre in Hamtramck (there's also an opening night party tonight at Northern Lights Lounge in Detroit's New Center area). The festival celebrates independent movies and the people who make them, featuring comedies, dramas, documentaries, animation and music videos, and you can get the full schedule (with trailers) at their MySpace.

Much (much) more at planetant.com or www.myspace.com/planetantfilm.

METRO TIMES
Night & Day
by Meghana Keshavan
Wednesday-Saturday • 13-16
Planet Ant Film & Video Festival

A far cry from Hollywood's rehashed summer fare (attack of the trilogies, egad!), this fifth installment of Planet Ant's yearly film festival has quirks and originality in abundance, with more than 70 submissions from around the world — ranging from PBS documentaries to home-spliced indies clocking in at a couple minutes — screened during the four-day event at Planet Ant Theatre. At 2357 Caniff St., Hamtramck; 313-365-4948. A Wednesday launch party will kick things off at Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; 313-873-1739.

REAL DETROIT
Reel to Real (June 13. 2007)
Jun 12, 2007

2007 Planet Ant Film and Video Festival
Art house shorts and the like will be screened throughout the weekend at Hamtramck's Planet Ant Theatre for their annual festival. Among the contestants is a film called Family Tree, directed by Vicky Jenson, co-director of Shrek. Family Tree grabs inspiration from Ovid's tale of Baucis and Philemon, following an overwhelmed man during a Thanksgiving plagued with bickering in-laws whose conflicts take precedence over nurturing family relationships. He seeks solace in his wife's long lost brother with his own deeply rooted problem. So, yeah, be there. — TRW

Screenings: June 14-16
Planet Ant Theatre
2357 Caniff, Hamtramck; 313.365.4948
Screenings $6 (based on two-hour time slot)
Multiple screenings discounted at $10 for two.

Mojo Rising!
June 13th, 2007
famzine.com
Posted by famzine in Music, Film&Video, Events

The radio DJ known as "The Electrifying Mojo" is as much a part of Detroit electronic music culture as the techno artist is. A documentary about the cat that inspired local DJs, musicians and homebodies will be shown at Planet Ant (Hamtramck), Friday June 15 at midnight. More info about The Cycles of the Mental Machine can be read at Submerge.
Mojo (born Charles Johnson) was loved for his "no rules" approach to his playlist. Listening to his shows were a kin to the golden age of radio- when he was on, your ear was glued. It would take about 10 minutes for his damn mothership to land at the beginning of his show, but that junk sounded so sweet! Prince, the Time, Run DMC, B-52s, Bus Boys, Cybertron!!!

The 2007 Planet Ant Film and Video Festival
http://detroit.metblogs.com/
posted by Scotter at 7:43 PM on June 12, 2007

The Planet Ant Theatre in Hamtramck--one of my favorite places to see anything in the Detroit area--hosts its fifth annual Film and Video Festival this week, starting this Wednesday the 13th at Northern Lights Lounge with an opening night party and music video program starting at 8pm, and continuing through Saturday at the actual Planet Ant Theatre on Caniff. Check out the Planet Ant Film and Video Festival website for a full schedule, as well as video clips and summaries of all of the films, so that you can pick and choose those films that that may best flatter your grey matter.

Saturday should be a particularly fine day to spend in the vicinity of Caniff and Jos Campau. Take a break between film programs at the Planet Ant by walking down to the Taste of Hamtramck Life Festival, going on from noon to 6pm in Zussman Park at City Hall. Great food, great film, nice weather, and lots of libations should make for a fine weekend in the Hamy.

Planet Ant Film and Video Festival (contest)

Posted: June 11, 2007 @ 10:32 am
By Jasper

Before terrorists invented the internet, people had to go to the theater to be entertained. They didn't have the technology to compress video into a 320×240 window of streaming pixels. Instead, they had to project giant images onto a screen so a room full of people could all watch at the same time. I have no idea how they went about pausing the film to grab still frames of celebrity nipples, but I'm not a History major.

This Thursday through Saturday, travel back in time to the Not-Spending-All-Your-Free-Time-On-The-Internet Days, as The Planet Ant Film & Video Festival celebrates independent movies and the people who make them, featuring comedies, dramas, documentaries, animation and music videos. The daily schedules can be found here, along with links and trailers for a lot of the films — I suggest you kill part of your workday today by watching those.

The Festival kicks off at 8pm on Wednesday night with a launch party at Northern Lights Lounge — this is a 9pm screening of over twenty music videos from around the world, including one of my favorite bands, The Nice Device. Afterward, DJ Esquire will be entertaining you by playing tracks from his Music For Getting Way Too Drunk On A Wednesday Night collection.

I've got a pair of tickets to give away for any one of the screenings at the Planet Ant Theatre. All you have to do is write me a caption for either of the following images (Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Patrick Dempsey from "Shade" or Harland Williams from "Family Tree"). Just fill in the e-mail box when you post a comment (it won't be published) and I'll randomly pick one winner to receive the pair of tickets. It's Monday. Entertain me. (If you can't think of anything clever, just leave any comment.)

Detroit Free Press, 6/7/2007

McDreamy of "Grey's Anatomy," who co-stars in a 14-minute short film called "Shade," is just one of many faces who'll grace the 80 pieces at the Planet Ant Film & Video Festival. The hipster Hamtramck playhouse launches its fifth celebration of indie cinema with a free Wednesday party at Northern Lights Lounge in Detroit's New Center area.

FILM FEST

THE ROYAL OAK MIRROR, 6/6/2007
br Diana Wing

FILM FEST

Kudos to Ferndale screenwriter and producer Maggie Patton. Her 18-minute narrative drama, Shooters. Get the Picture, was chosen to screen at the Planet Ant Film & Video Festival, 6 p.m., Saturday, June 16., at the Planet Ant Theatre, 2357 Caniff in Hamtramck. The film tells the story of Ray, a traditional 35mm photographer, and Robbie, a young, hip, digital shooter, who are both assigned to cover a controversial news event. Only one will get the big picture.

The Planet Ant Film & Video Festival runs June 13-16 and includes more than 70 selections, some from local filmmakers, and many from directors across the U.S. and several other countries. To learn more, visit www.planetant.com/festival or call (313) 365-4948.

"One of metro Detroit's answers to Sundance and Cannes." – big Idea



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Janelle Rogers, Green Light Go!
Phone 248.336.9696 Cell 248.761.9730
Email: jrogers@Greenlightgopublicity.com


The 2007 Planet Ant Film & Video Festival
Screenings: Thursday, June 14th through Saturday, June 16th
Planet Ant Theatre
2357 Caniff, Hamtramck
Screenings $6 (based on two hour time slot)
Multiple screenings discounted at $10 for two


PLANET ANT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL SHOWS "SHREK" CO-DIRECTOR'S FILM

DETROIT (June 4, 2007)— "Shrek" co-director, Vicky Jenson's film short "Family Tree" will show at The Planet Ant Film & Video Festival on Saturday, June 16th during the 8 pm screening.

Jenson's, 36 minute short, "Family Tree", grabs inspiration from Ovid's tale of Baucis and Philemon, following an overwhelmed man during a Thanksgiving plagued with bickering in-laws whose conflicts take precedence over nurturing family relationships. He seeks solace in his wife's long lost brother with his own deeply-rooted problem.

"Crossing the Heart" will precede "Family Tree" during the 8-10 pm time screening. An aging 'vigilante' (Kris Kristofferson) patrols the Arizona/Mexico border when he comes across a young 'illegal' border crosser (Efren Ramirez, Napoleon Dynamite). A series of mishaps and problems strand the pair in the desert's heat, with no water and no means of communication with each other or the outside world. As the heat takes its toll, they come to realize that they are not so different, but age-old misconceptions and mistrust stand in the way of their own instincts for survival.

In its fifth year, the Planet Ant Film & Video Festival celebrates independent movies and the people who make them through the featuring of comedies, dramas, documentaries, animation and music videos from Detroit and around the world. This year's festival includes eighty films representing almost ten countries with industry sponsors including Sony, Final Draft, Gorilla, Baseline StudioSystems, The Michigan Film Office, HD Studios, Filmcraft Imaging, Without A Box, Sonicbids, Showbiz Software Stores and Northern Lights Lounge.

Film judges include Jack Cronin (Detroit Film Center, Oakland Community College), Josh Funk ("Wild 'N Out" MTV, Joseph Jefferson Award winning director) Keith Jeffries (Cinema Slam, Ascalon Films), and Jamie Sonderman (Thought Collide Productions).

The Planet Ant Film & Video Festival launches on Wednesday, June 13th at 8 pm with the opening night party at Northern Lights Lounge in Detroit's New Center area. Screenings of the music video program feature over twenty videos from Detroit and around the world including Kevin Leeser's video for The Nice Device. Afterwards, mingle with this year's directors and experience LOVE BOAT: featuring DJ ESQUIRE w/your hosts The Captain & Laura Rock.

The festival will conclude on Saturday, June 16 at 10pm with an Award Ceremony celebrating the best films in seven categories as voted on by our jury and audience. Prize packages provided by Planet Ant Film & Video sponsors.

More information including the full-schedule can be found at http://www.planetant.com/festival/. Film trailers can be viewed at http://www.myspace.com/planetantfilm.

Janelle Rogers
GREEN LIGHT GO!

Ask me about Andy Scisco * Beatnik Turtle * The Dilettantes * ethos *The Hero Cycle * Planet Ant Film & Video Festival * Shawn Fogel * Static of the Gods * Terrene