VDB at Midwest Festivals 2025

VDB is excited to announce numerous artists screening around the Midwest this spring! 

The 63rd Ann Arbor Film Festival will take place March 25 – 30 and feature VDB artists Christopher Harris, Angelo Madsen, Cathy Lee Crane, and Deborah Stratman. Nine works by Christopher Harris will be presented as Inventory of Black Roses, one of three Juror Programs, showcasing the filmographies of the festival's esteemed jury members. Angelo Madsen's new film A Body to Live In (2025) will be spotlighted as an AAFF feature in competition, following its world premiere at True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri (February 27 – March 2); and two sold-out international premiere screenings at BFI Flare London LGBTQ+ Film Festival in the U.K. (March 19 – 30). AAFF will also screen Cathy Lee Crane's Border Dwellers (2024) and Deborah Stratman's Otherhood (2023).

The 35th Onion City Experimental Film Festival will take place April 3 – 6 and feature VDB artists Carl Elsaesser (How to Run a Trotline, 2024), Chi Jang Yin (I Was There Part II, 2024), and Cam Archer (Oh Paulo, 2024)! The fest will take place at Chicago Filmmakers' Firehouse Cinema, with select special events taking place at FACETS, Leisure Gallery, Northwestern University's Block Cinema, and Public Works Gallery, and with local collaborators: the Center for Concrete and Abstract Machines, Chicago Film Society, and independent curator Ben Creech. Over 40 selected films will be presented in six competition screenings, along with six special events premiering work by Chicago filmmakers, screening rare and restored prints, and showcasing moving images in expanded formats. This year's festival is programmed by VDB's very own Nicky Ni and Elise Schierbeek and the jury will include VDB artist Stephanie Barber! The full festival line-up and ticketing information will be announced in an upcoming Chicago Filmmakers release and on the OCFF website.

The 52nd Athens International Film + Video Festival will take place April 7 – 13 and feature VDB artists James Duesing (Adulting in Technophobic), Saif Alsaegh (The Motherfucker's Birthday in Standing Up), Rankin Renwick (Translation Please in Through the Woods), and Danièle Wilmouth (What Went Down in Everything You Have is Yours).