Vidlings & Tapeheads YEAR FOUR—coming to you in 2021!
Vidlings & Tapeheads is dedicated to celebrating & promoting unconventional stories. We love films with a unique voice that tell their stories in an unusual way, experiment with the medium, or sincerely explore eclectic subject matter and themes. We encourage and celebrate subversiveness, innovative use of materials and budget, and quirky independent work that doesn’t fit comfortably within any one genre.
VTFF films run the gamut of style, setting, and tone—tending to weird, niche, cult, or unusual—but always telling a story. We connect with characters who are outsiders and dreamers, both in front of and behind the camera. And though filmmaking is a collaborative effort, we have an unabashed appreciation of the auteur. We love the the absurd humor and magical realism of Terry Gilliam and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the irreverent sincerity and dysfunctional iconoclasm of John Waters and Jane Campion, the uncanny cleverness and dark mystery of Davids Cronenberg and Lynch, the tactile humanity and visceral goofiness of Jan Švankmajer and Stephen Chow, the timeless avant-garde dreamscapes of Maya Deren and Slavko Vorkapić, and the haunting beauty and moral ambiguity of Hayao Miyazaki.
We do our best to curate a diverse and engaging program with a progressive group of unconventional filmmakers, musicians, and artists from Michigan and around the world. We strive to be inclusive and welcome people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, creeds, orientations, and walks of life to submit!
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VTFF will take place on October 8th and 9th, 2021. The festival will feature Live Music Performances, an Art Exhibition, and of course — lots of Films! October 10th will cap the weekend with a filmmaker and VIP-only Award Ceremony Brunch & Excursion!
Opening Night TBD. All in-competitions film screenings will be held throughout the day on Saturday the 9th. There will be live music and filmmaker Q&As between each film block. Festival attendees will be able to take in our art exhibition throughout the day and mingle with local artists and filmmakers. The night will wrap with a party set to music by the closing night bands. Sunday’s Award Ceremony Brunch and Excursion is closed to the public, but available for VIP passholders, volunteers, performing musicians, artists, and the filmmakers themselves.
Note: The "Made in Michigan" program will screen our first weekend in Michigan while "LA Stories" will screen the second weekend in LA. The other three categories (Fiction, Documentary, and Animation) will screen both weekends.
Our main events in Michigan take place at Planet Ant Hall and its adjoining Ghost Light bar in Hamtramck, Michigan. Throughout its 20 years, Planet Ant has produced film festivals, improv festivals, Detroit Box Fests, and hosted events by The 313 and other renowned local and national artists. Hamtramck is a vital part of the resurgent Detroit cultural scene and has long been recognized as one of the coolest neighborhoods in the metro area!
Awards will be selected by a jury of working filmmakers, film critics, and film scholars.
Jury: Best Fiction
Jury: Best Animation
Jury: Best Documentary
Jury: Best Made-in-Michigan
Coordinators: Spirit of V&T (Michigan)
Coordinators: Spirit of V&T (Los Angeles)
Our 2021 prize packages are in development. Last year we had prizes from Final Draft, Wacom, ProAm USA, and Toon Boom—just to name a few!