While the events and people who inspired Andy Kirshner’s latest film, Sex Radical, might date back more than 125 years, the University of Michigan professor and filmmaker said its subjects of freedom of expression and women’s rights feel as relevant now as they did then.

Exploring turn-of-the-20th-century American history through the words of little-known feminist, spiritualist, and sex educator Ida Craddock, Kirshner said the documentary-style drama illuminates a message that feels appropriate for current times amid a backdrop of lawmakers seeking to ban books and mandate the display of the Ten Commandments in school.

“Even though it's a film that's set in the past, I feel like it's very much resonant with the present,” said Kirshner, who is a joint professor emeritus with the School of Music, Theatre & Dance and the Stamps School of Art and Design. “It was a different time, but some of the same cultural conflicts about separation between church and state and about gender roles are kind of the same struggles in a lot of ways.”

Press Release

The film Resilience Revealed: Ann Arbor's Disability Legacy, of Zach Damon Productions, has won a prestigious Award of Merit from The Accolade Global Film Competition. The award was given for Zach Damon's exciting documentary, Resilience Revealed, which highlights the role Ann Arbor has played in the world of accessibility and disability activism. Resilience Revealed features interviews with Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor, Ann Arbor City Councilmember Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein, Disability Network executive director Alex Gossage, and other advocates.

“Ann Arbor has long been a beacon for disability rights,” says Damon. “This film aims to honor that legacy.”

Dead media is alive and well in my house.

My husband, Brian, and I have an affinity for various types of discontinued and outdated media from the 1970s and 1980s. It’s everything from 8-tracks and LaserDiscs to VHS tapes and retro video game consoles.

There’s something fun about revisiting old media from your childhood or experimenting with now-obsolete technology that was popular before you were born.

I want to highlight some of my old media as a way to celebrate Dead Media Day, which is October 12 at Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown location.

The inaugural event pays homage to retro media, entertainment, and ephemera, and features vendors selling vintage and rare items.

It will also have exhibits, hands-on demonstrations, and crafts for fans who want to step back in time and honor all things old and once forgotten.

Here’s a look at five types of dead media that continue to thrive in the Stratton household.

A new “live media festival” in Ypsilanti aims to expand the conversation on what media is, with live experimental works in audio, video, projection, and expanded cinema that goes beyond traditional film.

Those attending the first Media Live Ypsi live performance festival on October 10 and 11 can expect everything from Bring Your Own Beamer projection art displays to a half dozen “durational artists” each delivering their own three-hour sets of storytelling and other nonlinear performances that could incorporate audience participation.

It’s all intended to shake up how people perceive the “live” performance, Media Live Ypsi co-organizer Abhishek Narula said, while emphasizing the need to be present to truly experience the media being displayed.

"I think a lot of art today is experienced online—on Instagram, on YouTube, and all that,” said Narula. “It's hard to sort of document; it's hard to capture these things. We really want to have that experience for the people that are in Ann Arbor and Ypsi and to bring people together. I think post-pandemic, people have been interacting online, and we still sort of live most of our worlds online. So, we're trying to break that a little bit by providing the live experiences where you sort of have to be there.”

Burnout Society Film Club (BSFC) members are advocates of the B-flick, the cult classic, the lost gem, and they show their love at a free monthly screening event called 8 Ball Movie Night.

What started as an indoor gathering at The Blind Pig's basement bar, The 8 Ball Saloon, morphed into an outdoor event during the warmer months of COVID. But BSFC didn't return to a strictly indoor schedule for its movie night after vaccinations opened up the world again, and the group continues to show VHS-era and old-timey flicks outside when the weather allows.

The last outdoor event of 2025—now on the patio outside The Blind Pig rather than on the roof—is scheduled for Tuesday, September 30, at 8:30 pm. Dubbed as "A Future Cop Double Feature," this edition of the 8 Ball Movie Night features films by two '80s and '90s action megastars: Sylvester Stallone and Rutger Hauer.

Here's the info listed on the FB event page:

A roundup of recent Washtenaw County arts and culture stories from local media outlets Life in Michigan, WEMU, Concentrate, Current, Ann Arbor Observer, WCBN, The Sun New Times, The Saline Post, and Ann Arbor City Lifestyle. 

In his new film, Zach Damon shares the rich history of disability advocacy in Ann Arbor.

The director explores 70 years of local advocacy in Resilience Revealed: Ann Arbor’s Disability Legacy, which highlights the city’s foundational role in shaping the broader disability rights movement.

“Honestly, disability is something I have a great deal of experience in,” said Damon, who was born with cerebral palsy and grew up in Ann Arbor.

“And as a filmmaker, when an opportunity comes along to make a film about what you know, you have a duty to make work that can give a glimpse into what that is and what came before you to enlighten others.”

Through personal narratives, historical accounts, and expert insights, the 24-minute film examines the building blocks of Ann Arbor’s disability rights legacy, emphasizing its significance within the community and its impact on future generations.

This story originally ran on July 17, 2019. We're rerunning it on what would have been Asheton's 77th birthday.

July 17 is Ron Asheton’s birthday. He died in 2009 at the age of 60, but not before he and the band he helped make famous had one last run when The Stooges reformed in 2003.

The Stooges arose from the rich musical compost of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area in the late 1960s and while the classic original lineup (Asheton on guitar, his brother Scott Asheton on drums, Dave Alexander on bass and Iggy Pop as frontman) only lasted a few glorious, intense years, the racket they made proved durable. They were a quartet of teenage cavemen with four chords between them, amps set for aggression, gnawing at the deepest atavistic urges of the human animal. Like all geniuses, they were unappreciated in their day but went on to inspire generations of future primitives around the globe and made punk rock inevitable. 

After the Stooges, Ron Asheton enjoyed a long music career with bands such as Destroy All Monsters, New Race, and Dark Carnival. He passed away from a heart attack shortly after a high-profile Stooges reunion. The man’s legacy in the annals of rock history is secure, legitimized by no less an “authority” as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but that isn’t the reason we’re here. 

What is discussed less about Asheton is his acting career, which found him playing both major and minor roles in five low-budget, locally sourced horror films shot in Michigan between 1988 and 1995. From all reports a genuine fan of the genre, Asheton holds his own in these cheap, gory, and frankly ridiculous films, sometimes emerging as the most believable actor on the screen (the competition is hardly stiff). He’s unrecognizable as a former rock guitar mangler, opting instead for a somewhat schlubby onscreen persona, sometimes as comic relief or second banana to a more traditional lead. 

So in honor of Asheton’s birthday, let’s review his filmography:

This story originally ran on May 21, 2025. We're rerunning it because "Hometown Summer" will be at the Michigan Theater again on Saturday, July 12, with screenings at 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm.

Comedies come in cycles. There was a time in the late 1990s and continuing through the early 2010s when movie theaters regularly welcomed rated-R-for-raunchy flicks with over-the-top humor. 

But as social mores changed, and movie theaters struggled to get people into their buildings, many of those movies went straight to streaming.

Wolverine Productions' Benjamin Vomastek misses when salty comedies with no-holds-barred japes populated the cineplex, and the University of Michigan grad is doing his part to bring them back.

Vomastek's film debut, 2024's Rosetta Stoned, filmed in Ann Arbor on a $30,000 budget, features a pothead who convinces a socially awkward classmate to exchange homework answers for weed. 

The new Hometown Summer, also filmed in Tree Town, premieres at the Michigan Theater on Thursday, May 22, at 7:30 pm. The cast and crew will appear after for a Q&A session.

In Hometown Summer, three young pals spend the warm months in Ann Arbor, and all kinds of mayhem happen when they get mixed up in a crazy business plan and indulge in all sorts of vices.

Vomastek makes no secret that his films are indebted to outrageous comedies of the past, such as Superbad and There's Something About Mary, so I asked him to discuss some movies that were direct influences on Hometown Summer.

"Each of these films carries a theme of human authenticity and realism that has inspired me as a filmmaker," Vomastek said.

The Blox, a competitive web show for entrepreneurs, might be closer to Fear Factor than Keeping Up With the Kardashians as far as reality television goes.

The web show’s focus on public speaking, spur-of-the-moment pitching, and an intensive point system are enough to challenge anyone, especially Rick Coughlin.

Coughlin, co-founder and co-owner of Ypsilanti’s Grove Studios, a 24/7 rehearsal space and recording studio, said appearing on season 16 of The Blox was a well-needed “kick in the teeth.”

“You’re standing in front of all your peers, the guy that’s doing $5 million a year, and the woman who just started her dog business, and they’re all looking at you,” said Coughlin, a musician who co-started Grove Studios in 2017 and now runs it with business partner Breck Crandell.

“You have to deliver something that makes sense, and then a coach pokes holes in everything that you said. You get grilled for another half hour or so, and then you rinse and repeat for seven days. And there [are] cameras everywhere all the time.”