George Manupelli
1931-2014
George Manupelli, the former U-M art professor who founded the Ann Arbor Film Festival, died on Sunday, September 14, just 2 weeks shy of his 83rd birthday. Born in Boston’s North End on September 29, 1931, Manupelli earned an MA and PhD in fine art and fine art education from Columbia University before embarking on a 38 year teaching career. In addition to being a longtime faculty member at U-M, Manupelli also taught at York University in Toronto and the San Francisco Art Institute. What locals will likely remember most about Manupelli, though, is his founding of the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1963, which he oversaw as director for 17 years. AAFF, the longest-running independent and experimental film festival in North America, began life as the First American Film Festival at U-M's old Architecture and Design Auditorium. Still in its infancy, AAFF drew iconic film critic Pauline Kael as a judge in the event’s second year (1964); was accused of showing “pornographic films” in 1965; enticed Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground and Nico to appear in 1966; and showed work by Yoko Ono, George Lucas, Gus Van Sant, and a music video by Devo. “Indie film is really about a single person…
Films