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Heidi Kumao's "35 Days" to be Screened in 64th Ann Arbor Film Festival

March 21, 2026
A cutout paper car, loaded with a cat and furniture, drives up a hill in front of a yellow background.

Stamps Professor Heidi Kumao’s recent experimental, short, animated film 35 Days will be screened in the 64th Ann Arbor Film Festival on Saturday, March 28 at 1:30pm in the Michigan Theater Main Screen as part of the ​“Films in Competition 9: Almost All Ages” program.

35 Days, animated using fabric, paper cutouts, and thread, is an experimental, stop motion animation about what happens when a coalition of (Ann Arbor) strangers answers the call to locate a missing cat during the pandemic lockdown of 2020. Voicemail messages from neighbors reveal the empathy and core connection we have for our pets and each other, demonstrating how a virtual community can transcend the isolation of the pandemic. Watch the trailer for 35 Days on YouTube.

Films in Competition 9: Almost All Ages
Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 1:30 p.m.
Michigan Theater, 603 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104

This year’s lineup of family-friendly films features flower power; an ode to father, graphic designer, and artist David Nerwen; a day in the life of a little child; explorations of post-petrochemical cinema; the act of failing and shedding skin; intrinsic creative practices; expired 16mm Ektachrome; rhythmic expressions; stories about the village of Haiyan; and a missing cat.