59th Ann Arbor Film Festival

The Annotated Field Guide of Ulysses S. Grant

Expired April 1, 2021 4:00 AM
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Sponsor: DPTV


Following the film, enjoy an interview with the filmmaker moderated by AAFF Advisory Board member Chris McNamara.

For four years in the 1860s, half of the United States was held hostage by an unrecognized white supremacist republic. Shot on 16mm in national military parks, swamps, forests, and the suburban sprawl across the former battlefields, the film follows General Grant’s path liberating the southern United States. Part travelogue, part essay film, part landscape documentary, it moves from the Texas-Louisiana border to a prison island off the coast of New England. But instead of relying on actors, vintage photos, and the sounds of bullets and explosions, the battles are illustrated with the paper reenactments of hex-and-counter wargames and bubblegum cards from the hobbyist gamer subcultures that have sprung up around the Civil War. The sound and music are inspired by 1970s crime films to celebrate the destruction of the Confederacy with the synth jams they deserve.

  • Year
    2020
  • Runtime
    61 minutes
  • Country
    United States
  • Note
    United States
  • Filmmaker
    Jim Finn