Our series showcasing the work of Screen Arts and Cultures students and alumni begins with Moon Cake, a short film in which an eccentric being harnesses the light and energy of the moon to create a glorious cake -- a moon cake -- that he sends to Earth. 

Written, directed and edited by Marty Stano (SAC '08), Moon Cake was heavily influenced by Georges Méliès classic short film Le Voyage dans la Lune and by the work of Kenneth Anger, for which SAC Senior Lecturer Terri Sarris provided a bit of context:

"Marty Stano's project Moon Cake succeeds as an homage of sorts to the films of the filmmaker Kenneth Anger, with particular references to Anger's film Rabbit's Moon and more oblique references to the biker figures of Anger's film Scorpio Rising.  In Moon Cake, Stano and collaborators (including scenic designer/artist Meghann Rotary) have combined music, dance, and visual references to the Anger films into a catchy music-video style short film. Black and white film stock captures perfectly the (mis)adventures of the cast of night creatures portrayed in the film and film fans have responded to this fond homage to Anger, a central figure in the American Avant-Garde.  The title makes me think of the traditional Chinese 'Mooncake' and also its popular, vernacular American snack food cousin, the 'Moonpie,' which to me, matches the film's insouciant spirit (which even Kenneth Anger, himself a "trickster," might well appreciate)."

Not only was Stano's Moon Cake nominated for a Student Academy Award, but Stano recently returned from Barcelona where he and fellow U-M alumni Danny Mooney (SAC '08) and Kelly Gallagher (Art+Design '10) accepted the $10,000 Overall Grand Prize for their entry in MOFILM's Mountain Dew Commercial Contest. 

You can watch more of Stano's work, including an energy-packed music video he directed for the band IAmDynamite, here.

Credits.  Moon Cake: Meghann Rotary (Producer, Production Designer), Isaiah Hole (Producer), Ben Glazier (Cinematographer), Zac LeMieux (Actor "Leather"), UM Professor Robert Rayher, SAC 300: Filmmaking I.