What is Cinetopia?

The Cinetopia Film Festival (which we lovingly call Cinetopia), produced by the Michigan Theater Foundation, is Southeast Michigan’s regional film festival serving multicultural audiences from Detroit, Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, Bloomfield Township, and all points in between. Over the course of 10-days every May, Cinetopia brings over 120 film screenings of 60+ narrative and documentary films from the world’s leading industry and regional film festivals (Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin, SXSW, Tribeca, and many more!) to a steadily growing audience of 40,000+ . We play these “best of the best” films in more than a dozen venues across our Southeast Michigan communities and bring over 30 visiting filmmakers, film subjects, and film industry experts to the festival to participate in panels and post-film Q&A discussions.

Cinetopia is also proud to present the Detroit Voices Short Film Competition for aspiring Michigan filmmakers. As the only submission-based program of the festival, Detroit Voices provides local filmmaker the opportunity to showcase their short films to a Michigan audience, compete for cash awards, and participate in networking and educational opportunities leading up to and during the festival.

Our Venues

Each year, Cinetopia is made possible by a number of wonderful cultural sites in Southeastern Michigan. From Ann Arbor to Detroit to Royal Oak, from the Michigan Theater to the Maple Theater, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the Arab American National Museum, these venues are the heart of the festival.

Special Programs

In an effort to better serve Southeast Michigan’s multicultural community, Cinetopia is fortunate to partner with a number of specialized local film festivals and organizations. These partnerships allow Cinetopia to program a diverse range of remarkable and enriching films and bring a special experience to each audience member and to the whole of the festival. Our partners have included the Ann Arbor Jewish Film Festival, Dearborn’s Arab American National Museum’s Arab Film Festival, the Ann Arbor Film Festival (the oldest advant-garde film festival in North America), the University of Michigan’s Screen Arts Mavericks & Makers, and Detroit’s College of Creative Studies.