AADL Talks To: Frank Uhle, Film Projectionist, Author, and Cultural Historian

Thu, 01/22/2026 - 2:46pm

Frank Uhle came to the University of Michigan as an art student, joined the campus film society Cinema II, and has worked for several decades as a University of Michigan and Michigan Theater film projectionist. He also hosts a radio program at the local U-M independent radio station WCBN, and enjoys researching regional music history. In 2023, Frank penned the book Cinema Ann Arbor, which takes a look back at the history of Ann Arbor’s vibrant campus cinema culture from the 1960s through the turn of the 21st century. I talked with Frank about Ann Arbor’s love affair with cinema, from its early history to its cutting-edge film festivals; the maverick professors and students who built the vibrant campus film societies; and the cultural changes he's witnessed in Ann Arbor and in the film industry over the past several decades. 

Frank's book Cinema Ann Arbor is available in our catalog to check out or download. You can also read Frank's essay about legendary Ann Arbor record producer Ollie McLaughlin, written for AADL's Ann Arbor 200 project in celebration of the city's bicentennial.

Frank Uhle Talks to Dallas Kenny about Campus Cinema and the Matrix Theatre

Fri, 10/10/2025 - 8:54am

Dallas Kenny currently runs a global education consulting business. But back in the 1970s, he was committed to Ann Arbor's cinema culture. Kenny helped found the non-profit New World Media Project, the umbrella organization for the New World Film Cooperative, which showed film on and around the University of Michigan campus. It oversaw Venus Productions, its printing and promotional arm, and the Matrix Theatre at 605 E. William Street, where New York Pizza Depot is located today. Frank Uhle, author of Cinema Ann Arbor: How Campus Rebels Forged a Singular Film Culture, talks with Kenny about his unique role in Ann Arbor's cinema culture, from his collaboration with other campus groups to promote community programming, to the rise and fall of the Matrix Theatre. 
 

Check out the Dallas Kenny Collection of historical film posters, schedules, and other documents. 

Read Frank's book here or check it out from our collection.

AADL Talks To: Phil Hallman, Film Historian, University of Michigan Librarian and Archivist

Tue, 10/07/2025 - 12:04pm

Phil Hallman's lengthy relationship with Ann Arbor film culture began with trips to Ann Arbor during high school in nearby Plymouth and includes his involvement with the Ann Arbor Film Cooperative and city-wide film festivals through the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, Phil has been curator for the Mavericks & Makers collections housed at the U-M Library’s Special Collections Research Center; the Donald Hall Collection screenplay collection in the University of Michigan's Film, Television, and Media department, and has served as Film Studies Librarian and subject specialist liaison for the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library. Phil talks with us about his long love affair with film, the heyday of Ann Arbor's famous campus cinema culture, and some gems from the collections he curates.

Sesquicentennial Interview: Gerald Hoag

Wed, 11/06/2024 - 11:59am

This interview was conducted in 1974 as part of the I Remember When television series produced by the Ann Arbor Public Library.