After attending the 48th Ann Arbor Film Festival’s opening night at the Michigan Theater on Tuesday, you have to draw 2 conclusions: one, you aren’t likely to see such a broad variety of high-quality, experimental short films anywhere else in the Midwest; and two, AAFF organizers really know how to throw a party.

Yes, 2 hours before anything hit the screen, AAFF’s opening reception attendees milled around the Michigan Theater lobby, where a DJ spun music on the stairway landing, and partygoers downed wine and coffee and various hors d’ouevres on offer.

Costumed Trevor Stone and Chris Sandon helped liven up the first night of the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Spotted at the reception: 2 men in kilts; one multi-colored fauxhawk; 2 mingling gorillas, labeled 1 and 2 (who later danced together in front of the DJ table); folks experimenting with the Mindstream “make your own animation” interactive exhibit; and loads of eye-catchingly hip clothes, hairstyles, and eyewear.

But the crowd had a broad age range, and the mood was convivial and fun rather than intimidating. Click here for an audio slideshow from the event.

The mood carried through to the short breaks between the films in AAFF’s opening night program. During one pause, attendees whistled like birds, and then cooed like pigeons. The animal noises grew louder, until a bleating lamb joined in, as did a clucking chicken. During a later break, when a man asked after a friend in hopes of meeting up with him later, a woman piped up to ask, “Is anyone single?” Clearly, this was a crowd that was perfectly game to entertain themselves.

They didn't have to do much, of course, given the evening's on-screen offerings. After some opening remarks by Michigan Theater executive director Russ Collins; AAFF Board of Directors president Bruce Baker; and AAFF executive director Donald Harrison, the 48th fest kicked off with a backward glance to the late Chick Strand’s 1966 film poem, “Angel Blue Sweet Wings,” with Aretha Franklin’s “Dr. Feelgood” as its soundtrack. (AAFF programmers cleverly bookended the opening night program with another song-focused short, Laida Lertxundi’s “My Tears are Dry,” featuring the music of Hoagy Land.)

4 of the evening’s 11 films fall into AAFF’s animation category. Joanna Priestley’s hysterical “Missed Aches” explores the disastrous potentials of spell-check programs; Naoyuki Tsuji’s “The Place Where We Were,” drawn with charcoal, hauntingly and fancifully tells the story of a couple that wants a child; Laurie Hill’s inventively fun “Photograph of Jesus” brings archival still images to life while a man talks about getting absurd photo requests for (among others) Jack the Ripper, Jesus, and the Yeti; and Caveh Zahedi’s hilarious “The Unmaking of ‘I Am a Sex Addict’” features the filmmaker telling the story of how his low-budget feature film goes completely awry.

The evening’s two narrative films were among my favorites. “The Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5,” by Spain’s Chema Garcia Ibarra, told the story of a man convinced that the end of the world is near, though he can’t convince his beloved mother and cousin; and “Nous (Us),” by France’s Oliviers Hems, powerfully pairs footage of a happy family’s trip to the beach with a policeman’s tragic Dictaphone report regarding a man who'd been dead in his own home for 16 months before being found.

Documentary lovers got to see Vanessa Renwick’s “Portrait #3: House of Sound,” which ponders a now-empty lot from different angles while we hear, via a radio interview, about a beloved, demolished Portland-based record store. And Ann Arbor’s own Jack Cronin got to watch his black and white experimental doc, “Sleeping Bear” — filmed at the Sleeping Bear Dunes Natural Lakeshore — on the big screen.

Other experimental films included, “De Mouvement,” by Richard Kerr, which spliced together monochromatic film trailers and features; and Kent Lambert’s laugh-out-loud “Fantasy Suite,” which joined slowed-down clips from “The Bachelor” with bizarre vanity products and hot body contest clips from the 1984 remake of “Where the Boys Are.”

Watch “Fantasy Suite”:

After the program, Cronin, Lambert and Lertxundi took the stage to answer questions. Here’s a clip of Lambert’s response to a question about how “Fantasy Suite” came together.

Among the hundreds of opening night attendees was Tamara Real, president of the Arts Alliance. “I think the recent (AAFF) leadership has really made an effort to make those of us who aren’t in the film community feel more welcome, and that this is for us as well,” said Real. “If you’re not into film already, it can seem kind of off-putting, or scary. Experimental film — what is it? But I think they’ve done a great job of reaching out to the community, making people feel this is something for them. … And if you see something you don’t like, that’s OK, because in a couple of minutes, you’ll see something else that you might like.”

AAFF executive director Donald Harrison's opening remarks:

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.