Russ Collins and his crew at the Michigan Theater have big plans. After all they’ve done over the years to restore Ann Arbor’s beautiful art house theater and bring us the best movies in the world, they’re going one big step beyond. This May, they are launching the Cinetopia International Film Festival from May 31-June 3 they’re bringing in over 30 films to be shown over four days.

Zingerman’s and the Michigan Theater have collaborated a lot over the years and I’ve had the pleasure of working with Russ, Drew Waller, Lee Berry, Amanda Bynum and other great folks on their staff. One of the big reasons that Ann Arbor was high on my list of possible places to move 12 years ago was because I was determined to live in a place where I could see small budget movies on a big screen down town. Thanks to the Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor has more movies than I can fit in my schedule. Though Russ will tell you that this year’s festival is a small step, I have no doubt they will exceed their wildest expectations in the coming years. That’s why Zingerman’s signed up to be a sponsor in the first year. When it grows in the festival they envision, we’ll be happy to have been there from the beginning. Their hope is to build a big, vibrant festival that will bring thousands of movies lovers from all around the region to Ann Arbor every year.

This year’s festival features 60 years of 3-D films and 3-D film technology and they will celebrate the work of UM screenwriting grad David Newman (“Bonnie & Clyde,” “What’s Up Doc” and “Superman”) and the silent film comedy of Harold Lloyd featuring a live appearance by Mr. Lloyd’s granddaughter Suzanne (who is curator of the Harold Lloyd Trust). Maybe most exciting for movie junkies, Cinetopia will also gather the best contemporary films now playing the international festival circuit.

Watch the trailer here and sign up for Cinetopia‘s mailing list to get the latest developments and ticket info. Pre-sales begin May 3.

Recently, a new structure appeared in the parking lot behind Zingerman’s Bakehouse. No we didn’t open a new business. In this case, the new structure was a big propane tank and as soon as it was up, there was a steady line of our delivery trucks waiting to fuel up for their runs across Washtenaw County and across lower Michigan. Why propane? Well, why don’t we let Bakehouse founder and co-managing partner Frank Carollo explain.

How did we get here?
I guess it all started a couple of years ago when we got all of the managers and many of the staff at the Bakehouse together to write a Bakehouse Vision for 2020. We all got talking about how the work we do here at the Bakehouse impacts the environment and our world. While having an inspirational vision is a nice thing, what I find amazing is what it helps you accomplish. Suddenly we had all kinds of input about how we could do a better and more effective job of recycling (which we had already been doing for about 10 years). Next we got started separating our compostable waste and found a partner to make good use of it. Then, since we work here 24 hours a day, we decided to look at our electrical usage and see what improvements we could make. So a bit more than a year ago we replaced all of the light fixtures in the Bakehouse with bulbs that consume a fraction of the electricity as well as putting in sensors that shut off the lights when there is no one nearby.

The logical next step was to consider the energy use of our delivery fleet. The Bakehouse delivers our cakes, pastries, and breads throughout much of southeastern Michigan 363 days each year. Our vehicles log approximately 150,000 miles per year making those deliveries. So last spring when I knew that the lease for 3 of our vehicles was coming to term, we acted on the opportunity to try and make a difference in our consumption of fuel and the contributions to greenhouse gasses.

Why propane?
With the help of the Clean Energy Coalition I discovered that liquid propane was a viable option for our fleet. We found that liquid propane is a low-carbon alternative fuel that produces significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions than diesel and gasoline in our vehicle application.

• Propane auto gas exhaust creates 60 to 70 percent less smog-producing hydrocarbons than gasoline.
• Compared to gasoline, propane yields 12 percent less carbon dioxide, about 20 percent less nitrogen oxide, and as much as 60 percent less carbon monoxide (World Liquid Propane Gas Association, January 2003; California Energy Commission, January 2003).
• Propane auto gas cuts emissions of toxins and carcinogens, like benzene and toluene, by up to 96 percent when compared to gasoline (Southwest Research Institute).

With the help of Ferrell Gas, Jake Haas (our landlord), Pittsfield Township, and the DEQ we were able to build a fueling station nearby. The first vehicle in our fleet was delivered in February 2012 and as of March 15th, we’ve had 3 new Ford Econoline trucks on the road running on liquid propane. We are excitedly looking forward to continuing to investigate alternative fuel vehicles as we have a chance to replace another vehicle this December.

It’s easy to get your breads, pastries, cheeses, gelato and coffee at Zingerman’s Southside without hitting the construction on State and Ellsworth. Get on Oak Valley and take it all the way to Ellsworth. Left on Ellsworth and then another left into the Airport Plaza Industrial Park.

Zingerman’s Southside is located at 3711-3723 Plaza Drive, Ann Arbor MI 48108.

The director and writer/star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall reteam for the irreverent comedy The Five-Year Engagement. Beginning where most romantic comedies end, the new film from director Nicholas Stoller, producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Rodney Rothman (Get Him to the Greek) looks at what happens when an engaged couple, Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, keeps getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle. The film was written by Segel and Stoller. www.tomandviolet.com

The movie is set here in Ann Arbor and features cameos of a number of different local landmarks including Zingerman’s! After leaving his prestigious chef job in San Francisco to join Violet in Ann Arbor, Tom is dismayed to find that the best restaurant job he can find is making sandwiches at our very own Deli. He joins forces with self-proclaimed pickle nerd Tarquin but life in Ann Arbor isn’t what he expected. With his life in a downward spiral while Violet continues to succeed, Tom leaves the Deli, almost leaves Violet, and almost loses all hope until he winds up as a baker at Zingerman’s Bakehouse. I won’t give the ending away but it was really, really funny. Seeing so much of downtown Ann Arbor and so many familiar neighborhoods was big fun, especially at full-house premier at the Michigan Theater.

For more on the movie (from an actual movie critic!) check out this in the New York Times.