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[download a compiled 225-page PDF file of clippings from the 2007 Festival] Wisconsin State Journal : Sunday 30 December 2007 Last year, The
State Journal predicted 2007 would be a
pivotal year for the following seven people. Here’s how their years went: IndieWIRE INTERVIEW | ‘WRISTCUTTERS’ Director Goran Dukic IndieWire : Tuesday 16 October 2007 Director Goran Dukic’s comedy Wristcutters revolves
around Zia (Patrick Fugit) who is distraught over breaking up with his girlfriend
and decides to end it all. Unfortunately, he discovers there is no real ending,
only a run-down afterlife that is strikingly similar to his old one, just a bit
worse. Discovering that his ex-girlfriend has also “offed” herself,
he sets out on a road trip, with his Russian rocker friend, to find her. Their
journey takes them through an absurd purgatory where they discover that being
dead doesn’t mean you have to stop living. The Sundance ’06 film
has received several festival nods including the audience award at the Wisconsin
Film Festival and the best director prize at the Seattle International Film Festival
as well as best first time director from the Philadelphia Film Festival. The
film also took best feature from the Gen Art Film Festival. The Capital Times : Friday 24 August 2007 It’s late August, when back-to-school sales are everywhere
and teachers are gearing up for the fall semester. Is Chris Mass, a former high
school geography teacher turned actor and screenwriter, feeling the tug back
to the classroom? “I got to be honest, I’m not,” Mass says in a phone
interview. “There’s things I miss. It’s very structured, which I don’t have
as much of now. Most of it I don’t really miss. The in-service days are what
you usually start out with, and those are just brutal.” Wisconsin Film Festival 2007 lives on: ‘EL TOPO’, ‘CHALK’, and ‘SONG AND SOLITUDE’ Dane101.com : Tuesday 22 May 2007 With the Wisconsin Film Festival a good month and change
behind us it is still generating conversation along the boardwalks of the Internet.
Many of the films that made an appearance at the festival have begun opening
to larger audiences or have been released on DVD. Austin’s collaborative blog
— Austinist — recently interviewed Chalk director Mike Akel
who had some nice words about our festival. Blogging the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Postscript Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 6 May 2007 With three weeks passed since the final reel ended at the
2007 Wisconsin Film
Festival, online coverage of the four day event has as well, with updates,
reviews, and wrap-ups all now committed to the ether. In fact, the dates for
next
year’s fest — its tenth anniversary — have already been selected. The 2008
Wisconsin Film Festival will run from Thursday, Apr. 3 through Sunday, Apr. 6.
Blogging about this year’s festival follows below. Canadian ‘GONE GREEN’ Is Smart, Sweet and Funny Wisconsin State Journal : Thursday 26 April 2007 Call it “Garden Province.” From its offbeat
humor to its likable twentysomething hero, the Canadian Everything’s
Gone Green treads
a lot of the same ground as Zach Braff’s Garden State and a host
of indie comedies that have gone before. But Green (which was a quick
sellout at the Wisconsin Film Festival earlier this month) is a slight but winning
entry in the genre, largely devoid of the melodramatic touches that marked some
of Braff’s film. Like Butta: Wisconsin Fest Tastes a Line-up of Merit IndieWire : Friday 20 April 2007 In searching for the perfect title for the donor’s
fund for the Wisconsin Film Festival, which celebrated its 9th year running last
weekend, festival director Meg Hamel hit upon the idea of “The Real Butter
Fund.” “I
didn’t want to call it the ‘Platinum Fund’ or the ‘VIP Club’ or
anything so exclusive,”
says Hamel. “I figured Wisconsin, dairy. It has to be butter… real butter
represents the deepest, truest essence of what’s good in Wisconsin, and
what’s
good in film.” Hamel,
in her second year as director (and seventh involved in the festival), knows
her audience well; applause met each mention of The Real Butter Fund during the
trailers for all 185 films in the festival’s four-day run. Film Fest Touts Record Crowd, Satisfied Fans The Capital Times : Friday 20 April 2007 The ninth annual Wisconsin Film Festival drew in a record
attendance of 28,700, according to final ticket tallies released Thursday. The
four-day festival exceeded last year’s tally of 26,000, taking over 10 theaters
in downtown Madison last weekend with a mix of independent, foreign and classic
films. Festival director Meg Hamel said she doesn’t consider the raw attendance
figures to necessarily be a benchmark for the festival’s success. She said she
puts more weight on the quality of the audience’s experience at the festival. “What
I’m happy about isn’t some raw number, that it’s more than last year,” she
said. “It wouldn’t have failed if 24,000 had came to the festival. What
I’m excited about is how much people talked about the movies during the festival,
how many comments I got from people who were really enjoying it, how many people
came to the festival for the first time. How much I think a lot of these films
will linger in the audience’s minds.” Renting the 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival Dane101.com : Wednesday 18 April 2007 Dane101 spent the last week compiling this list of Wisconsin Film Festival films. The goal of this list is to help you catch the movies you may have wanted to see but just couldn’t make. Wisconsin Film Fest 2007: That’s a Wrap! Dane101.com : Wednesday 18 April 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest 2007 is a wrap now that festival director
Meg Hamel has released the award winners and final ticket totals. According to
Hamel attendance was up this year with 28,700 attendees. That’s a good sign for
next year when the festival celebrates it’s 10th anniversary and potentially
has even more screens to work with if the Sundance Theatre gets involved. Although,
Hamel did express on Sunday that she was happy that the festival went so well
and that it was “all within walking distance.” Wisconsin Film Festival Announces 2007 Audience Awards Isthmus Daily Page : Wednesday 18 April 2007 Film fest organizers announced the winners of its two audience
awards on
Wednesday afternoon. The offbeat love story Wristcutters won the Wisconsin
Film Festival Audience Award for Best Narrative Film, and the Ugandan story of
hope told in War/Dance won the Wisconsin Film Festival Audience Award for
Best Documentary Film. Wisconsin Film Festival Attendance Up in 2007 Isthmus Daily Page : Wednesday 18 April 2007 Organizers of the Wisconsin Film Festival announced Wednesday
that
attendance at the ninth annual event was 28,700. The count is based upon
ticket stubs collected and passes counted at all theater entrances over the
four-day event. It is also an increase of nearly 3,000 tickets over the 2006
edition of the festival, when official attendance was around 26,000.
Both numbers continue a trend of steadily increasing attendance at the festival
since the beginning of the decade. Wisconsin Film Festival Delivers Exceptional Films » 28,700 Attend 2007 Festival Channel3000.com (CBS) : Wednesday 18 April 2007 The ever-growing Wisconsin Film Festival had another record-breaking
year.With a total attendance of 28,700, this year’s festival shattered the previous
attendance record of 26,000 tickets in 2006.The first film I saw at the 2007
Wisconsin Film Festival, a 10:45 p.m. showing of the documentary Air
Guitar Nation on the first day of the four-day event, set a high bar for quality.
Happily, the several other films I was able to catch over the weekend also mostly
met or exceeded my already-high expectations. WisFilmFest2007: Sean on ‘THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE’ Dane101.com : Tuesday 17 April 2007 To what extent is The Spirit of the Beehive a
precursor to Pan’s Labyrinth? A girl in 1940s Spain gets caught up in
escapist fantasies which only intensify as she is subjected to cruelty, and,
galvanized by the death of an anti-fascist rebel, she flees from her father figure
(and ineffectual mother) in pursuit of fantasies that she is sure are real. They’re
different in that Pan’s Labyrinth is more interested in exploring fantasy
as a response to fascism, where The Spirit of the Beehive is more interested
in the experience of childhood, and it studies this marvelously. Schabow Wraps the Wisconsin Film Festival and His Taxes Dane101.com : Tuesday 17 April 2007 I woke up Sunday with good intentions, doing my taxes in
the morning and heading out for a full day of festival fun afterwards. Since
I had not seen any of the shorts yet, I knew I wanted to go to ShortTimes
Ten. Uncharacteristically of me, I slept in and woke up later than expected.
I had a choice to make. It was either do my taxes or go see the shorts. I foolishly
thought to myself, “I will still have time today. It will only take me an
hour to do my taxes.” Volunteers, Director Fuel Film Fest Badger Herald : Tuesday 17 April 2007 One hundred and eighty-three films were shown on 10 screens
in four days throughout downtown Madison this
weekend for the ninth Wisconsin Film Festival. The showings ranged from a 64-minute
collection of 13 shorts done
by Wisconsin students to full-length films, which included everything from a
documentary about air guitar
competitions to surrealist, symbolism-laden spaghetti Westerns.
University of Wisconsin alumna Meg Hamel is the director and sole film festival
employee hired by the UW Arts
Institute. The festival relies heavily on the generosity of others through university
grants for funding, sponsorships
from local businesses and hundreds of volunteers who devote their time during
the festival to take tickets and
introduce films. Popcorn & A Movie With Adam » Wisconsin Film Fest Review WOLX radio : Monday 16 April 2007 Another great year is behind us and I’m already looking
forward to next Threading the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Sunday Projections Dane101.com : Monday 16 April 2007 Here is the Sunday list of reviews collected from around
the Internet. We will update this throughout the day as more Sunday film reviews
pop up, but be sure to check back tomorrow morning as we compile all of the film
reviews from around the Internet in one easy to navigate entry as well as provide
you with a list of wide release or DVD release dates for many of the films at
the festival so you can create your own Wisconsin Film Festival 2007 at home. WisFilmFest2007: British Television Advertising Awards Dane101.com : Monday 16 April 2007 The British Television Advertising Awards was one of the
most highly anticipated tickets in my pack of 12 this Wisconsin Film Festival
weekend. While I have issues with the concept of advertising I do enjoy a well
done commercial that can tug at my heart strings or tap on my funny bone. WisFilmFest2007: Schabow on ‘LINDA LINDA LINDA’ Dane101.com : Monday 16 April 2007 As a musician and pop lover, I knew I would find Linda,
Linda, Linda (a Japanese film about 4 schoolgirls who start a rock‘n’roll
band) at the very least, interesting, but to be honest, my expectations were
optimistically higher than that. After all, the synopsis of the movie read to
me like Shakespeare: “Where for art thou rock and/or roll and where for
art thou girls dressed in thus school-uniforms performing thus afternoon spring
pop?” I’m happy to say that Linda, Linda, Linda is exactly what
I thought it would be which is actually a good thing this time. WisFilmFest2007: Dean on ‘ZIDANE: A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT’ Dane101.com : Monday 16 April 2007 Zinédine Zidane gained national exposure outside
the sports world for his headbutt to Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final.
However, soccer fans worldwide know Zidane as one of the best in the game. “Zidane:
A 21st Century Portrait” is a documentary about one game in Zidane’s
extraordinary career. 17 cameras focus exclusively Zidane from to opening whistle
until he leaves the field as his Real Madrid squad plays Villareal on April 23, 2005. Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 With four days of frenetic film viewing drawing rapidly
to a close Sunday
evening, I couldn’t have guessed upon entering Monona Terrace to see short.times.six that
it would be one of my favorite screenings of the weekend. Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 I didn’t want to be inside a dark, humid movie theater
on Sunday afternoon
when Poison Friends (Les Amitiés Maléfiques) began and
I didn’t start feeling
better about my decision as a familiar character from my own life showed up on
the screen. ‘EL TOPO’ at the 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival » The Bizarre Epic Screened Sunday at Cinematheque Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 By Sunday afternoon of the Wisconsin Film Festival, you
can often tell who the
truly die-hard cinephiles are.
Probably the best place to find them this year was at 4070 Vilas Hall, as the
fest
closed down with an encore double-feature of two films shown earlier in the
weekend — Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo and The
Holy Mountain. Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon, while waiting in line
to see Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, that I encountered maybe the
worst aspect of the film fest: The know-it-all. Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 “It’s important that I produced this film to be really
accessible to educators, parents and teens, that it does not exploit the behavior,” says
Madison musician, filmmaker, and arts advocate Wendy Schneider about Cut,
her documentary about teens who engage in self-injury. Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 Upraised middle fingers abound in Diggers, a 2006
release about struggling
Long Island clam harvesters. Like the phrase it represents, the salute has a
variety of meanings in the film. Most are more benign than you might think,
involving gradations of respect not always associated with one’s middle digit. Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 Opening to the strains of “Ashokan Farewell” on
a solo violin and a quote from
Howard Zinn, Long Shadows travels through 65 years of war to introduce
veterans of the United States Armed Forces who have since turned to working
for peace. Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 Advertising is fun, and it pays the bills! If something
popped up in your browser
when you clicked on this, I hope you gave it a chance. WFF imported the British
Television Advertising Awards, a series of “witty, inventive, impeccable
little
films” from their sold-out run at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Between
this and Sportsfan, who knew Minnesota had so much to offer? Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 16 April 2007 One of the pleasures of attending WFF films is the chance
to be an armchair
traveler. So far I’ve been to Paris, Russia, Poland, Niger, the Amazon jungle,
China, Bangladesh and the steppes of Mongolia.
My latest virtual trip took me to Cape Town, where I was part of the small but
enthusiastic and multicultural audience attending U-Carmen
eKhayelitsha. Festivals Keep Wisconsin Filmmaking Alive UW–Oshkosh Advance-Titan : Monday 16 April 2007 In the March 29 issue of the Advance-Titan, the lack of
opportunities for filmmakers in Wisconsin was examined. Without government support,
many filmmakers have trouble making a living in Wisconsin. Although the problem
is being alleviated through a tax break that will be implemented in the fall
of 2008, filmmakers still need a way to get their art out to the masses. How
do they do it? Film festivals. Despite the stereotypical images conjured up by
independent film screenings, festivals like the Wisconsin Film Festivals, Wildwood
and the Central Wisconsin Film Festival, among many others, show a plethora of
narrative, experimental and animated films. Badger Herald : Monday 16 April 2007 Hundreds of students and teachers representing eight Wisconsin
high schools flocked to the Orpheum Theatre Friday afternoon for the fourth annual
World Cinema Day. World Cinema Day is a high school outreach program designed
by the University of Wisconsin Language and Art Institutes, with support from
the Global Film Initiative and the Wisconsin Film Festival. The event aims at
promoting the understanding of world cultures through foreign cinema. This year,
the UW Language Institute selected the Indonesian film Of
Love and Eggs out of
a possible nine international films being offered by the Global Lens Series of
the Global Film Initiative. Film Festival Headed For A Record Wisconsin State Journal : Monday 16 April 2007 Good weather can be a
bad for film fests. Fortunately, the weekend warm-up didn’t lead to a dud of
a festival. A record attendance for the 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival was nearly
assured by advance ticket sales alone. According to film festival director Meg
Hamel, advance sales were around 28,500 and walk-up attendance through the first
three days appeared to have been strong. Thursday’s faux documentary “Chalk” and
the Saturday screening of the British horror film “Severance” led the
pack. From Director’s Chair, Film Fest’s a Success The Capital Times : Monday 16 April 2007 The equipment is still being packed and the tickets still
being counted, but Wisconsin Film Festival director Meg Hamel is confident that
festival attendance hit record levels this past weekend. Hamel, in her first
full year as permanent festival director, seemed ecstatic with how things went
at the ninth annual festival, which brought 182 foreign, classic and independent
films to 10 downtown and campus venues. Last year, a record 26,000 advance tickets
were sold. The biggest screening was the Thursday night sold-out showing of the
mockumentary Chalk, which drew about 1,200 people to the Wisconsin
Union Theater. Other films that drew big houses were the Hal Hartley comedy Fay
Grim, which brought about 950 people to the Orpheum, and Ten
Canoes, a
wry movie about Australian aborigines, which drew 900. The Capital Times : Monday 16 April 2007 Here’s a few vignettes from a weekend spent at the movies.
For a complete recap of four full days of festival-going, visit The
Capital Times’ festival blog. sugarshockblog.com : Sunday 15 April 2007 It certainly sounds like we’ll be definitely hearing a
lot more about this new offbeat feature documentary, King
Corn, about
two Bostonians-turned-neophyte-farmers, who grow an acre of corn destined to
become high fructose corn syrup or feed for cattle being fattened up for slaughter. Caught Up in the Wisconsin Film Festival Letters in Bottles : Sunday 15 April 2007 Gypsy music, a rush line for polka, and a Hurricane Katrina
party gone awry. What more could you ask for? Yesterday was a great day to jump
into the Wisconsin Film Festival for the first time. A crew of us kicked things
off in the afternoon when a regular LIB reader procured free tickets for Gypsy
Caravan at the MMOCA. I ended up next to the Isthmus reviewer who wrote the linked
review and thoroughly enjoyed the exposure to the story of the Roma people. Day 4: The 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival KilltheSnark.com : Sunday 15 April 2007 Almost (though not quite) a work of magical realism, Madeinusa is
a film that’s bound to win over more admiration than outright love, if only because
it intentionally distances the viewers from its characters. Set in a fictional
village in the mountains of Peru, and told equally through the eyes of the mayor’s
virginal daughter, Madeinusa, and the drifter Salvador who wanders into town,
it divides its time — and its heart — between the insider and the
outsider. Day 3, Part 2: The 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival KilltheSnark.com : Sunday 15 April 2007 [All the Days Before Tomorrow] Scholarly, introverted
Wes (Joey Kern) has a friendship with polar opposite Alison (Alexandra Holden)
which borders on the intimate, but never crosses the line. On a trip to Utah,
which is told in extended flashbacks in this film’s jigsaw-puzzle structure,
they approach that line just about as closely as they can, testing the boundary
with their tacit mutual attraction. Threading the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Saturday Projections Dane101.com : Sunday 15 April 2007 Lunch and then back on the film circuit. But first, here
is a round up of reviews from around the Internet concerning Saturday’s films.
As with the Thursday and Friday projections this will be updated as more reviews
pop up and then on Monday we will have the finale listing from all four days.
For those of you following our threads and who read my complaints about embargoes
yesterday, Kristian Knutsen gives some insight on The Daily Page as to why studios
choose to set embargoes and how the film festival thinks the media should approach
such embargoes. WisFilmFest2007: Russell on ‘TIM’S ISLAND’ Dane101.com : Sunday 15 April 2007 I went into Tim’s Island thinking I was going to be put
off by the group of friends who ended up stranded and surrounded by water in
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When faced with a category four storm baring
down on their city and doom and gloom in the news, they chose not to take the
path of evacuation and instead chose to wait it out. I thought I would find it
hard to sympathize with individuals who could leave, but chose not to. WisFilmFest2007: Russell on ‘RED ROAD’ Dane101.com : Sunday 15 April 2007 Unless one of the four films I’m slated to see today blows
me away, Red Road will end the festival as my favorite film of the weekend.
I’m almost tempted to scrap my 7:30 p.m. and catch it again today at 7:15 at
the Stage Door — but that would be wasteful and from what I hear The
Boss of It All may be the film to unseat Red Road. WisFilmFest2007: Schabow on ‘FAY GRIM’ Dane101.com : Sunday 15 April 2007 In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about my love and
attraction for funny women and named a few in the process. But shame on me -
what was I thinking? How could I forget to mention Parker Posey? Well, after
seeing Fay Grim Friday night, I will never make that mistake again. I was reminded
how Posey is a true comic artist that has the ability to be completely zany,
yet completely believable as a real person stuck in the middle of a shitstorm
of devilment. This was the lead role I was waiting for her to do and she pulls
it off splendidly. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 It wasn’t immediately noticeable how loud the sound was
turned up at the Bartell Theatre late Saturday night until it briefly flickered
out a couple of times. But given that the film on the screen was Punk’s Not
Dead, the volume was perfectly appropriate. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 Saturday was a day of fleeting film for me, the Wisconsin
Student Short Films screening in the evening the third collection of quick hits
that I viewed over the course of about six hours. This set of films mostly featured
the creations of students of Wisconsin colleges and universities along with a
couple of state residents going to school beyond its borders. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 For seven years starting in 1996, every Wednesday evening
the downtown tavern Ken’s Bar hosted a bluegrass hootenanny performed by a group
whose members, by their own admission, didn’t know the first thing about playing
bluegrass. At least not at first. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 You’ll laugh. You’ll cringe. You’ll groan and squirm in
your seat. Written and directed by Christopher Smith, Severance is one
of the funniest scary movies in memory. The pitch-perfect ensemble cast is exquisite
as a busload of defense contractors out for a team-building retreat at a remote
lodge in eastern Europe. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 When the credits finished rolling, spectators at the Wisconsin
Film Festival’s Saturday night screening of It’s Happiness: A Polka Documentary might
have thought the polka dancing was over. But during the question-and-answer session
that followed, someone in the audience at the Wisconsin Historical Society had
the temerity to ask the young director Craig DiBiase: “Do you polka?” In
his yellow It’s Happiness T-shirt, he grinned incredulously and paused
several moments. “Of course we do,” he said. “Let see it!” someone
yelled. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 “We are trying to show animation that people wouldn’t
necessarily associate with the word,” explains Jim Kreul, a co-founder of
the Wisconsin film fest and one of programmers of Jim & Joe’s Animated
Shorts. It is the first year for this animation series that screened on
Saturday afternoon in front of a capacity room at Cinematheque. Created by Jim
Kreul and Joe Beres (who works with the film and video program at the Walker
Art Center in Minneapolis), their self-titled series consisted of 11 animated
films running from three to seventeen minutes in length. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 Deeeee-lishus. I savored Fay Grim throughout its
screening on Friday night amidst a large and enthusiastic audience at the Orpheum
Theatre. Writer-director Hal Hartley’s 2006 sequel to Henry Fool is
an escalating series of exaggerated implausibilities that prove as irresistible
as Parker Posey’s turn in the title role. Like the rest of the cast, she counters
the implausibles with an over-the-top, wink-wink deadpan tone that sucks in viewers
who are able to suspend their disbelief and surrender to this wild ride of a
comic espionage thriller. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 “Now they’re still learning,” a northern Indian
man told to the camera in the opening scene of the documentary Gypsy Caravan.
It panned to show a group of smiley young boys, awkwardly holding instruments.
Without so much as counting off, the group effortlessly creates a beautiful sound.
The first chills of the film quickly followed. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 Without a doubt, the centerpiece of the short.times.twelve
screening on early Saturday afternoon was the world premiere of Walk Into
Hell/Purgatorio, a 15-minute double feature created by Madison artist Dal
Lazlo and his collaborator Charles Johannsen. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 The sunny weather did not deter folks from catching Wristcutters:
A Love Story at the Orpheum Stage Door. It was so dark inside the crammed
space, finding a seat was nearly impossible. Carefulness was even needed in the
balcony — that lumpy thing you sat on had a 50/50 chance of being a seat
or a small person. The film was so good, however, even those who had to kneel
stayed until the credits. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 Upon learning that the Douglas Coupland-penned movie Everything’s
Gone Green would be screening at this year’s film fest, I knew that I had
to see it. Alas, this was not to be. The early Saturday afternoon screening in
the lecture hall of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art unfortunately overlapped
with a couple of others on my must-see list. The film is still worth discussing,
though, as it helps illuminate a couple of the challenges of programming the
Wisconsin Film Festival. Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 “I’m running around to introduce films and lead question
and answer sessions,” says Tom Yoshikami when asked how his festival is
going. A programmer and assistant with the Wisconsin Film Festival, the UW grad
student is finishing his third year as programmer for Cinematheque and is embarking
upon his second summer of organizing a four week experimental film series on
the rooftop garden of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Blogging the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Act Three Isthmus Daily Page : Sunday 15 April 2007 Fin. Though the last reels have rolled at this year’s Wisconsin
Film Festival,
more reviews and reports about the four-day event continue to make their way
online. Day 3, Part 1: The 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival KilltheSnark.com : Saturday 14 April 2007 [Son of Man] Set in “Judea, Afrika,” this
exhilarating film squeezes the life of Jesus into one 90-minute film set in a
contemporary African landscape. The screenplay pretty much sticks to the source
material, to the point of often using King James poetry, but what transports
the film into a higher sphere is the clever way it tells its overly-familiar
story. Day 2: The 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival KilltheSnark.com : Saturday 14 April 2007 Friday night’s 7pm screening of the Mel Brooks comedy classic Young
Frankenstein was the first WFF event held in the Capitol Theatre (formerly
the more dignified-sounding Oscar Meyer Theatre), as WFF director Meg Hamel noted
in her introduction. She also noted that there were plenty of children in the
audience, and was encouraged that there were parents willing to show their kids
the wide scope of what cinema has to offer. Then Threading the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Friday Projections Dane101.com : Saturday 14 April 2007 Phew…a brief window of no film. Over the past 24
hours I have traveled from Turkey (Fay Grim) to New Orleans (Tim’s
Island)
to the Island of Macau (Exiled) to Vancouver (Everything’s Gone
Green) and finally Finland (The Lights of Dusk). Dane101 will have
reviews of all of the films above and more once we have some free time to write. WisFilmFest2007: Schabow on ‘WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY’ Dane101.com : Saturday 14 April 2007 It’s 1:30 a.m. and I should be in bed right now. After
all, my plan was to get a good night’s sleep and be well rested when I write
my movie reviews. But after seeing a movie like Wristcutters:
A Love Story, I
realized that there is no getting sleep for me tonight. It’s just one of those
movies you can’t help but immediately talk about afterwards — or in my case tonight,
write about afterwards. Images and Anecdotes from the Leslie and the Lys Wisconsin Film Fest party Dane101.com : Saturday 14 April 2007 The Wisconsin Film Festival tried something new this year.
In past years they hosted an opening night VIP gala featuring some top notch
local acts. This year they changed it up hosting two parties at Cafe Montmartre
on Friday and Saturday. It is a nice change of pace and hopefully a precursor
to the potential for parties every night next year. One thing I felt the fest
lacked in the past was opportunities for film fans to mingle outside of standing
in line (for example, today’s unique mingling opportunity at Steep and Brew on
State Street from 3 to 5 p.m. when you can flex your film trivia knowledge by
playing Cineplexity). Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 It’s important to understand that Leslie Hall, School of
the Museum of Fine Arts
graduate and Ames, Iowa native, is brilliant. The gem sweater proponent is the
most brilliant regionalist, perhaps, since fellow Iowan Grant Wood.
Not only can she really sing, but she is also fiercely at the top of her game.
And
the name of her game is performance art of the zaftig, gold-pantsed kind. Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 “Good evening Vikings fans,” began film fest
programmer Tom Yoshikami as
he introduced Sportsfan, quickly receiving scattered cheers and a few more
hoots from the late night audience sitting before him. This documentary about
those blonde-braided, horn-helmeted and purple-painted fanatics from the land
of ice and snow was one of the final movies to be screened Friday. Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 The pinball machines in The Plaza Tavern on Henry Street
don’t take care of
themselves, nor have they always been there.
The vitality of this form of interactive mechanical entertainment ebbs and flows
like all diversions of generations past, sustained by a small, committed group
of enthusiasts. This community is the focus
of Ball Saved, a short documentary by Chicago-based student filmmaker Ben Olson,
one that introduces viewers to
pinball preservation. Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 Tim’s Island could be described as one the most important
movies that was
never supposed to be made.
A documentary about surviving Hurricane Katrina, it follows the lives of 16
people, 7 dogs and 8 cats as they take shelter at Tim’s house. A mutual friend
to each and every one of them, and are trapped there because of the storm for
seven days. Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 Kicking off with a barbershop-style Christmas carol performed by a group of matrons in central Florida, When Pigs Fly gets right down to business. Life in a swine sanctuary, as created by an animal-loving woman in a wheelchair, is the story told by producers/directors Eric Breitenbach and Phyllis Redman. Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 War is hell, and as ably documented in The
Rape of Europa,
it can be
particularly hard on art.
Playing to a packed, at times sniffling crowd (myself among the weepiest) at
the
Bartell, the movie documents the plunder and destruction of art — Klimts,
DaVincis, Vermeers, Rembrandts — during the Third Reich. Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 The crowd at the screening of the award-winning documentary
The Hip Hop
Project at the Cinematheque Friday night was not unusual for the weekend, a
packed house and a line out the door. The mostly older and white audience
was certainly unusual, though, for anything in Madison related to hip hop. Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 Described by the festival as a series of vignettes set
in the wilting glamour of an
old resort town on the English Channel, The Cost of Living is also a
meditation on motion.
This 2004 film from the U.K. is one of eight films programmed in the
Film·ABLE series at the festival, one that seeks to highlight
creations that
escape from conventions (victim, hero, and redemptive catalyst) found in movies
made about persons with disabilities.
The Cost of Living amply escapes these clichés, not to mention
other basic elements of your typical flick. ‘KING CORN’ at the 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival » The Secret History of a Ubiquitous Grain Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 A long, warm ovation greeted the filmmaker Aaron Woolf
Friday night after the
Bartell Theatre screening of his documentary King Corn. He looked relieved
amid the applause. It was, he said, the first heartland screening of his film
about the heartland, and he was nervous about the reaction.
He needn’t have been. King Corn is penetrating and graceful, an uproariously
funny and unexpectedly moving look at America’s food supply, and especially at
the massive corn-farming operations
that have come to dominate the placid landscapes of the American Midwest. Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 It was unfortunate that I arrived late for the double documentary
screening of
Everybody Promenade and It’s in the Blood. Though missing the entirety of the
first offering (an introduction to square dancing tractors), I was able to catch
more of the latter, directed by Eric Scholl and Cyndi Moran. Blogging the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Act Two Isthmus Daily Page : Saturday 14 April 2007 The ninth annual edition of the Wisconsin Film Festival
is already three-quarters complete, but the online reviews, discussions, and
storytelling about Madison’s celebration of cinema is only beginning. Blogging
about the second day of the festival follows below. Would You Believe Corn As Villain? » Documentary Leads Film Fest The Capital Times : Saturday 14 April 2007 It’s a cheery shade of bright yellow, goes great with melted
butter, and if you pop the kernels it makes the perfect movie-going snack. Can
corn really be such a villain? The documentary King Corn, which was
screened Friday as part of the second day of the Wisconsin Film Festival, makes
an offbeat but powerful case that the glut of high-production, low-quality corn
is wreaking havoc on America’s diet and its environment. It made for a somewhat
fitting film to show so close to Earth Day, except that while most people consider
Earth Day a time to think about what humans are doing to the planet, King
Corn looks at what we’re harvesting from it. If that sounds like a dry
and didactic subject, filmmakers Aaron Woolf, Curtis Ellis and Ian Cheney, who
at tended the screening at the Bartell Theater and conducted a post-show question-and-answer
session, actually made a wryly funny and fascinating documentary. Wisconsin Film Festival: ‘KILLER OF SHEEP’ Fearful Symmetries : Friday 13 April 2007 Immediately after work yesterday I headed downtown to begin
the Wisconsin Film Festival. Things got off to a nostalgic start as I found myself
in room 4070 of Vilas Hall where I’d spent many an hour in Comm Arts classes
as a student at the UW. It got even more nostalgic when Jim Kreul, a former TA
and co-founder of the festival, got up on stage to greet us and introduce the
film we were to see. Kreul’s sartorial sense has shifted since the mid-90s and
he was clad in dress shirt, jacket, and slacks — a far cry from his jeans/grey
hoodie days. Jim, leave the professorial get-up in North Carolina and bring back
the hoodie! Day 1: The 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival KilltheSnark.com : Friday 13 April 2007 I’m seeing more movies at
the Wisconsin Film Festival
this year than in any
previous year, but it was
only today that I realized I’m
seeing a curious amount of
films from the 1970’s. Most
people go to film festivals to
see new films, but I always
end up gravitating toward
the revivals. Some of my
fondest WFF memories over
the last couple of years
involve revivals — A Hard
Day’s Night with a Roger Ebert-hosted discussion afterward, Au
Hasard Balthazar,
and even
Giant Spider Invasion! Threading the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Thursday Projections Dane101.com : Friday 13 April 2007 With Thursday under our belt and festival-goers packing
up to hit the Friday slate of film fare, Dane101 has put together this directory
of reviews from around the web. We will update this if more Thursday reviews
come up and then of course put a Wisconsin Film Fest “Finale” entry
up on Monday afternoon. We are also compiling a list of release dates for movies
that are showing so in case you miss a movie during film fest you can catch it
on wide release or DVD. We will also pop that up on Monday. Wisconsin Film Fest In-Focus: Part One Dane101.com : Friday 13 April 2007 In addition to a number of writers out capturing the spirit
and films of the Wisconsin Film Festival, Dane101 also has photographers and
a videographer out capturing the visual aspects. Wis. Film Fest 07: Dean on ‘CHALK’ Dane101.com : Friday 13 April 2007 What do you get when two high school teachers get together
and make a movie about the “front lines” of teaching? The answer
is Chalk, the mocumentary that kicked off the Wisconsin Film Festival
Thursday. Stating that 50 percent of teachers quit within their first three years,
the film follows three teachers and an assistant principal through a year at
Harrison High. WisFilmFest2007: Schabow on ‘HEART OF AN EMPIRE’ Dane101.com : Friday 13 April 2007 The second movie I saw last night at the Wisconsin Film
Festival was Heart of an Empire, a documentary about The Fighting
501st, a group of fanatic Star Wars lovers (the movie, not the missile defense
system) which nerdishly dresses up in Storm Trooper outfits to spread good deeds
around the world. WisFilmFest2007: Schabow on ‘CHALK’ Dane101.com : Friday 13 April 2007 My Dad used to tell me as a kid not to “bite off more
than you can chew.” Of course, I took that advice as an excuse to ignore
my studies when growing up. Now that I am older and slightly wiser, I find myself
striving against that concept my father warned me of. I love being busy and I
love when my hands are in too many different cookie jars. I was reminded of that
simple thought about myself last night when juggling watching movies from the
film festival, playing a show with my band The Shabelles at the Dane101 birthday
party (cheap plug) and rushing home to get this article completed on time for
the editor before heading to my day job. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 The crowd that filled nearly every seat in the Orpheum
Stage Door for its final
screening on the first night of the festival was young and boisterous, eager
to
see one of the most-fun-looking films of the weekend. This was Air
Guitar Nation, a hilarious documentary following the journeys of two Americans
bringing their imaginary axes to the world stage. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 Perhaps it was the late hour or perhaps the line for Radio
On was actually that
confusing.
The queue sparked endless debates about beginnings, middles, and ends, but
listening to the confusion was rather joyous — for the first time in Madison
outside of an ethnic restaurant, I heard multiple international accents. Equally
interesting was how many people exited
the previous film and jumped into the mix to see Radio On. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 The Orpheum was awash in film fest activity well into Thursday
night, as a line
stretched around the block for the late-night Hungarian animated feature The
District! Luckily, the movie was more amusing than the one-liners sent off by
people waiting in the cold, but that wasn’t hard to do. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 It was like any Wisconsin Film Festival screening. Except
that in the lobby of
the Wisconsin Union Theater, guys in white plastic body armor were milling
about. At least I assume they were guys.
Their costumes, impressive reproductions of the Star Wars films’ stormtrooper
uniforms, entirely covered their bodies and faces. So it was sort of hard to tell. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 Family Law is the kind of movie that regular patrons of
the Wisconsin Film Festival have come to rely on year after year. A foreign-language
film with subtitles, it simultaneously allows the cultural elites to feel slightly
smug in viewing it, while those who are predisposed to dread these kinds of events
will think, “that wasn’t too bad.” Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 At the Orpheum Theater last night, a big audience sat
rapt throughout the perverse, unconscionable and terrible beauty of Manufactured
Landscapes. Opening with one of the longest tracking shots this side of Russian
Ark or Touch of Evil, Jennifer Baichwal’s award-winning 2006 documentary shows
us the damage our species does to the natural landscape and forces viewers to
confront our own culpability in this despoilment. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 “Alright, who is a teacher?” director Mike Akel
asked before the screening of Chalk, an eagerly anticipated opening film on Thursday
night. “Raise ’em high…” Hundreds of moviegoers in the packed
Wisconsin Union Theater quickly raised their hands. The teacher-filled crowd
did not prove hard to win over; from the very first shot, the crowd erupted in
laughter that hinted at relief as if, finally, someone understood. Apparently
the foibles of paper cutters and tensions in the teachers’ lounge translate well
on screen. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 This year’s Wisconsin Film Festival, held weeks later than
it has been in the past, still feels pretty much the same. Maybe that has to
do with the slushy streets and freezing temperatures endured by patrons as they
hurry up and down State St. to get in line for their next screening. Inside the
Orpheum’s Stage Door, just prior to the 6:15 p.m. showing of Toots, festival
director Meg Hamel greets those already in their seats by asking for a show of
hands from those who will see eight or more films over the weekend. “The
rest of you,” she admonishes, “we need to talk.” Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 Air Guitar Nation, which screened late on the
opening night of the Wisconsin
Film Festival, was without a doubt tremendously entertaining. It will be tough
to
beat this weekend in terms of laughs.
The most interesting element in this documentary about the tongue-in-cheek
performance art is one of its Wisconsin connections, though. Namely, the air
guitar competitor who finished second at the L.A. competition to eventual 2003
world champion “C-Diddy” had his own cheering section at the Orpheum
Stage
Door. A Busy Orpheum on Opening Night at the Fest » View Photos from the Central Cinema Hub Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 As evening deepens into night on Thursday, the Orpheum
Theater is hopping with the comings and goings for the opening night of the Wisconsin
Film Festival. The pair of theaters in the faded movie palace serves as the central
hub for the fest every year, with lines forming at multiple points: outside the
main entrance on State Street, outside the Stage Door entrance on Johnson Street,
at the main box office, at the bar, and at the entrance to the main theater. Blogging the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Act One Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 Now that the first night of this year’s Wisconsin
Film Festival has come and
gone, more than a few persons attending the annual celebration of cinema in
Madison are sharing their experiences online. Blogging the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Prologue Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 The Wisconsin Film Festival is one of those events in Madison
that attracts
online attention like little else in town. Every year during the two weeks that
bookend the event, there is a flurry of previews, reviews, reports and photos
from many of the movies that screen at the fest. The 2007 edition is no
different. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 13 April 2007 Four Star Video Heaven played host to a special live radio
broadcast of two WORT programs early Friday afternoon, in which filmmakers featured
in the Wisconsin Film Festival stopped by to chat about their works. The center
portion of the video institution located just of State Street was cleared of
its used-DVD and t-shirt racks to make way for the impromptu studio. A Feast Of Film » Ninth Annual Festival’s Off To A Roaring Start The Capital Times : Friday 13 April 2007 Wouldn’t it be great if fans dressed up for the indie
and foreign films at the Wisconsin Film Festival the way the way “Star
Wars” fans dressed up? Guys with shaved heads and long robes would wait
in line for the austere monk documentary “Into Great Silence,” or
wear dirty hip waders for the clam diggers comedy-drama “Diggers,” or
soccer uniforms for “Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.” It won’t
happen, most likely, and the only people to come out in costume at this year’s
festival were, of course, “Star Wars” fans. There was a Darth Vader
and about a half-dozen Stormtroopers in the audience Thursday night at the Wisconsin
Union Theater for “Heart of an Empire,” a moving documentary about
some big-hearted fans. But just because the audience wears street clothes doesn’t
mean their ardor for the festival, which puts 182 films in 10 downtown venues
through Sunday, is any less fierce. Now in its ninth year, the festival has quickly
grown into a destination event for film fans looking for foreign films, independent
dramas, shorts and restored classics that rarely if ever see the inside of a
cineplex. The Capital Times : Friday 13 April 2007 Some movie lovers may just now be thinking about maybe
seeing a movie or two this weekend at the ninth annual Wisconsin Film Festival,
which is taking over 10 downtown venues this weekend. But they may be discouraged
that they’ve missed the boat because they didn’t snap up any advance tickets.
Don’t fret. Tickets are plentiful at the door at the largest venues, including
the Orpheum Theatre and Capitol Theater. And the smaller venues will have tickets
available for walk-up business, even for the hottest films that sold out their
advance tickets, as audience members who bought those tickets a month ago opt
at the last minute to go see something else. Really, it’s just as easy to go
see something great at the festival this weekend as it is to go see Wild
Hogs at the multiplex. Threading the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest: Part One Dane101.com : Thursday 12 April 2007 With the Sun breaking through the clouds here in Madison
I’m reminded of Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King. The Wisconsin Film Festival
is opening in Madison tonight, like Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges lying out
naked in Central Park “cloud busting.” After days of cold and cloud,
spring weather has arrived to share this annual event with us. Let’s see what
the internet is saying before we head out… Ready Steady for the 2007 Wisconsin Film Fest » View Photos of the Final Preparations Isthmus Daily Page : Thursday 12 April 2007 State Street is soggy and fairly quiet Thursday afternoon,
except for the patter of snowmelt dripping from awnings along with some would-be
students in town to tour the UW. Though the final preparations for this year’s
Wisconsin Film Festival are not evident, they are certainly under way. Isthmus Daily Page : Thursday 12 April 2007 It was clear from the outset that The
Spirit of the Beehive was one of the most eagerly anticipated films programmed
for this year’s Wisconsin film fest. For one, the initial round of tickets for
the screening of this Spanish film from the ’70s sold out almost immediately
last month. More visibly this evening, the number of people looking to attend
the screening via will-call tix was tremendous, festival volunteers working assiduously
to make sure every last seat in Cinematheque at the UW’s Vilas Hall was filled
with an eager cinephile. Isthmus Daily Page : Thursday 12 April 2007 I found it easy to understand why Charles Burnett’s Killer
of Sheep was among the first 100 films named to the United States National
Film Registry after seeing it at Cinematheque this evening. The preservation
organization operated by the Library of Congress selected this 1977 film directed
by Charles Burnett alongside classics like It’s a Wonderful Life and The
Godfather as an essential milestone in American cinema. It’s rarely been
seen, though, due to difficulties in securing the rights for its music. Isthmus Daily Page : Thursday 12 April 2007 Appleton native and University of Wisconsin alumnus Aaron
Ohlmann returns to
Madison as the editor, cinematographer and co-producer of Here
is Always Somewhere Else, which he will screen for the Wisconsin Film Festival
at 9:15 p.m. Friday, April 13, in the Cinematheque venue at UW’s Vilas Hall.
The 2005 documentary focuses on the career and life of Dutch conceptual artist
Bas Jan Ader, who disappeared in 1975 somewhere off of Cape Cod while
attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 13-foot sailboat. Isthmus Daily Page : Thursday 12 April 2007 I’ve never thought of myself as a true-blue cinephile.
I have trouble watching
more than two movies a day. (The third one erases the first one.) And I’m not
one of those guys who, if it came down to it, would hold strips of film up to
a
bare light bulb, blinking 24 times a second to create the illusion of motion.
But
the Wisconsin Film Festival, which returns April 12–15 with a whole new slate
of
art movies, indie flicks, documentaries and foreign films, has a way of turning
all of us into cinephiles, intrepid explorers of the cinematic medium. Film Festival Opens In Downtown Madison » Festival Runs April 12–15 Channel3000.com (CBS) : Thursday 12 April 2007 The ninth annual Wisconsin Film Festival begins on Thursday,
and film fans have more selections than ever in this year’s event. This year’s
festival runs April 12–15 and features more than 150 films screened at 10 theaters
in downtown Madison and on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. A program
of the UW Arts Institute, the festival has grown in prominence each year. In
1999, some 30 films were screened with an estimated attendance of 3,000. Last
year, the festival featured 177 films and saw the highest attendance yet at 26,000
tickets taken. NBC15 : Thursday 12 April 2007 We’re all familiar with blockbuster movies like The
Departed or Spiderman. But a huge budget and megawatt star power
don’t guarantee a meaningful, insightful or entertaining film. In fact, there
are plenty of movies being made on smaller budgets that are just as worthy of
your attention and appreciation. Thursday is the kickoff of the Wisconsin Film
Festival. Meg Hamel is the Festival Director and is here today to give us some
more information on this week’s events. Now Playing: Wisconsin Film Festival Badger Herald : Thursday 12 April 2007 Gaining visibility in a largely rural state can be rough
on little-known independent films. While Wisconsin residents are able to visit
the cineplex to see big-production blockbusters, independent pictures are generally
reserved for the New York City or Los Angeles scenes, among other more popular
locales. Although it is possible to catch the occasional low-budget flick at
smaller venues across the state, the independent film truly gets its heyday each
spring with the much-celebrated Wisconsin Film Festival, this year playing from
April 12–15 in no fewer than 10 downtown Madison theaters. The Consumer’s Guide to the Wisconsin Film Festival The Onion : Thursday 12 April 2007 Where the hell do you start? The Wisconsin Film Festival
is an excellent roundup for those who can’t go skipping about the globe to Cannes
and Sundance. It also showcases the finer work of Wisconsin filmmakers. All that
variety tends to get overwhelming for non-festival junkies, so as a jumping-off
point, The A.V. Club offers these brief suggestions for taking in as
much of the festival’s range as possible. Wisconsin Film Festival Entry or Archie Comic Plotline? Shepherd Express : Thursday 12 April 2007 This week marks Madison’s Wisconsin Film Festival, where
indie films get beer battered and deep fried. But what separates high-minded
cinema from America’s most wholesome comic book? Can you separate the storylines
from this year’s cream of the crop from those from Archie Comics? Wisconsin and the World » Madison Film Fest Takes Us Everywhere Shepherd Express : Thursday 12 April 2007 We live in an amazing age when we can travel to virtually
any destination on the planet within hours and immerse ourselves in a foreign
culture. Unfortunately, few of us can afford to do so. But don’t fret:
From April 12 to April 15, you can explore the world simply by driving to Madison.
With some 100 films by local, national and international filmmakers, the ninth-annual
Wisconsin Film Festival can take you anywhere you want to go. This year’s
festival provides an ample menu of movies to satisfy almost any film fan. You
will discover independent films by visionary filmmakers telling stories in original
and profoundly personal ways. More often than not, you will leave the theater
deeply affected by the movies—unlike the Hollywood hits that barely resonate
in the mind beyond the closing credits. ‘SOMEWHERE ELSE’ Documents Artist’s Life The Capital Times : Thursday 12 April 2007 A person who gives up his life for a cause is often called
heroic, especially in nationalistic, military terms. Witness the tragic power
of Clint Eastwood’s acclaimed film Letters From Iwo Jima. The official
morality isn’t deeply troubled if the cause appears to justify human sacrifice.
But if an artist does something comparable - driven by profound alienation or
a need to understand and communicate - the instinct is to question his sanity.
An extraordinary documentary film, Here Is Always Somewhere
Else, attempts
to document and interpret such an act, which culminated a lifelong quest for
meaning by the Dutch conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader. Your Film Sold Out? Branch Out Wisconsin State Journal : Thursday 12 April 2007 Remember that movie ticket you meant to buy in advance
for the Wisconsin Film Festival? Somebody might have beaten you to it. Dozens
of the 182 films scheduled for the four-day festival, which begins tonight, are
already sold out. But take heart, procrastinators. Plenty of seats at the film-feast
table remain — not only for you, but also for your stodgy friend whose idea
of a creative film adventure is waiting in line to see the latest Spider-Man blockbuster. “Despite
the attention that gets put on the sold-out shows, during the real, live Wisconsin
Film Festival, there are actually very few instances of people who can’t get
in to see a film,” said festival director Meg Hamel. audio: Wisconsin Film Festival Here On Earth: Radio Without Borders : Wednesday 11 April 2007 Filmmaker Rajnesh Domalpalli (Vanaja) and Wisconsin
Film Festival director Meg Hamel are Jean Feraca’s guests on this edition of
Wisconsin Public Radio’s Here On Earth. Film Fest In Focus » 4 Days, 10 Theaters, 182 Movies — Organizers Are Ready For Action The Capital Times : Wednesday 11 April 2007 All over downtown Madison, projector bulbs are being replaced,
sound systems are being tweaked and new high-end equipment is being installed
as volunteers get ready for this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival to kick off Thursday.
Festival director Meg Hamel is even doing her own sort of technological tune-up;
she got a new pair of contact lenses. “Throughout festival-land, we’ve been
giving everything a tune-up so that it’s in the best shape possible, better than
it has been even for doing what they normally do in these theaters,” Hamel
says. “The best I can do is to make sure that I’ve got a current prescription
and my eye doctor says I’m good to go.” Film Proves Punk’s Alive And Well The Capital Times : Wednesday 11 April 2007 They were writing punk rock’s obituary almost from the
day it was born. Even today, some will maintain that the genre expired along
with Sex Pistols singer Sid Vicious in 1979. That mind-set overlooks the do-it-yourself
ethic that sustained punk rock in the 1980s, the explosive crossover success
of bands like Green Day and the Offspring in the 1990s, and the thousands of
kids who pack stadiums every summer for the Vans Warped Tour today. “It’s
been called dead since the ’70s,” filmmaker Susan Dynner says. “And
clearly it’s not. There’s still kids getting into it, there are still kids that
have a lot to say. These bands have been touring for 30 years, and there are
still audiences who want to go see them.” Less than 48 Hours to Go Until the Film Fest Isthmus Daily Page : Tuesday 10 April 2007 The ten to twelve inches of snow forecast to start falling
early Wednesday
morning may bode well for the Wisconsin Film Festival. “I think it’s great,”
says
organizer Meg Hamel about the possible winter storm. Wisconsin State Journal : Sunday 8 April 2007 The ninth-annual Wisconsin Film Festival officially begins
Thursday evening with a screening of Chalk — an apt choice for the
occasion. A faux-doc comedy, Chalk is well-crafted in the post-millennium
mockumentary style: tight, wobbly zooms and intimate straight-into-the-camera
confessions. It’s also quirky, wonderfully acted, often funny, and sprinkled
with the best type of social commentary: the kind that hurts just enough to make
us squirm, without subjecting us to fingernails on the blackboard. It contains,
in other words, many of the qualities that one hopes to discover over a weekend
of film festing. Isthmus Daily Page : Friday 6 April 2007 Madison filmmaker Matt Sloan is perhaps best known as a
partner in the viral Chad Vader series, a principal in Blame Society Productions
and one of the co-founders of Wis-Kino, but the Milwaukee native has a background
encompassing improv and live sketch comedy, theater and Cherry Pop Burlesque.
As a juror for the 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival, he helped select the Wisconsin
student shorts that will be seen at the festival. In a Q&A conducted via
email, Sloan shares his perspectives on the jurying process, his advice for other
filmmakers, and what he might do if he had to give up filmmaking. Capital Times : Friday 6 April 2007 This is a story about a student named Madison, who got
help from a film editor in Madison, to make his documentary about what happened
after a hurricane in Louisiana. It has a happy ending, with Madison, the student,
having his documentary accepted into a film festival this month in Madison, the
city. The film has also been accepted into the International Swansea Film Festival
in Wales, which runs May 29 through June 10 and which may be hard for
the young filmmaker to attend. “We have finals that week,” Madison
Tift was saying Thursday. Isthmus Daily Page : Thursday 5 April 2007 As preparations for the Wisconsin Film Festival approach
the finish line, one of the final tasks will be a private screening of Heart
of an Empire. This documentary about Star Wars enthusiasts who do charity appearances
in full Imperial costume is the second official opening film of the weekend.
It is the U.S. premiere of the film, in fact; it screens at the Wisconsin Union
Theater late Thursday, April 12. In addition to director Jay Thompson, the screening
will also be attended by members of the 501st Legion, the group featured in the
film. Isthmus Daily Page : Wednesday 4 April 2007 A member of Blame Society Productions, Tona Williams is
a cinematographer
and art director for the Chad Vader series, a documentary filmmaker
(the Earth
Walls and God Project through Bigbite Productions), a Web site
and graphic
designer, illustrator and sculptor who holds a Ph.D. in sociology.
Her film work has been seen at previous Wisconsin Film Festivals. As a juror
for this year’s event, she helped select the Wisconsin Student Shorts that will
be screening next weekend. ‘ABSOLUTE WILSON’ by Katharina Otto-Bernstein Isthmus Daily Page : Tuesday 3 April 2007 The New York Times has called Robert Wilson “a towering
figure in the world of experimental theater and an explorer in the uses of time
and space onstage. Transcending theatrical convention, he draws in other performance
and graphic arts, which coalesce into an integrated tapestry of images and sounds.” ‘RETRIBUTION’ by Kiyoshi Kurosawa Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 2 April 2007 Sakebi, which translates from Japanese into English as “the
scream,” is the original title for Retribution. It describes the most distinctive
sound in the film, a piercing wail that haunts this serial killer meets ghost
story set on the Toyko waterfront. In wide release in Japan for barely more than
a month, the movie is the latest work by J-horror maestro Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Isthmus Daily Page : Monday 2 April 2007 Dal Lazlo and Charles Johannsen’s Walk
into Hell and Purgatorio have, in combination, been awarded Best Wisconsin Experimental Short Film for
the 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival. Produced 30 years and 10 miles apart, the twinned
surreal shorts will enjoy their world premiere as part of the short.times.twelve
program at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, April 14; and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15, both
in the UW Memorial Union’s Fredric March Play Circle. |
