2010 Wisconsin Film Festival | 14-18 April

Christmas in April

My mini-documentary of the 2010 Wisconsin Film Festival

8.May.10 | Dane 101

Walking around from theater to theater, enjoying the weather and thinking about the movies I just saw or was about to see, it was then when I realized that the Wisconsin Film Festival could very well be my favorite thing about Madison. I salivate for it all year long. Not just for the movies but also for the opportunity to cover it here for Dane101 year after year. It's a crazy, fun-filled five days of films, friends and frantic writing. It’s right up my alley. ¶ I decided to try something different this year and edited together a mini-documentary about my five days covering the festival. The film features WFF director Meg Hamel, Dane101/Film101 contributors Rick Stemm, Michael Donnelly, Russel Reed, Dave Kreisman, and also features the filmmakers behind Feed the Fish [more], NONAMES [more], Into the Pit: Deadpit.com [more], The Things We Carry [more], Growing in Knowing: Gateway to Midvale Gardens [more], Mary’s Friend [more], Sharp Teeth [more], Milk Punch [more], Shadow of Lies [more], and others.
on the web | pdf

Film fest preparation photo gallery

29.Apr.10 | Dane 101

Image gallery by Dave Kreisman
on the web

Film101 — Episode 18

Live from the Orpheum at the Wisconsin Film Festival

28.Apr.10 | Dane 101

From the Green Room in the famous Orpheum Theater we bring a joint Dane101/Film101 live podcast extravaganza. We interviewed the following groups of filmmakers:
• Alyssa and Athena Lobit of The Things We Carry [more]
• Jim Bett, Jr. and William Zenobia of Into the Pit: Deadpit.com [more]
• Michael Matzdorff and Alison Abrohams of Feed the Fish [more]
• Georgia Lyon and Erika Koivunen of Growing in Knowing: Gateway to Midvale Gardens [more]
• Melissa Schaefer and Robb Thompson of Shadow of Lies [more]
mp3 | m4a

Wis. Film Festival Review: Feat: 63 Marathons In 63 Days

Documentary Shown As Part Of 2010 Wisconsin Film Festival

28.Apr.10 | Channel3000.com

A documentary titled Feat: 63 Marathons in 63 Days [more] certainly grabs one’s attention with its directness, but the epic amount of running is only part of the story. Upon learning of such a superhuman feat, one begins figuring the mileage, trying to imagine what this exercise in extreme endurance would look like, would feel like. And, of course, it raises the question: What would drive someone to attempt this?
on the web | pdf

Wis. Film Festival Review: Feed The Fish

Movie Debuted At 2010 Wisconsin Film Festival

28.Apr.10 | Channel3000.com

Feed the Fish [more] is basically a romantic comedy, but it doesn’t really seem like one. Far from a typical “chick flick,” the film spends much of its time in Wisconsin-male friendly territory—there's ice fishing, snowmobiling, shooting practice and Polar Bear Plunges. The female love interest even plays in an ice hockey league. And there’s a badger attack.
on the web | pdf

Interview with “Feed the Fish” Producer Nicholas Langholff

18.Apr.10 | Dane 101

The movie Feed the Fish [more], starring Ross Partridge, Tony Shalhoub (Detective Monk from the TV show “Monk”) and Barry Corbin (Maurice Minnifield from “Northern Exposure”), sold out its one appearance at the Wisconsin Film Fest in just 45 minutes. But fear not; if you’re hungry for a romantic boy-meets-girl comedy with a decidedly Wisconsin flavor (fish, guns, and — of course — a badger figures prominently in the plot), you’ll be able to check out the film during a one-week engagement beginning April 23 at Marcus Point Cinema located at 7825 Big Sky Drive.
on the web | pdf

Wisconsin Film Festival Runs Through Sunday

Festival Runs 5 Days This Year

17.Apr.10 | Channel3000.com

The 12th annual Wisconsin Film Festival is under way, and film lovers have through Sunday to take in all the viewing options. ¶ Some 192 films are scheduled over five days at the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison. ¶ There are films from around the world, movies made in Wisconsin and documentaries, including Svetlana About Svetlana [more]. It’s the story of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s only daughter who has lived in small towns in Wisconsin. ¶ The documentary is based an interview in the summer of 2007, when a determined filmmaker tracked her down at a retirement home in an undisclosed Wisconsin town. The documentary will be shown on Sunday.
[other films mentioned: The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, Collateral, The Host, Mother, Baraboo, Feed the Fish, NONAMES, Paddle to Seattle: Journey Through the Inside Passage, Feat: 63 Marathons in 63 Days, Re-Cut]
on the web | pdf

India’s “One Crazy Ride” in Wisconsin Film Festival

16.Apr.10 | India-West

Gaurav Jani first made an impact on the festival circuit with his inventive, National Award-winning 2006 travelogue, “Riding Solo to the Top of the World,” in which the filmmaker loaded his motorcycle with a few changes of clothing and a digital movie camera and took off for one of the remotest deserts of the world on the Indo-China Border. ¶ Now, Jani and four other bike buffs have saddled up for One Crazy Ride [more], a motorcycle expedition on uncharted roads across the Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh.
pdf

How Film Festivals Use Twitter to Boost Attendance, Engagement

14.Apr.10 | PBS MediaShift

Action. Animated. Documentary. Experimental. These are four of the categories that film festivals program in their schedules. But they're also apt descriptions of the Twitter narrative that film festival organizers are weaving into their filmgoer engagement and marketing initiatives. ¶ Leslie Feibleman, director of special programs and senior programmer for the Newport Beach Film Festival, said Twitter is similar to the film industry in that it's "dynamic, continuously emerging, and is infused with new talent, technology and ideas -- a place to discover and be discovered." ¶ I connected with organizers, programmers and social media strategists working for the Newport Beach Film Festival (April 22–29), Phoenix Film Festival (April 8–15) and Wisconsin Film Festival (April 14–18) to gather insight into how they engage filmgoers and drive them from Twitter to theater.
on the web | pdf

Madison Reels out Film Frenzy

Films with local and regional ties are highlighted at this year’s expanded five-day Wisconsin Film Festival

14.Apr.10 | Madison Magazine

A young woman stands in front of an ocean of first graders and explains to them how they will create a masterpiece out of junk. The sound of clanking metal resonates amidst joyous giggles. The voice of a teacher chimes in to tell students that they will be working with wire in art class. ¶ This a snapshot of Growing in Knowing [more], one of the films in this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival, which follows artist Erika Koivunen and the first graders at Midvale elementary in their creation of an artistic metal gate at Midvale Community Gardens. ¶ Kicking off Wednesday, April 14, the festival will span five days for the first time in its twelve-year history. Festival coordinator Meg Hamel says she hopes attendance increases based on the idea that there’s something for everyone.
[other films mentioned: Multico, Feed the Fish, Floatin’]
on the web | pdf

An Interview with “Thru” Director Christopher Ewing

15.Apr.10 | Dane 101

“You know there is magnetism between us displaced Midwesterners.” — Avel Soleii, Thru. ¶ Director Christopher Ewing admits there are parallels between himself and Dullis Overby, the main character of his movie Thru [more]. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Ewing moved to Los Angeles.
on the web | pdf

Film Claims Stalin’s Daughter Is Wisconsin Resident

Movie Will Be Shown April 18 At Film Festival

11.Apr.10 | Channel3000.com

An independent film is bringing to light a well-kept secret: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s only daughter has been living incognito in Wisconsin. It is unclear whether the 84-year-old, who fiercely guards her privacy still lives here today, but Lana Peters has lived at several addresses in southern Wisconsin in the last 20 years.
[film mentioned: Svetlana About Svetlana]
on the web | pdf

Stars in the Spring

Spring 2010 | Celebrated Living

Celebrated Living As flowers bloom, celebrities and cinema lovers come out in cities around the world to celebrate films both large and small. Here is a guide to the biggest and brightest and a few just beginning to make a splash.

You might not think of the heartland when your mind turns to the silver screen, but the University of Wisconsin Madison Arts Institute takes full advantage of the town’s vibrant student body and educated residents to put on a festival chock-full of world-class films. The best aspect of small-town festivals such as this one: You can almost always score tickets the day of the screenings. You can also get tickets online starting March 20.
on the web | pdf