Annual festival boasts more than 150 films from 27 countries
Tickets are on sale for the 2005 Wisconsin Film Festival, to be held Thursday, March 31-Sunday, April 3.
Presented by the Arts Institute, the festival showcases independent features, experimental films, documentaries, shorts and the work of Wisconsin’s filmmakers.
The festival features 151 films from 27 countries: 43 narrative features, 25 documentary features, one animated feature, 25 experimental projects (short and long), 54 shorts of various genres, three additional retrospective programs of short films, plus one multimedia performance, a multimedia installation and four talks or panels. More than 80 filmmakers, speakers and industry professionals and 50 student and youth filmmakers are schedule to participate.
The festival will begin and end with films from legendary filmmakers, including Samuel Fuller’s “The Big Red One,” fully reconstructed and presented by Time magazine film critic and UW–Madison alumnus Richard Schickel.
The films and talks will be presented in 117 programs over four days, in 10 venues in downtown Madison and the UW–Madison campus area, including Memorial Union, Cinematheque and Hillel.
New this year is the Audience Award for narrative and documentary feature films. Audiences will cast their ballots after each screening of an eligible film. The winners of the awards will be announced Monday, April 4.
Also, Madison’s Central Business District will provide a free downtown trolley service for festival-goers each day. Visitors can catch the trolley at any Madison Metro bus stop, and the trolleys will make continuous loops at approximately 20-minute intervals during the festival.
The festival’s annual showcase of “Wisconsin’s Own” series features 65 films made in Wisconsin, or made elsewhere by current or former Wisconsinites, many in juried competition, and includes a student filmmaker competition featuring work from state universities. Madison filmmaker Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau’s “Side Effects” is among the local entries. The films will screen Thursday, March 31-Saturday, April 2, with winners announced April 2 and re-screened on Sunday, April 3.
Other festival highlights include new films from Argentina, including the docudrama “Whiskey Romeo Zulu”; standouts of new European cinema, including the Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier’s “Brothers”; new Canadian cinema, including Peter Raymont’s “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire”; and new work about and by Asian Americans, including “What’s Wrong with Frank Chin?”
The festival also will feature a 1928 silent Indian film, “Shiraz,” accompanied by live music composed for the occasion by composer and UW–Madison music student Brandon McIntosh. McIntosh will perform with an ensemble featuring North Indian instruments, including the 25-string sarod.
Chris Gore, founder of “Film Threat,” host of the Independent Film Channel’s “Ultimate Film Fanatic” trivia show and writer/producer of “My Big Fat Independent Movie” returns to give an insider’s view of independent films.
Also, a panel of Wisconsin filmmakers will discuss “How We Got It Made in Wisconsin” with festival juror and UW–Madison alumna Julie Golden.
The festival’s Web site features a full schedule and ticket availability information.
Festival box office hours
Advance ticket box office
Wisconsin Union Theater Annex Room, second floor, Memorial Union
265-2933 or 262-5981
Hours through March 30
Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
Saturdays Noon-8 p.m.
Spring break hours
Monday-Friday, March 21-25 3-8 p.m.
Saturdays, March 19 and 26 Noon-5 p.m.
Will-call hours
Thursday, March 31-Friday, April 1 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
Saturday, April 2, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday, April 3, Noon-6 p.m.,
For more information:
Tags: arts