Tag Archives: wisconsin film festival

Wisconsin Film Festival Spotlight: “Actress”

actress

Tickets for the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale March 8, and each day between now and the start of the festival on April 3, I’ll be zooming in on one of the more than 140 films playing at the festival. If you have suggestions about films you’d like to know more about as you’re planning your festival experience, let me know in comments.

“Actress” (Thursday, April 3, 6:30 p.m., UW Elvehjem, and 2:15 p.m. Friday, April 4, Sundance Cinemas)

Sunday’s New York Times Arts & Leisure section had a great story on the new wave of documentaries than eschew the notion that documentary filmmakers have to be cinematic Joe Fridays, sticking to “just the facts ma’am.” Such films find innovative ways to tell stories and to play along the border between fact and fiction, since deeper personal truths often reside in that gray area.

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Wisconsin Film Festival Spotlight: “The Dance of Reality”

the-dance-of-reality

Tickets for the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale March 8, and each day between now and the start of the festival on April 3, I’ll be zooming in on one of the more than 140 films playing at the festival. If you have suggestions about films you’d like to know more about as you’re planning your festival experience, let me know in comments.

“The Dance of Reality” (Wednesday, April 9, 6 p.m, Sundance Cinemas)

“If you are great, then ‘Il Topo’ is great. If you are limited, then ‘Il Topo’ is limited.”

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Wisconsin Film Festival Spotlight: “The Rocket”

the_rocket_648_86647417

Tickets for the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale March 8, and each day between now and the start of the festival on April 3, I’ll be zooming in on one of the more than 140 films playing at the festival. If you have suggestions about films you’d like to know more about as you’re planning your festival experience, let me know in comments.

Today, my friend Sean Weitner (@sweaternnine) weighs in on the crowd-pleasing foreign film “The Rocket” (3:30 p.m. Saturday, Union South Marquee, and 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sundance Cinemas):

It’s little wonder that “The Rocket” has won the audience award at multiple festivals, because it’s struck fresh from the “festival award winner” template. Plucky young Ahlo (Sitthiphon Disamoe) is ousted from his indigenous village by Progress, deposited with his family in a truly impoverished shantytown, befriended by outcasts including a dancing machine dubbed James Brown (Thep Phongam), and forced to compete in a local rocket-building festival in order to win the cash prize that will stop his family’s downward mobility slide.

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Wisconsin Film Festival Spotlight: “The Amazing Catfish”

catfish1

Tickets for the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale last Saturday, and each day between now and the start of the festival on April 3, I’ll be zooming in on one of the more than 140 films playing at the festival. If you have suggestions about films you’d like to know more about as you’re planning your festival experience, let me know in comments.

“The Amazing Catfish” (Friday, April 4, 2:30 p.m., UW-Elvehjem)

During the first scene of “The Amazing Catfish,” where we see a young woman carefully separating the purple Froot Loops out from her cereal bowl, I feared that “The Amazing Catfish” would be an unbearable quirkfest. Instead, first-time director Claudia Saint-Luce has made a highly bearable quirkfest, a gently moving and funny tale of strangers connecting in the face of tragedy.

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22 sellouts so far at this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival

HAPPYCHRISTMAS

I’ll update this list of sold-out films at the Wisconsin Film Festival every few days or so. Remember that “sold out” means advance tickets are gone, but some rush tickets will likely be available at the venue on the day of the show. Visit wifilmfest.org for tickets and more information.

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Wisconsin Film Festival Spotlight: “Coherence”

coherence

Tickets for the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale last Saturday, and each day between now and the start of the festival on April 3, I’ll be zooming in on one of the more than 140 films playing at the festival. If you have suggestions about films you’d like to know more about as you’re planning your festival experience, let me know in comments.

“Coherence” (Sunday, April 6,, 1 p.m., Sundance Cinemas)

If you’re into indie sci-fi in the vein of “Primer” or “Another Earth,” where the thrills up the spine come from ideas rather than visual effects, get a ticket now to see James Byrkit’s mindbender “Coherence.” (Rush tickets remain on sale for a second show at 9 p.m. Saturday at Sundance).

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Wisconsin Film Festival Spotlight: “Le Week-End”

Le Weekend Directed by Roger Michell Starring Lindsay Duncan and Jim Broadbent

Tickets for the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale Saturday, and each day between now and the start of the festival on April 3, I’ll be zooming in on one of the more than 140 films playing at the festival. If you have suggestions about films you’d like to know more about as you’re planning your festival experience, let me know in comments.

“Le Week-End” (Sunday, April 6, 3:45 p.m., Capitol Theater)

“No one can make my blood boil like you do.” “That’s the sign of a deep connection.”

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Wisconsin Film Festival Spotlight: “Village at the End of the World”

villageattheend

Tickets for the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale Saturday, and each day between now and the start of the festival on April 3, I’ll be zooming in on one of the more than 140 films playing at the festival. If you have suggestions about films you’d like to know more about as you’re planning your festival experience, let me know in comments.

“Village at the End of the World” (Sunday, April 6, 1:45 p.m., Capitol Theater)

Ever wanted to get away from it all? Sarah Gavron’s documentary “Village at the End of the World” takes the viewer to one of the most remote places on the planet — the tiny Greenland fishing village of Niaqornat. The remote location has a stark and eerie beauty, but it’s still very much on this planet. Even out there, in a village with 60 people, there is drama to be found.

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Wisconsin Film Festival Spotlight: “The Auction”

Le DŽmantelement

Tickets for the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale Saturday, and each day between now and the start of the festival on April 3, I’ll be zooming in on one of the more than 140 films playing at the festival. If you have suggestions about films you’d like to know more about as you’re planning your festival experience, let me know in comments.

“The Auction” (Sunday, April 6, 11:30 a.m, UW Cinematheque, and Wednesday, April 9, 1:45 p.m., Sundance Cinemas)

The official English-language translation of French-Canadian filmmaker Sebastien Pilote’s new film seems fairly benign, if accurate. But the literal translation gets more deeply at the emotionally wrenching heart of the film. “Le Demantelement”; “The Dismantling.”

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