Wisconsin Film Festival: Announces Line-up for April 1 – 4 Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 4, 2004

CONTACT: Mary Carbine, (608) 262-6578, mary@wifilmfest.org or Lori Wilson at Funnel Incorporated, (608) 251-5481, lori@funnelinc.com

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Tickets on Sale Thursday, March 4

MADISON—The 2004 Wisconsin Film Festival announces its full line-up for the Thursday, April 1st through Sunday, April 4th event in Madison. A public program of the UW-Madison Arts Institute, the Festival will feature 140 films and 9 talks and panels, including: 25 narrative features, 33 documentary features, 25 documentary shorts, 29 experimental films (feature and short), 28 narrative or animated short films, a musical performance and a live film trivia show contest. More than 60 filmmakers, speakers and industry professionals and 30 student and youth filmmakers will participate. The films and talks will be presented in 110 programs over four days, in seven venues in downtown Madison and the University of Wisconsin campus area, including the Orpheum Theatre, Bartell Theatre, Club Majestic, Memorial Union, UW Cinematheque, UW Hillel and the University Square Theatres. The international line-up includes films from more than 26 countries, from Denmark to Mongolia, Tunisia, Japan, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines and Iceland, along with 45 films from major, emerging and youth filmmakers with Wisconsin ties.

Advance ticket sales begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 4. For the complete Festival line-up, schedule, ticket, hotel and travel information, visit www.wifilmfest.org or call (877) 963-FILM.

In its sixth year, The Wisconsin Film Festival is gaining favorable recognition in the indie film industry and has raised the bar on this year’s line-up of programming and talent, with a number of major films (“Festival Express,” “The Yes Men,” “Green Butchers”) Midwest premieres. Film enthusiasts can look forward to exploring a cross-section of contemporary Danish cinema with the talented writer/directors Lone Scherfig (Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself) and Anders Thomas Jensen (“The Green Butchers,” co-writer “Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself”) in person. A special focus on documentary includes sessions with seasoned documentary producers (and UW-Madison alumni) Mark Samels, Executive Producer, PBS’s American Experience, and Lisa Heller, Vice President of Original Programming at HBO, plus the award-winning filmmakers Mark Achbar and Harold Crooks (“The Corporation”), Wisconsin’s own Sarah Price (“The Yes Men”), Mark Moskowitz (“Stone Reader”) and many others.

Audiences can join UW-Madison alumnus Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine’s renowned film critic as he presents his new documentary “Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin,” which chronicles the brilliant career of “The Little Tramp.” Not to be missed, “To the Best of Our Knowledge-Live”, presented by Jim Fleming, Steve Paulson and Anne Strainchamps, hosts of Wisconsin Public Radio’s nationally syndicated program, for a special on-stage interview event Saturday, April 3 at the Orpheum Theatre with some of the Festival’s most intriguing guests. For die-hard film buffs, there will be a live “IFC Ultimate Film Fanatic Challenge” trivia contest. And, in response to popular demand, Festival organizers have included more repeats of the ever-popular screenings of short films by Wisconsin filmmakers and students.

Organizers have also worked with the Wisconsin Union Box Office and Festival sponsors IMS and Planet Propaganda to implement online ticket ordering this year, making ticket purchasing even more convenient. Advance tickets, which go on sale March 4, are encouraged since many screenings sell out. For spontaneous selections, a limited number of “stand by” tickets for each screening will be held for sale at the door during the Festival this year. In addition, empty seats will be filled with “rush” ticket sales at curtain time. The line-up for tickets sold at the door begins one half hour before the film starts, and “rush” tickets will be sold until every seat is filled.

Schedule highlights include:

OPENING NIGHT

“Festival Express”
Opening Night kicks off with the “Festival Express,” jamming and partying with Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, The Band and Buddy Guy as they tour across Canada. The footage of this historic train ride was lost in legal proceedings for years, but 90 hours of raw negative and 40 hours of uncut sound recordings have made their way to the National Archive of Canada. Bob Seaton, the director of the ABC series “The Beatles Anthology,” truly captures the spirit of the times as a new decade in music and culture dawned. Screening sponsored by 105.5 Triple M.

“The Yes Men”
(Midwest Premiere) This hilarious and illuminating film documents an elaborate form of culture jamming as the Yes Men impersonate members of the World Trade Organization on television and at business meetings around the world. Milwaukee’s own Chris Smith and Sarah Price (“American Movie”) and co-director Dan Ollman have crafted a darkly comic and revelatory portrait of these prankster-activists and their all-too-easily-duped victims, deftly illuminating issues around global trade and media complacency. Filmmaker Price in person.

“Madness and Genius”
22-year-old filmmaker Ryan Eslinger (appearing in person) wrote, directed, edited, produced, and scored “Madness and Genius,” which he has been working on since age 13. Fresh out of film school this summer, he applied for an internship with the Hamptons International Film Festival and dropped off his film, which was accepted to screen in the spotlight section and receive the festival’s Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology, which includes a $25,000 cash award. Eslinger was also nominated for the “Someone to Watch” Award at the 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards.

“Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin”
One of the nation’s most influential film critics, Richard Schickel, has been reviewing movies for TIME Magazine since 1972. He is also an accomplished filmmaker, and will present and discuss his new documentary which chronicles the brilliant career of Charles Chaplin as an actor, writer, director, producer and composer, as well as his controversial private life (four marriages, love affairs, a paternity suit and persecution by the FBI).

FESTIVAL SERIES:

Danish Cinema Beyond Dogme
In the post-Dogme era, Danish film is alive and kicking – hard. The Festival presents a cross-section of contemporary Danish cinema – with filmmakers Lone Scherfig and Anders Thomas Jensen scheduled to attend – from “The Green Butchers,” a terrifically funny and unexpectedly touching Sweeney Todd tale from the gifted Jensen (“Flickering Lights”) to “Reconstruction”, the ambitious and stylish debut feature from Christoffer Boe, winner of the Camera d’Or and Youth Prize at Cannes; “Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself”, the romantic dark comedy and English-language debut from the acclaimed Scherfig (“Italian for Beginners”); and the delightfully peculiar avant-garde essay “The Five Obstructions,” which pits the Danish master Jorgen Leth against provocateur Lars von Trier in a game of filmmaking.

Musically Inclined
Our series on music and culture includes:

“Afro-Punk”
(Wisconsin Premiere) An in-depth look at racial identity in the punk music scene. It follows the lives of four people of color who have chosen a punk rock lifestyle and examines their experiences in a mostly white scene.

“Klezmer on Fish Street”
(Wisconsin Premiere) Experience the peculiar phenomenon of the Polish “holocaust Tourist Trade” – Organized tours to Krakow’s former Jewish Quarter and concentration camps, through the eyes of young, Jewish Americans and aspiring klezmer musicians. Filmmaker Yale Strom appearing in person.

“Nightclubbing”
(Wisconsin Premiere) Filmmakers Emily Armstrong and Patricia Ivers (appearing in person) unleash rare footage of the late 1970’s underground music scene in New York City with
performances by Iggy Pop, the Dead Kennedys, Blondie, the Talking Heads and more.

“Let Me Be Your Band”
(Wisconsin Premiere) a look into the world of the one-man band, followed by a performance from the utterly original, multi-instrument playing, singing and dancing Lonesome Organist.

Asian American Cinema
Films by and about the diverse and fast-growing Asian American communities include:

“Face”
(Wisconsin Premiere) The debut feature from Bertha Bay-Sa Pan presents a family drama of conflict between traditional Chinese-American values and the pressures of urban American life. The Columbia University Film School graduate will be appearing in person.

“Refugee”
(Wisconsin Premiere) Spencer Nakasako’s award-winning documentary follows a young Cambodian-American who returns to Cambodia to meet his long-lost father and brother. With filmmakers Nakasako and Mike Siv (subject of “Refugee” and filmmaker “Who I Became”) in person, plus a special appearance by Prach, the Long Beach, CA rap artist that Newsweek named a “pioneer of Khmer Rap” and “the first Cambodian rap star.”

“Sumo East and West”
A fascinating examination of the culture clash between Japan and the West as seen through the prism of sumo wrestling.

European and World Cinema

From France to Burkina Faso, the Czech Republic, Iceland, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, and Ireland, these films take us to worlds inhabited by the citizens of the new Europe.

“Intermission”
(Wisconsin Premiere) A raucous story of the interweaving lives and loves of small-town delinquents, shady cops, pretty good girls and very (very) bad boys starring Colin Farrell.

“Since Otar Left”
(Wisconsin Premiere) A charming drama of three generations of women in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia and winner of the prestigious Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes.

“James’ Journey to Jerusalem”
(Wisconsin Premiere) A droll, sharply observed parable of a young man’s pilgrimage from his African village to Israel.

“Goodbye Dragon Inn”
(Wisconsin Premiere) Acclaimed Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang’s (“What Time Is It There?”) tender love poem to the cinema.

“PTU”
(Wisconsin Premiere) Johnnie To’s (“Fulltime Killer”) return to the police thriller genre with characteristic offbeat flair, sly humor and tightly orchestrated plot.

“Last Life in the Universe”
(Midwest Premiere) Lush and intoxicating images from the cutting edge of Thai cinema.

Documentaries
Over the past two decades, non-fiction films have gained momentum with American audiences and show no signs of slowing down. This year, the Festival presents a special focus on documentaries and non-fiction filmmakers from the United States and around the world.

“The Corporation”
(Wisconsin Premiere) Co-directed by Mark Achbar (“Manufacturing Consent”), “The Corporation” is a darkly amusing account of the corporation’s birth as a legal “person whose prime directive is to produce ever-increasing profit for its shareholders. Featuring interviews with corporate CEOs and top executives; critical thinkers Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Milton Friedman; filmmaker and corporate critic, Michael Moore, historian Howard Zinn; plus corporate spies and whistleblowers. Filmmaker Achbar and co-writer Harold Crooks appearing in person. Sponsored by Isthmus.

“Stone Reader”
(Wisconsin Premiere) The acclaimed literary mystery story and winner of the 2002 Slamdance Special Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, chronicles Mark Moskowitz’s year-long search for Dow Mossman, author of “The Stones of Summer.” Filmmaker Moskowitz, known for his issue-oriented media including more than three thousand political spots for hundreds of races nationally and worldwide, to appear in person.

“The Agronomist”
(Wisconsin Premiere) A strong advocate of human rights, Academy-Award winning director Jonathan Demme has produced several documentaries about Haiti. Fifteen years in the making,
“The Agronomist” is Demme’s portrait of Haitian journalist, broadcaster and human rights activist Jean Dominique – assassinated in April 2000, on the steps of his radio station – his extraordinary wife Michelele Montas, and their beloved Haiti.

“Divan”
(Wisconsin Premiere) In this charming and poignant documentary, filmmaker Pearl Gluck travels from the Hasidic Jewish community of Brooklyn, where she was raised, to Hungary to retrieve a turn-of-the-century family heirloom, her great-grandfather’s couch upon which revered rebbes once slept. She hopes that retrieving this piece of family history will heal a breach with her father, who wants her to get married and return to the Hasidic world. Filmmaker in person.

“Jockey”
(Midwest Premiere) Directed by award-winning filmmaker Kate Davis (“Southern Comfort”), “Jockey” goes behind the scene of American thoroughbred racing to tell the story of three Kentucky riders as they confront injury, starvation, and the fickle cycle of stardom’s rise and fall. With filmmaker Davis and producer David Heilbroner appearing in person.

Spotlight: James Benning

Few filmmakers have explored the aesthetic and political impact of our national landscape as vividly as experimental filmmaker James Benning. A Milwaukee native and UW-Madison alumnus, Benning will introduce his recent “California Trilogy,” which has been featured at several international film festivals including Sundance, London, Berlin and Vienna. “El Valley
Centro” (1999), “Los” (2000) and “Sogobi” (2001) present interrelated portraits of California’s agricultural, urban and wilderness landscapes, each film consisting of 35 stationary two and a half minute shots.

Wisconsin’s Own Films include:
The “Wisconsin’s Own” showcase features nationally acclaimed and emerging Wisconsin filmmakers, with many films in competition. Discover the best that Wisconsin filmmakers have to offer:

Special Series: “Young Visions and Voices” – A special program of films by Madison area elementary, middle and high school filmmakers, from animation to documentary, experimental, drama and more. Traverse the mindscape of our area youth as they explore the comedic, tragic and fanciful elements of life with hip-hop, bullies, skate boards, friendships, paper ducks, death, love and breakfast.

“Chaza Show Choir”
(Madison Premiere) The musical adventures of plucky high school choir and band members who are invited to compete in Germany, only to be forced to work in a Wiener schnitzel factory. High energy performances and can-do attitudes animate this feature co-directed by Milwaukee’s own Theresa Columbus of the Darling Hall independent performance space, and Didier Leplae, co-director of the 2001 Wisconsin’s Own Best Narrative Feature, “The Foreigners.”

“When the World Runs Fast”
(World Premiere) When Paul Ewen was a UW-Madison student, he made a documentary about his Uncle Andy’s band, Honor Among Thieves, a favorite fixture of the Madison music scene. Now a film editor living in New York, Paul takes another crack at the project in “When the World Runs Fast,” which explores how the Thieves remained viable artists and musicians content with the local scene.

“Threads of Belonging”
(Madison Premiere) Jennifer Montgomery’s portrait of Layton House, a fictional therapeutic community in which doctors live with their patients, examines the idealism and politicization of metal illness. Experimental therapies, power struggles and individual arcs of mental illness converge, as the community strives to understand itself and determine its destiny.

“El Dorko”
(World Premiere) The woeful tale of a naïve Wisconsinite forced to fend for himself on the gritty streets of L.A. Filmmaker Harrison Brown was born in Oregon and attended UW-Milwaukee; Tom Clark performed in Comedy Sportz (and delivered newspapers) in Milwaukee as did Kurt Scholler; and Chris Tallman is UW-Madison alumnus.

“The Adventures of Mad Matt”
(Madison Premiere) In this autobiographical documentary by UW-Madison alumnus Scott Rice, “The Wonder Years” meets “Jackass” as four kids with cameras produce the action series “Mad Matt” between 1982 and 1992. Snowmobile stunts, cast in-fighting and sister torture lead to a moving climax that proves you are never too young to pay the price for blind ambition.

“I’m Bobby”
(Madison Premiere) In Milwaukeean Xav Leplae’s Sundance-featured film, street children, child laborers and school kids from Bombay and Goa, India recreate scenes using the soundtrack from Raj Kapoor’s 1973 film, “Bobby”, a classic Bollywood re-working of Romeo and Juliet.

“Fakers”
(Midwest Premiere) This thoroughly entertaining entry in the Wisconsin’s Own competition hails from…London, of course. “Fakers” is an off-beat crime caper set in the London art world. Producer Todd Kleparski grew up in Marathon, Wis., and attended UW–Stevens Point.

“Why Not a Sparrow”
(Madison Premiere) Milwaukee filmmaker Cecelia Condit’s “eco-fable” about a girl, a rare bird, who enters a fairy tale land where the distinction between human and other animal kingdoms is blurred.

“Not Color Blind, Just Near-Sighted”
(Midwest Premiere) Milwaukee native Aaron Greer’s “colorful” critique of racial classifications and identity recounts the filmmaker’s routine trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles, an experience that tests his sense of humor as well as the capriciousness of bureaucracy.

Global Lens Series
The Global Film Initiative’s “Global Lens” series presents feature films from developing countries, culled from festivals such as Cannes, Toronto and Rotterdam and chosen for their cinematic excellence and relevance to The Global Film Initiative’s mission: Raising cross-cultural awareness through cinema. The series includes:

“Ticket to Jerusalem” (Palestine)
(Wisconsin Premiere) An inspired hybrid of documentary and fiction about a Palestinian film projectionist in a refugee camp near Ramallah.

“Mango Yellow” (Brazil)
(Wisconsin Premiere) Intertwines the stories of working-class dreamers living hardscrabble lives in the favelas of Recife.

“Angel on the Right” (Tajikistan)
(Wisconsin Premiere) A contemporary take on an ancient Islamic legend of good and evil in which a tough Tajik gangster is lured home from Moscow to see his dying mother and face his past.

“Khorma” (Tunisia)
(Wisconsin Premiere) A seemingly idiotic man is appointed the village’s official announcer of births, deaths and marriages, until his power begins to corrupt him.

“Wretched Lives” (Philippines)
(Wisconsin Premiere) A fractured family struggles to survive during the political unrest of the short-lived and ill-fated reign of Joseph Estrada.
Selections from the Global Lens Film Series will extend the Festival programming at the Orpheum Theatre after the Festival ends on Sunday, April 4.

Panels and Discussions
The panel “Getting it Made, Getting it Seen: Documentary Production, Funding and Programming” will feature seasoned documentary producers Mark Samels, Executive Producer, PBS’s “American Experience” and Lisa Heller, Vice President of Original Programming at HBO and UW-Madison alumnus, along with filmmakers behind three documentaries presented at the Festival (Barak Goodman, “The Fight;” Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, “Jockey;” and Marian Marzynski, “Patriots Day”).
The annual Writers Seminar will feature Festival screenwriters and writer/directors—including Lone Scherfig (“Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself”), Ryan Eslinger (“Madness and Genius”) and Bertha Bay-Sa Pan (“Face”)—will discuss writing and developing their projects. Moderated by Kathie Fong Yoneda (“The Script-Selling Game: A Hollywood Insider’s Look at Getting Your Script Sold and Produced”), who will also present a separate solo discussion on the changes she’s witnessed in marketing one’s work to Hollywood over the past 25 years.

The popular, lively and informal Steep & Brew Coffeehouse discussions include “The Indie Film Talent Manager” with Sam Maydew, producer, manager and president of the L.A.-based Pop Art Films/Management.
Film historian Douglas Gomery will speak on “Indies, Festivals and the Presentation of Cinema in the USA.”
Film buffs and movie geeks can find out if they have what it takes to be the Ultimate Film Fanatic at a live “IFC Ultimate Film Fanatic Challenge” trivia contest, sponsored by Charter Communications and the Independent Film Channel.
How to Buy Tickets
Visit the Website at www.wifilmfest.org for the full schedule of programs, complete ticket buying instructions, a handy wish list, itinerary planner and downloadable ticket order form. Advance ticket packages are recommended for film priority since many screenings sell out. Tickets are required for admission to each program at all Festival venues unless otherwise indicated.
Advance Ticket Box Office: Wisconsin Union Theater Box Office – Annex Room, 2nd Floor, Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street, Madison, WI 53706. Phone (608) 265-2933 or (608) 262-5981. Fax: (608) 262-5869.
Box Office Hours: Thursday, March 4 through Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Monday to Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Spring Break hours, March 15 through 19: 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.), Saturdays: March 6 and 27: noon to 8:00 p.m. (Spring Break hours: March 13 and 20: noon to 5:00 p.m.), Sundays: Closed.
Will Call Hours: Thursday April 1 – Sunday, April 4: Thursday & Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.; Sunday, noon – 6:00 p.m.

Sponsors and Partners

The Wisconsin Film Festival is a public program of the UW-Madison Arts Institute.

2004 Wisconsin Film Festival sponsors include Planet Propaganda, The Evjue Foundation, Isthmus, 105.5 Triple M, Charter Communications, Shepherd Express and the Independent Film Channel, IMS (Interactive Media Solutions, LLC), i^3 [i-cubed], CineFilm Laboratories, the Madison Concourse Hotel & Governor’s Club, University Book Store, Wisconsin Film Office, Steep & Brew, Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, Eastman Kodak Company, Funnel Incorporated, Burne Photo Imaging, Ronee Bergman, the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, DataVision, Roscor, Midwest Airlines, Downtown Madison, Inc., EIKI, IATSE Local 251, Lonya Nenashev, Great Big Pictures, Wisconsin Public Television, the UW-Madison Anonymous Fund, University Research Park, European Studies Alliance, Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, the Department of Communication Arts, Danish Film Institute, the Asian American Studies Program, Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies, University Lectures Committee, WAA-GLBT Alumni Council, and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.

World Cinema Day sponsors and partners include the UW-Madison Brittingham Trust and College of Letters & Science, and the Evjue Foundation and WEAC Human Relations.

Venues and Partners include the Orpheum Theatre, Club Majestic, the Bartell Theatre, University Square Theatres, the UW Cinematheque, the Wisconsin Union Directorate Film Committee and UW Hillel.

Additional partners include the Milwaukee Independent Film Society, the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum, and IFP/Chicago. Special thanks to Bongo Video.