Madison, WI – The 2023 Wisconsin Film Festival which ended on Thursday, April 20, marked a significant return to moviegoing, post-COVID, resulting in attendance of over 27,000 for the eight-day program, including over 30 filled-to-capacity screenings.
In addition to screening at four University of Wisconsin-Madison venues (UW Cinematheque at 4070 Vilas Hall, The Marquee at Union South, The Chazen Museum of Art and Shannon Hall) the Festival returned to the former Sundance and AMC Hilldale, rechristened as Wisconsin Film Festival Hilldale for this year’s festivities.
Votes have been tabulated and the winners of this year’s Audience Choice Awards are as follows:
- Judy Blume Forever (Audience Favorite, Documentary)
- My Sailor, My Love (Audience Favorite, Narrative)
- Real People, Real Places (Audience Favorite, Shorts Program)
- The Cameraman (Audience Favorite, Restoration/Rediscovery)
- How I Learned to Fly/Margot’s Sister (Audience Favorite, Big Screens, Little Folks).
There was a total of 160 films presented at 137 screenings from Thursday, April 13 through Thursday, April 20.
The Festival has tentatively set next year’s dates as follows:
Thursday, April 4 through Thursday, April 11, 2024.
While audiences will have to wait until next April for the Festival’s return, those in Madison hungering for more international, independent and classic cinema can experience such films year-round at the UW Cinematheque which, like the Festival, is presented by UW-Madison’s Department of Communication Arts. The Cinematheque will be concluding its spring semester slate of programming on Saturday, May 5, but will begin a new, six -week series of free screenings on Wednesday, June 28. The calendar for June, July and August screenings will be announced by the end of May. All UW Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.
Since 1999, the Wisconsin Film Festival has curated, promoted, and exhibited programs showcasing the art and the history of world cinema. Currently presented under the auspices of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Communication Arts, the Festival is one of the largest campus-based film festivals in United States, supporting UW’s teaching, research, and public service mission by exposing the campus and the greater Madison community to films and filmmakers from Wisconsin and beyond. As cinema is an essential art form that enriches the human experience and enhances one’s knowledge of a variety of cultures, the Festival seeks to create a strong sense of community through curating a vast body of films and through the creation of gatherings before and after screenings that welcome diverse communities. With the ever-evolving technology of the film industry, the Festival strives to screen movies using state-of-the-art projection and sound while creating opportunities for younger students to experience cinema from around the world through field trips, special presentations, and community outreach.
