posted by Angela on May 15th, 2012

The festival is only 4 months away (What?! When did that happen?), so we’re starting the hunt for seasonal staff. First up on our hiring list is the Hospitality Coordinator, our festival guest guru. We’re looking for the most organized, charming, crazy-passionate-about-Milwaukee person out there to provide our festival guests with the best possible experience during their stay in Milwaukee. Our Hospitality Coordinator will book and manage all aspects of our guests’ travel, as well as hang out with them and show them how unique and fun Milwaukee is. This is definitely a hands-on, active position that requires excellent multi-tasking and meticulous organization skills, so if you are well-organized and love to show people a good time, we want you to apply. 

True story: I started my career at Milwaukee Film as the Hospitality Coordinator for the 2009 and 2010 film festivals. I realize it’ll be tough to out-charm me, but I know there are plenty of you out there who are willing to try.

Read the full job description here.

Please send your cover letter and resume to Programming Manager Angela Catalano: angela@milwaukee-film.org. No calls, please.

posted by Angela on May 7th, 2012

Filmmakers in southeastern Wisconsin, we want to see your films!

Continuing our tradition of showcasing the best of the best locally-made films, Milwaukee Film’s Call for Entries is wide open and looking for any and all new films. We’ve expanded our reach this year by including directors, producers, and screenwriters living in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Ozaukee, Walworth, or Washington County to be considered for the Cream City Cinema Award. Of course, you want to hear about the amazing prize package that goes along with that award:

·         A camera package from North American Camera, valued at over $20,000

·         Complete post-production services provided by Independent, valued at over $10,000

·         Mentoring and consulting services from Milwaukee Film and other industry professionals

·         And more awesome goodness that we’ve got cooking up!

Submissions close on June 15, so that leaves you with a solid month to finish up your film and send it our way. Put that date on your calendar, and let the all-night post-production sessions begin!

"But Angela, I live in one of those above 7 counties and I am under 18, can I still submit?"

Fear not, young filmmaker, we even added a category just for YOU. New this year, The Milwaukee Youth Show provides showcase dedicated to young filmmakers and their emerging visions.

Oh, and did I mention it’s free to submit? Yeah, it’s 100% free, so you have no excuse not to submit your film. If you need further convincing, check out this video of last year's The Milwaukee Show screening:

posted by Angela on March 14th, 2012

Good news, everyone: we’ve officially opened our Call for Entries for the 2012 Milwaukee Film Festival, which takes place September 27 – October 11. Continuing our tradition of waiving entry fees for local filmmakers, we’ve decided to make ALL SUBMISSIONS FREE. All of them. Your friend from Grand Forks, North Dakota can even submit for free (Marketing Director Blyth Meier might even know them*). Now you have no excuse not to submit your film.

Also, we’re expanding the eligibility requirements for Cream City Cinema, our juried program of local films that chooses the next Filmmaker-in-Residence at Milwaukee Film. To qualify, your director, producer, or screenwriter must live in one of the following counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Ozaukee, Walworth, or Washington. More counties = more filmmakers that are eligible to win a sweet award package!!

And what are some of the great perks that come with being named our Filmmaker-in-Residence? North American Camera is generously offering a camera package worth over $20,000, and the amazing staff at Independent is offering a post-production package, valued at $10,000. Not only will our next Filmmaker-in-Residence have a great start for their next film, but they will also have Milwaukee Film’s mentoring and networking abilities at their disposal. We work with a lot of incredible film organizations, and there’s nothing more that we love than to expand our Filmmaker-in-Residence’s network. We’re working on making the prize package even bigger and better, so stayed tuned for more announcements in the coming months.

In the mean time, check out this spankin' new video from last year's sold-out screening of The Milwaukee Show, complete with karaoke at the Landmark Lanes after-party:

Head over to our Call for Entries page to check out the details, including a Call for Entries FAQ and Rules and Regulations. Then submit your film before the deadline of June 15, 2012. Any questions? Email entry@milwaukee-film.org. We’re looking forward to seeing your films!

*Blyth says: "Angela, Grand Forks is no longer code for 'place no one's ever heard of'. Everybody's heard of Grand Forks this week. Thanks, Marilyn."

posted by Blyth on January 18th, 2012

Get out your dayplanners and iPhones and scraps of paper that you will tape to the wall: the 4th Annual Milwaukee Film Festival will be held September 27-October 11, 2012. And we want to see you there, so save those dates!

Those of you that are good with counting will notice that this year's festival is (one, two, three...) FOUR days longer than last year--more time to see more movies. Oh, yeah. “Each year, we get the same feedback from our audience: they want more screenings of the films,” says Artistic and Executive Director Jonathan Jackson. “Our expansion will allow us to fulfill that desire by giving us the opportunity to showcase encore screenings of audience favorites like Waiting for ‘Superman’ and Louder Than A Bomb.” 

Last year’s festival screened 177 films from 44 different countries with 70 filmmakers and industry professionals in attendance. The record-setting crowd of over 35,000 filmgoers flocked to 22 sold-out film screenings, 43 post-film Conversations and 7 panel discussions. Special guest cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond raised the caliber of the festival with his presence during tribute screenings of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Rose. The gracious Oscar winner also taught an enlightening master class on cinematography to local filmmakers. Our popular Opening Night Party at Discovery World attracted over 1,200 people celebrating the start of 11-days of exceptional cinema.

To recap, last year was awesome. How awesome? THIS AWESOME:

posted by Blyth on December 13th, 2011

Do you love film? Do you love people? Do you love it when people shout out your name before they watch a film? Our members LOVE our membership coordinator, Angela Catalano, so much that they literally shout for her to get up and talk before our monthly members screenings. It's true. It's also true that Angela has been promoted to be our new Programming Manager, so we're looking for someone to fill her gigantic shoes. (I mean, she's super tiny, so her literal shoes are quite small, but her metaphorical shoes are like a size 13. Wide.)

The position also includes part-time Executive Assistant duties for our Artistic and Executive Director, Jonathan Jackson. Read the complete job description here.  Applications are due January 4, 2012. We hope you put your name in the hat! 

posted by Blyth on December 7th, 2011

Last weekend, Angela and I had a fantastic time catching up with all the great MFF fans who dropped by our booth at the Buy Local Gift Fair--and we made a few new friends, too! It was fun hearing about all the far-flung places (like Scotland and France!) that our bags, shirts and posters will be traveling this holiday season.

Did you miss our sale and still need some super awesome holiday gifts? Hope you join us this Saturday for the Urban Garage Sale at Turner Hall, where we'll have posters, messenger bags and (a very limited supply of...) MFF 2011 festival t-shirts--all for $15 each! We're also planning on digging up stacks of t-shirst from festivals past...and other goodies for cheap cheap cheap. Come and get 'em!

Urban Garage Sale

Turner Hall

Saturday, Dec. 10

10:00 am - 4:00 pm

$3 at the door

posted by Blyth on November 29th, 2011

Forget Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday...come see us at Lakefront Brewery this Sunday for Local First's Buy Local Gift Fair! We'll be there from noon to 4, along with a great list of other local businesses to make your holiday shopping completely pain-free.

We'll be stocked with discounted merchandise from festivals past (posters! shirts! messenger bags! surprises!) and selling Milwaukee Film Memberships. If you don't know about our member program yet, it's a no-fail present for the local film junkie on your list. They get a long list of member benefits including free monthly members-only screenings at the Oriental Theatre!

While you shop, you can also parttake of the quality malt beverages offered by the brewery (Local Acre Lager, anyone?), along with their famous tour (come on, you know you love that "Laverne and Shirley" song.) Not enough? You drive a hard bargain, Ms. Bargain Shopper. So here's more: WMSE's Dori Zori will be spinning the tunes! There might be dancing at our booth, which makes any shopping experience more enjoyable. Stop by to say hello, cause we miss seeing your shining faces.

posted by Blyth on November 8th, 2011

A month since the fest already? Say it ain't so! The staff here is hard at work recapping this year and planning for next, which is the perfect time for you to TELL US WHAT YOU THINK. What made you smile this year? What should we for sure do again next year? What confused you? What made you curse our name? Uh, I mean, 'How can we improve?'

If you take ten short minutes to fill out our survey, we'll put your name in the hat for a drawing to win a 2012 MFF festival pass! If you haven't experienced the magic of the festival with a pass yet, it's like being a rock star. A rock star with a big record label that sets up a cappuccino machine backstage for you and picks out the brown M&Ms. With a festival pass, you don't have to worry about sell outs. You get in. With a pass, there's no scheduling stress. Is there an awesome film starting in 20 minutes? You're there. With a festival pass, you don't wait in line. You walk up to the door, flash your pass with a sassy smile and sashay over to the best seats. Seriously, once a pass holder, you never want to go back. So, please people, tell us what you thought of MFF 2011 and get in on that sweet action.

Fill out our 2011 survey today!

posted by Susan on November 2nd, 2011

If you’re reading this blog, chances are exceptional that you’re aware of many of the terrific aspects of the Milwaukee Film Festival. What you may not know is that we offer educational screenings on weekdays during the festival! This year, over 2,100 students flooded the Oriental Theatre and Ridge Cinema for these screenings, which are paired with curriculum, talkbacks and, on one very special occasion, performances by the poets featured in our Teen Spotlight film, Louder Than a Bomb.

Louder Than a Bomb follows Chicago high school students as they prepare spoken word poetry pieces for the citywide poetry slam competition of the same name. Those who saw the film already know it’s great: it won our Audience Award. If you haven’t seen it, here’s the trailer. Nova, one of the poets (my personal favorite), has me in tears every time. Prepare to be moved:

I had no idea what to expect when we filled the Oriental with nearly 1,000 high school students. All I knew for sure is that the energy would be palpable. Students cheered for the poets as they performed on screen as if they were live performances—one of the things I love about watching films with young audiences. They’re not afraid to react audibly and passionately.

At the suggestion of director Jon Siskel, we didn’t announce that the poets would be in attendance. When Lamar took the stage, the audience went nuts! You would’ve thought they were seeing The Beatles circa 1964. Three girls in the front row nearly fainted. They slunk down in their seats, grabbed their hearts, and stared in amazement. It was awesome. Lamar performed a piece, the Steinmenautz group performed, and the crowd couldn’t get enough.

Yet it was the student questions that most affected me. One asked how to make his poetry “deeper.” He’s a writer, and he struggles to get to a place that moves people. The poets told him to be fearless: say everything he needs to say, forget about audience, forget about peoples’ judgments, and just go for it. They acknowledged how difficult that is—that writing emotionally exposes you. Regardless, they said, get it all out.

A girl then confessed that she “doesn’t write.” She journals but has never written a poem. She’s afraid of the structure—nervous that she doesn’t know the rules. The poets answered, “Just write.” They said forget that there are rules, because the rules aren’t the point. “The point is the poetry.” The point is expressing yourself at an age when it seems everyone is judging you, your concerns aren’t taken seriously, and the right people aren’t listening. The Q&A wasn’t just asking questions but also feeling heard.

This event, in my opinion, was both the best of the festival and at the heart of it. How else can you get young people excited about poetry, expressing themselves, connecting with strangers, and a historical theater? That, my friends, is the power of film.

Hear more about this remarkable event our good friends from 88.9 Radio Milwaukee.

Were you at the screening? Tell us about it below...

posted by Tom Fuchs on October 5th, 2011

A reflection on our Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award winner for Best Feature Film, from Tom Fuchs, a member of our shorts programming committee:

I can think of no more terrifying a prospect for a teenager than getting up in front of an audience of your peers and speaking truthfully about your emotions.  I wore ironic distance and cynicism like a Kevlar vest throughout those years, and the thought of having to express myself so nakedly and earnestly would’ve sent me running to the bathroom for a fit of nervous dry-heaving.  Lucky for audiences, Louder Than a Bomb hasn’t chosen to follow any students made of such weak stock; these kids are the real deal, delivering fantastically powerful soliloquies at Chicago’s Louder Than a Bomb fest, the largest poetry slam competition in the world.
 

 
Not only do these kids have to be strong enough to get on stage and give voice to the fears and thoughts that guide them through some of the most emotionally tumultuous years of their lives, they also have to be willing to put themselves through rigorous rounds of performance and revision, fine-tuning their words until each line is sharp enough to draw blood.  The film follows groups of students competing from all different walks of life (from prep schools to the inner city) vying for top honors while also providing themselves (as well as the audience) catharsis for all of the youthful concerns that plague them.  If your high school experience involved creative outlets of expression in any way, I’d highly recommend watching these stunningly talented kids and the journey this competition takes you on.  These kids bring the music out of their words and deliver soul-stirring performances to make you stand up and cheer (the phrase life-affirming has been thrown out more than once with regard to this film).
 
I hope you were there for the screening at the Oriental Theatre with director Jon Siskel, poetry slam co-founder Kevin Coval, as well as the entire Steinmenautz crew in attendance.  In a festival was chock-full of invigorating documentary selections, Louder Than a Bomb raised the bar and took home the audience award. Congrats to everyone involved in this powerful documentary!