Milwaukee Film Festival

Before directing “Wild Nights with Emily,” director Madeleine Olnek was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship to research Emily Dickinson. The comedy stars Molly Shannon as the American poet.

MFF 2018 Review: “Wild Nights with Emily”

Madeleine Olnek’s latest comedy is about a poet, but it’s not really about poetry. Instead, “Wild Nights with Emily,” which screened last night as the Milwaukee Film Festival’s centerpiece film, revisits the myths surrounding Emily Dickinson to assess how women have been perceived and misrepresented throughout American history. If Walt Whitman is the great extrovert …

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The 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival

Celebrating 10 Years: The 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival

The great French film director François Truffaut had a simple rule: If you want to know what a story’s really about, reflect on what’s changed by the end. By that metric, the story of the Milwaukee Film Festival’s first decade—its 10th edition opens Thursday—has a classic Hollywood theme. It’s the story of ragtag movie enthusiasts who …

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Milwaukee Film, the purveyors of the Milwaukee Film Festival, took over daily operation of the three-screen Oriental Theatre in July.

15 Great Movies from the Milwaukee Film Festival’s History

It’s a new era for Milwaukee Film, the parent organization for the Milwaukee Film Festival. By taking over the daily operation of the three-screen Oriental Theatre in July, the nonprofit has fortified its position as a major cultural institution and secured a path to long-term sustainability. Right now, it’s the future that’s most exciting about …

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Credit: Jennifer Johnson for Milwaukee Film

Conversation: Critics Eric Beltmann and Shelly Sampon React to the 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival

The ninth annual Milwaukee Film Festival, which closed Oct. 12, hosted a record-breaking 84,000 attendees, 101 sold-out screenings, and nearly 200 filmmakers and guests participating in talkbacks. The conversation continues below, as Critic Speak contributor Eric Beltmann and The Cinemaphile blogger Shelly Sampon discuss why “The Blood Is at the Doorstep” deserved its Audience Award …

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2017 Milwaukee Film Festival: Cream City Cinema

Where should we pin the good citizenship ribbon? While some film festivals function as annual interlopers—destination events that cater to out-of-towners while largely excluding the locals—the nonprofit Milwaukee Film Festival has always been a provincial affair, inseparable from the city and its people. For nine years, MFF has invested in Milwaukee by celebrating its unique …

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"Rat Film" screens at the 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival

2017 Milwaukee Film Festival: Competition

I suppose it’s easier to sell a throwback Western starring Peter Fonda than a nonfiction look at Baltimore’s rat infestation. No wonder, then, that the Milwaukee Film Festival, which opened Thursday, screened “The Ballad of Lefty Brown” last night inside the vast, majestic Oriental Theatre but will show “Rat Film” (pictured above) in an afternoon …

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Film critic Eric Beltmann covers the 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival

Conversation: Critics Eric Beltmann and Shelly Sampon React to the 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival

The eighth annual Milwaukee Film Festival, which closed Oct. 6, proved to be bigger than ever. Over 15 days, nearly 77,000 attendees—an 8% increase over 2015—binged on 283 films from 51 countries presented on six screens. Among them were Critic Speak contributor Eric Beltmann and The Cinemaphile blogger Shelly Sampon. They talk here about the festival’s …

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