Never read your reviews, goes the old adage. But maybe it’s not so easy for an actor to ignore a bad notice while being heckled by his own director during their movie’s hometown premiere. “Boo!,” bellowed Mike Cheslik from the right aisle of the Oriental Theatre’s main auditorium, which was packed April 28 for the […]
MFF 2023: Festival Highlights Read More »
The 10th annual Milwaukee Film Festival, which closed Nov. 1, brought more than 300 films to audiences in southeastern Wisconsin. Critic Speak contributor Eric Beltmann and The Cinemaphile blogger Shelly Sampon discuss how the election and festival seasons overlapped and why “Support the Girls” was the perfect emblem for a festival dominated by gender themes.
Throughout my first year of teaching in West Bend, my paychecks always misspelled my name. Forgiving others for overlooking my surname’s very German second “n” has always been easy—after all, I have more than four decades of practice—but for me that doubled consonant is an unforgettable part of my identity, a family keepsake that, in
The 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival: Das Kino Read More »
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
Celebrating 10 Years: The 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival Read More »
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
15 Great Movies from the Milwaukee Film Festival’s History Read More »
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
When the Milwaukee Film Festival named “The Blood is at the Doorstep” as this year’s Centerpiece Film, it was akin to drawing a line in the sand. Erik Ljung’s debut feature is a hot-button political documentary that asks audiences to feel empathy for victims negotiating the American justice system in the wake of a police
Introducing the 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival Read More »
Topping my Netflix queue today are “The Forbidden Room,” an absurdist ode to early cinema from Canada, and “Winter Sleep,” a prizewinning drama from Turkey. If we scroll past the blockbusters, the relentless, rotating inventories of streaming services remind us that unique movies are always being made all over the world—and that filmgoers seldom have
Introducing the 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival Read More »
If no one talks about it, does a movie exist? Perhaps the real meaning of a film festival lies in its sidewalk chatter. Even though the 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival closed Oct. 8, Critic Speak contributor Eric Beltmann and The Cinemaphile blogger Shelly Sampon lengthened the festival through one more conversation. Eric Beltmann: I think
