"I'm running around to introduce films and lead question and answer sessions," says Tom Yoshikami when asked how his festival is going. A programmer and assistant with the Wisconsin Film Festival, the UW grad student is finishing his third year as programmer for Cinematheque and is embarking upon his second summer of organizing a four week experimental film series on the rooftop garden of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
"I'm not seeing many films, though," he continues.
I spoke briefly with Yoshikami on Saturday afternoon outside Cinematheque in between festival screenings at the campus venue. Given that he shares office space with festival director Meg Hamel, I asked him if he could share a few details about some typically overlooked elements of the event. No problem, he replied.
For example, there are actually two versions of the Wisconsin Film Festival trailer that plays at the opening of every screening. I have only seen one of them, which shows a collage of cards bearing the 2007 festival design followed by its tri-reel logo and the subsequent list of sponsors.
Yoshikami explains that there is a second trailer, however, one that shows the same sequence of images but from the opposite side. This one, he says, shows the infrastructure of the primary trailer, complete with views of the people making it. "It adds a narrative element to the trailer itself," he says.
Then there's the colorful flora-and-fauna motif that is serving as the visual marker for the festival this year, on its posters, on the trailer, and online. Yoshikami says that when Hamel took a trip to Sweden some months ago, she encountered a style of wallpaper that could work for the festival's purposes.
The designer's name is Hanna Wering , a Stockholm-based designer who creates prints for numerous Swedish companies (such as Boråstapeter and IKEA). She also designs and manufactures a series of wallpaper/posters titled AnimalsFlowers. Wering was commissioned by the festival to create its look, and the rest is history.
Yoshikami, meanwhile, is looking to catch at least a couple films on this final day of the festival, recommending Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and Ghosts of Cité Soleil as the four day event comes to a close at the Orpheum.
