There's usually a soccer movie or two to be found at the The titles and directors in this series follow:
This documentary tells the story of the Ken and Rita Jerabek in Green Bay, and their experiences after their son Ryan was killed in Iraq in 2004 while serving with the U.S. Marines. "The story is really about what happens to a family after they lose someone," says Hamel. "What's fascinating is that they're a military family; the father served in Vietnam, and they understand what it means to serve the United States in the military." The film examines how they deal with losing their son, while grappling with the larger issue of the war itself. More information about Jerabek can be found on its MySpace page.
"I apologize to all of the Norwegians out there," says Hamel about another festival series, "Focus on Scandinavia." All of the films from Norway she pursued didn't pan out, but it does feature others from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden. "The festival has a strong relationship with Icelandic and Danish filmmakers, though," she explains. "This is a really good example of how difficult it can be to pull a schedule together. The goal is not just to stick some Norwegian film in there, but to show good films that stand up no matter the circumstances."
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- by Ragnar Bragason
- by Ole Christian Madsen
- by Jannik Johanssen
This film was written by Anders Thomas Jenssen, a Danish filmmaker whose work has been featured in the festival for several years. The Green Butchers was screened in 2004, while Adam's Apples was screened and won the Audience Award in 2006. "Unlike the other two films that are very comic, though," notes Hamel, "this film has a more serious tone." - Isthmus last week. "Each of the four films tells a story about the power of memory, the possibility of transcending unhappy memories, and above all, the meaning of human connections." This series was once a stand-alone event put on by the UW Asian American Studies Program, but was merged with festival years ago and has remained a central element ever since. The university department is responsible for the programming in this case.
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- The Curse of Quon Gwon by Marion Wong
- Hollywood Chinese by Arthur Dong
- N? Kamalei: The Men of Hula by Lisette Marie Flanary
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- Tie a Yellow Ribbon by Joy Dietrich
Another perennial element in festival programming is the collection of "Restorations and Revivals," movies well and lesser-known that are simply those that haven't been made in recent years. "It's less a series than a bunch of films," says Hamel, "but for those interested in seeing these older works, it's nice to give people an index." This year's group covers the gamut, running from 1936 through 1989.
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- All the President's Men by Alan J. Pakula
- The Big Country by William Wyler
- Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion by Elio Petri
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- My Man Godfrey by Gregory La Cava
- Parting Glances by Bill Sherwood
- Planet of the Apes by Franklin J. Shaffner
- Sponsored films of the 40s, 50s, & 60s by various directors
Here's a rather unusual inclusion in the programming: a series of promotional, advertising, market research, and other corporate films put out in the mid-20th Century by companies like Westinghouse and General Motors. They were put together by UW graduate Amy Sloper, a conservator at the Harvard Film Archive.- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Mike Nichols
- The Wonderful World of Sid Laverents by Sid Laverents
- World Without Sun by Jacques-Yves Cousteau
The inaugural
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by Johan Söderbergh, Michael Stenberg, and Linus Torell
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- Eight Twenty Eight by Lavi Ben Gal
This short film, paired with God Forgot Me in a Sunday screening, is an hour-long documentary about a man named Lavi who returns with his camera to the kibbutz where he grew up. "It's really cinematic, and filled with personal observations," notes Hamel, "and he does a great job of creating a humorous experience for the viewer." - God Forgot Me by Ifat Makbi
- Gole Sangam by Sarit Haymian
- Eight Twenty Eight by Lavi Ben Gal
- Sixty Six by Paul Weiland
- You Wanted to Make a Film? by Gali Weintraub
The series "Undercurrents: Recent Films from China" was inspired by a suggestion from UW Chinese literature and culture Professor Nicole Huang to. Originally, the idea was to highlight documentaries from the nation, but while organizing the festival, Hamel found narrative films she decided to program as well. "Somewhere along the way I became fascinated by films about the Three Gorges Dam project, so I set out to see what movies there were about this," she says. "Lo and behold, I found four, and was able to bring all of them to the festival. I'm really happy with how this series came together, and it includes some of my favorite films in the fest."
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- Bing'ai by Feng Yan
- by Zhang Yang
- by Yin Lichuan
This film (titled The Park in English), along with Xiang zi (The Case), are the first two in a proposed ten film series from the Yunnan New Film Project to feature the work of female directors in China. These two are the only that have been completed, though all ten scripts have been written, six have been approved by the Chinese government, and a third is in pre-production. Though they have been screened at several big festivals in Asia, the Wisconsin Film Festival is only one of a handful of places where these works are expected to be screened in the U.S. - Sanxia haoren by Jia Zhang-ke
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Tickets for the tenth annual Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale on Saturday, and remain available both