Courtesy Wisconsin Film Festival
An audience watching a film at the Barrymore.
A Wisconsin Film Festival audience at the Barrymore in 2017, the last time it was used as a venue.
For a decade, movie lovers flocked to Hilldale after it became one of the venues for the annual Wisconsin Film Festival. But with the AMC 6 at Hilldale — one of the fest’s primary locations — now closed, staff had to scout different locations, says Ben Reiser, director of operations for the film fest. New venues for this year include the Barrymore Theatre, the Bartell Theatre, Flix Brewhouse and UW’s Music Hall; Flix and Music Hall will be hosting for the first time.
Additionally, the festival will return to the auditorium at the Chazen Museum of Art, the UW Cinematheque and the Marquee at Union South, all on the UW-Madison campus. Shannon Hall in the UW Memorial Union won’t be a venue this year because of cost, says Reiser.
The theater at Hilldale closed at the end of 2022, but then opened its doors again in 2023 to host film fest movies. It has since donated some of the projection equipment to the film fest, which in turn has transferred it to other venues.
"The Bartell and the Barrymore will keep the equipment on their premises and hopefully use it throughout the year,” says Reiser. “The future of [the equipment at] Music Hall is uncertain."
Festival staff was looking for venues that would have the space to keep the equipment, have capacity to host, and provide a great environment for moviegoers, Reiser says. Losing Hilldale as a venue forced the fest to reevaluate operations and think about what other venues might work, he adds.
“Our whole thing is about the joy of going to the movies,” Reiser says. “And we're always out to prove that going into a movie theater and going to see a movie is a different experience from watching that same movie at home.”
Reiser says festival organizers are excited to return to old venues and try out new venues, especially off-campus.
“I love the idea that the festival is a campus outreach program; it's on campus but it's also out in the community,” Reiser says. “Embodying the Wisconsin Idea of bringing the university experience out into the community at large.”
Films will return to the Barrymore Theatre on Atwood Avenue for the first time since 2017. Reiser says the Barrymore will be the largest venue this year, seating around 800 people, and will also host the opening night film.
The Festival is returning to the Bartell Theatre for the first time since 2012.
Flix Brewhouse, located in East Towne Mall, will likely bring in more people from the east side who avoided making the trek to Hilldale in the past.
Chris Randleman, chief revenue officer at Flix Brewhouse, says he’s looking forward to welcoming people into the business who may not have gone otherwise and excited to be part of something so integral to the Madison community. “It's a great way to engage the community and have people come in and be in a shared space and fall in love with cinema in all different sorts of ways,” Randleman says.
Flix is a dine-in movie theater and the restaurant brews its own beer on site. Being able to order food from one’s seat will be a first for the film fest.
Reiser anticipates that more than 10,000 people will go to festival movies at Flix throughout the week.
Ben Bell Bern, operations manager at Music Hall, says that the film festival mission aligns with the mission of Music Hall to bring artistic activity to campus.
“We're really excited to host them,” Bell Bern says. “And on a personal level, I'm glad that our spaces which can lie dormant are going to be more robustly used to present art.”
Will Hilldale ever again host the Wisconsin Film Fest? Several attempts to reach Hilldale officials were unsuccessful. Area Ald. Bill Tishler says the shopping center is growing and he expects there will be a theater there in the future. But he does not know exactly what plans are part of the current redevelopment.
This year’s Wisconsin Film Festival runs April 4-11. Organizers have not yet finalized the films, but more information will be available with the complete guide in the March issue of Isthmus and on the film festival website.
