A man faces a woman in a white doctor coat in a plain doctor's office.
Thaddeus Sykora, left, consults a palliative care doctor played by Colleen Madden in 'Winter Hymns."
It’s a success story born out of the Wisconsin Film Festival’s devotion to its Wisconsin’s Own programming.
Nathan Deming’s film Winter Hymns was originally booked for one showing at the festival; demand was great enough to add a second fest showing. Then Flix Brewhouse, the national film and brewery chain (home to most Wisconsin Film Fest weekday shows after the fest’s initial weekend), booked Winter Hymns for three additional showings outside the festival on May 3, 6 and 7.
The showing on May 3 was successful enough that Flix extended the run to a week. The film will now play at Flix daily from May 6 through May 13.
Deming says he contacted the theater after the May 3 showing went well and asked “how would you feel about adding some shows on the weekend?"
Chris Randleman, chief revenue officer and head of programming at Flix, tells Isthmus in an email he saw that that Winter Hymns was playing to “multiple packed screenings” and that the shows on May 6 and 7 were already almost sold out, so Flix was “thrilled to partner with writer/director Nathan Deming on a limited run of additional shows.”
Randleman notes that Flix Brewhouse “is an independent cinema chain and we are big supporters of independent cinema. Winter Hymns shows the possibility of independent film that connects with [the] audience in a real way. There is no better way to experience that than in a room full of people watching something special on the biggest screen possible.”
Randleman has also scheduled showings at Flix cinemas in Des Moines, Iowa, and Carmel, Indiana, on May 17 and 20. “We hope that those new audiences will experience what our Madison guests have.”
Ben Reiser, operations director at the Wisconsin Film Festival and programmer of its Wisconsin’s Own films, says this is “the first time I’ve seen it happen this way for a Wisconsin’s Own film that does not have official distribution.” He notes that several films from last year’s festival had some “additional one-off screenings in Madison and around the state, but not the kind of extended run that Winter Hymns is in the middle of. It is exciting and we are very happy for and proud of Nathan Deming.”
The film’s success flies in the face of reports of the death of the American attention span. With a run time of 2:36, the film has to be compelling.
Winter Hymns stars American Players Theatre core company member Colleen Madden as a palliative care doctor and follows her through an emotionally challenging day of seeing patients. It’s a meditative film influenced by filmmaker Mike Leigh, who was head of the London Film School when Deming was a student there, as well as Deming’s father, a doctor who switched to palliative care late in his career. The film also features APT core company member Sarah Day as an English teacher grappling with her own mortality. The large cast is all Wisconsin actors, from professionals to people taking on their first role, including dairy farmer Thaddeus Sykora in a moving performance.
Tickets to the Flix shows are available here.
Watch the trailer:
