Linda Falkenstein
People at the ticket area at the Hilldale AMC.
Hilldale's AMC movie theater will reopen for one last Wisconsin Film Festival.
Although closed since December, the AMC Hilldale theater will remain a site for the Wisconsin Film Festival for 2023, Hilldale officials announced at a news conference today. In addition, Hilldale will be donating equipment and furnishings from the theater to the festival.
“We were hearing rumors even before the 2022 Wisconsin Film Festival that AMC Hilldale was going to close by the end of 2022,” Ben Reiser, director of programming for the Wisconsin Film Festival, tells Isthmus over email. Reiser was not surprised that the Hilldale site shut down at the start of December, earlier than its announced end of the month closing date.
“Hilldale was our most popular venue since 2012,” Reiser says. It was in a solid location not too far from campus, had good equipment, and was always available for the festival dates; all amenities that would be hard to replace. Reiser and his crew did whip up a plan B, but now they won’t have to proceed with that backup plan just yet.
As it turns out, Hilldale negotiated a deal with AMC where the chain would leave behind the equipment and seats belonging to three theaters. Hilldale also wanted to come on board as a presenting sponsor for the entire festival. The 2023 Wisconsin Film Festival will again be showing many of its offerings in a familiar space, one last time. A final hurrah.
“Hilldale is donating everything that AMC left behind to us,” says Reiser. “This includes projection equipment, theater seating, lobby furniture, and many assorted odds and ends. We are working through the particulars of how that donation will work, and what we will do with those things, possible placement for much of it.”
Many moons ago now, back in the halcyon days of the mid-2000s, Robert Redford — yes, that Robert Redford — graced Madison with one of the few of his Sundance Cinemas, meant to be an alternative, more art/indie-focused movie theater chain.
In 2016, AMC, the country’s largest theater chain, took over Sundance (rebranding was completed in 2017). In 2022, AMC decided to close the Hilldale location by the end of the year, leaving a big empty multiplex with no movies to show, posters for films past unattended.
Reiser is excited that “against all odds” the fest gets to say goodbye to a longtime venue. “We are super excited about the possibilities of running the festival there,” he says, happy that one more ride can give “Madison audiences a chance to say goodbye to the venue, and to celebrate its legacy one more time.” (Has anyone called up Redford yet? He would be a great guest of honor at Wisconsin Film Festival Hilldale, the name they're giving for the Hilldale segment of the fest.)
The final stages of prep are in progress. “We are now feverishly reimagining the lobby space,” Reiser says, “and making all kinds of programming choices as we prepare our festival guide.” (The guide will be published in the March issue of Isthmus, out on March 9.)
Reiser even gave a tease of one of the fest’s “Closing Night” selections: fittingly, achingly, it will be Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show. If Redford can’t show, maybe Jeff Bridges would stop by to say a few things about an early picture of his.
Judith Davidoff
Film festival staffers with laptops.
Festival staffers Mike King, left, Jim Healy and Ben Reiser in 2022.
So, April 14-20, the Wisconsin Film Festival Hilldale will be happening in a friendly space, featuring friendly faces. There will also be screenings of films on campus at Shannon Hall in the Memorial Union, 4070 Vilas Hall, the Chazen Museum of Art and The Marquee at Union South. A one-week flash sale for the all-festival pass starts on Feb. 14, in celebration of the Hilldale announcement.
Much like cinema is a celebration of life captured for eternity, the WFFH is a celebration of the eternal cinema. Life comes at you fast when it's being projected at 30 frames a second, so catch a few frames created by filmmakers both local and legendary.
