Jennifer Johnson
Carol Brandt, director of “Pet Names.“
The words “Wisconsin filmmaker” might lead you to envision Green Bay Packers fans, beer, and burly white dudes on frozen lakes. But Isthmus spent time with some “Wisconsin’s Own” filmmakers — women and people of color — who are upending those stereotypes.
In a March 28 panel discussion moderated by Kori Feener, director of videography at Isthmus and herself a documentarian, five filmmakers who have films screening at this year’s fest opened up about the challenges and joys of making movies here in Wisconsin.
Carol Brandt, the Milwaukeean who directed the moody, sun-drenched feature Pet Names, often features queer characters in her work. “It’s become so important to see people like you on screens, because it’s so rare,” says Brandt. “For example for a queer kid or a trans kid to see someone like them on screen — that’s very powerful.” Now that Pet Names is making the rounds of festivals (it premiered at this year’s South by Southwest festival), Brandt will launch another project from Los Angeles, titled Pink Moon. “It takes place in Middle America where it’s very flat,” says Brandt. “It’s about a queer couple who breaks down in a very conservative town, and it goes into the layers of people and how assumptions are challenged.”
Saif Alsaegh, who is pursuing a master’s degree in fine arts at UW-Milwaukee, wrote and directed the powerful experimental short, 1991. The film shows Alsaegh, an Iraqi immigrant, undertaking everyday tasks in a Wisconsin cabin while FaceTiming with his mother, a refugee in Turkey who is unable to get a visa to the United States. He translates his mother’s account of her pregnancy and his birth in 1991, when U.S. bombs rained over Baghdad. “Coming from Iraq, there were a lot of stories that people in the U.S. didn’t know about, and that’s why for me to be in this field right now is important,” says Alsaegh.
The frank documentary Yen Ching depicts generational conflict in a struggling Chinese restaurant in Milwaukee. The film’s producer, Yujing Wang, says she and her husband, director Yinan Wang, welcome the chance to share their culture. “One of the core values of Chinese culture is family,” says Wang. “Family should stay together, we fight against difficulties together. When you have something in your blood, you want to show this to people.”
Maya Castronovo, a student at Verona High School, directed and wrote Laura, an experimental short that wrestles with her close friend’s suicide. “The problem with having white male directors dominate the film industry is that we don’t really get an accurate glimpse of different perspectives,” says Castronovo.
The panelists agree that Wisconsin is a relatively affordable place to make films, and that a supportive community exists, especially in Milwaukee, where UW-Milwaukee is often ranked among top film schools. “The film industry in Wisconsin is developing very fast,” says Wang. “This is telling the world that Wisconsin is having a booming market for filmmakers. And that it is a filmmaker-friendly environment.”
“It’s a lot cheaper to shut down the street [to film] in Madison than to shut down a street in Chicago or in New York,” says Arielle Bordow, who directed and starred in the short 140 N. Hancock. “If we keep building this filmmaking community, there’s no reason why there couldn’t be a great filmmaking situation in Wisconsin.”
Brandt, who is departing for Los Angeles soon, says that is true to a point, but that it’s tough to raise funds for big projects here. “It’s very, very hard to make a film over a certain budget,” says Brandt. “I’ve made all my films for less than $50 grand. Now that I am hopefully going to make them for more, I can’t really do that as much. But my hope is that by going to L.A. I can get the tools I need and the connections I need to continue to do that, and then eventually come back here and continue to grow what we already have going.”
Alsaegh, who is also leaving Milwaukee after he graduates to reunite with his wife in California, says he has found a particular value in setting his work here. “I think what’s interesting about Wisconsin is how American it is,” says Alsaegh. “When I was making 1991, I wanted to shoot it in a very American place, and luckily I know people that have a cabin. It’s like one of these movies that you would watch, very Midwestern. People here look different, sound different — everything about the Midwest is very specific, and Wisconsin has this kind of beautiful, magical American texture that I’m really interested in.”
