People, be sure to grab a copy of today's Isthmus, because inside is your very own copy of the 2012 Wisconsin Film Festival schedule. The festival runs April 18-22 in nine auditoriums, including, for the first time, theaters at Sundance Madison.
As always, the schedule can seem overwhelming at first, so take your time. There are features, documentaries, shorts and experimental films, and numerous screenings will be accompanied by filmmaker talks. Later today, the schedule will go live on the Wisconsin Film Festival website.
New global cinema is featured, with films from familiar international directors like Terence Davis (The Deep Blue Sea), as well many who might be new to you. Special series feature Iranian and Quebeois films. It wouldn't be a Wisconsin Film Festival without quirky documentaries, and so there are flicks like Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters, about competitive Tetris.
As always, Wisconsin is a focus. Fans of Broom Street Theater won't want to miss the documentary Filthy Theater: A Film About Joel Gersmann, a look at the man so closely identified with the east side company. A "Reconstructions, Restorations and Rediscoveries" series brings us blasts from the past, including Alan Parker's Bugsy Malone, the all-kid gangster musical. Other films on my must-see list are Girl Model, about the trials of international fashion modeling, and Kinyarwanda, which gathers stories about the Rwandan genocide.
Tickets go on sale March 31 at wifilmfest.org or at the festival box office (Annex Room, UW Memorial Union). If it's spring, it must be the Wisconsin Film Festival.
