- Announcer: The following program is a PBS Wisconsin Original Production.

[funky music] [child screaming wildly] [intense instrumental music] [friction from blankets] - Welcome to Director's Cut.

I'm Pete Schwaba and welcome to our show's annual Wisconsin Film Festival episode.

This is my personal favorite episode of the year and a very big week coming up for film fans in our state.

Every year movie lovers have the option to watch a wide array of movies: from great indies from up and coming directors, restored classics, and excellent foreign films, as well as some fascinating and insightful discussions with filmmakers.

Making this year a little extra special will be the return of live theater-going movie-loving audiences.

Take that, COVID!

Over the next hour, we'll see clips from films and talk to several directors about their work.

But first, here to tell us more about the upcoming movie mania in Madison is Wisconsin Film Festival Artistic Director, Mike King.

Mike, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Thanks for having me.

Great to be here.

- How'd you like all that alliteration I just did?

- I loved it.

[Pete laughs] It was amazing.

- I did it just for you.

So, start us off.

Let's talk festival.

Give us an overview, if you will, to this year's festival, and talk about your lineups a little bit.

- Well, I mean, the big thing that we're excited about is after three years to finally be back in person with real live audiences in theaters in Madison to present these films the way they're meant to be seen on a huge screen with surround sound, a room full of people to experience it with.

We'll have visiting filmmakers coming in from around the country, and certainly, across Wisconsin.

And it's gonna be a great chance for everyone just to get together and really see these films as they're meant to be seen.

- You know, it's funny because as much as-- you guys went virtual for a couple years, and that's better than nothing.

- Sure.

- But really, you do miss out on the live audience, as well as the guests, the guest speakers.

And, I mean, to me, that's what makes a film festival great is you get to interact with filmmakers and hear them talk about their work.

Who do you have coming in this year?

- We have some great guests this year.

Probably a big one is David Koepp, who's the screenwriter for Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible and many great blockbusters over the years.

He's gonna be presenting his new film Kimi, which was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and as well as two films that influenced Kimi: Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation and the classic, Sorry, Wrong Number.

And then, we're also gonna do a special screening with him of another film he wrote, Death Becomes Her, the great classic comedy from the '90s with Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn.

It's hilarious.

That movie's aged so well.

I can't wait for that show.

- He's not gonna sleep while he is here, is he?

- No, we're putting him to work.

- He gets your money's worth.

- For sure.

- Talk about a little bit, if you would, about you have another guest coming in, a guy who I grew up idolizing, David Zucker.

- Absolutely, yeah.

UW-Madison alum, David Zucker, will be here during the week to screen Top Secret!

and yeah, amazing.

It's real exciting to have him and get to hear him talk about that film.

- Yeah, 'cause that was Val Kilmer's first feature film, I believe, and I saw recently the documentary about Val called Val, and he's kind of a difficult guy to work with, but I'd love to hear what David Zucker has to say about Val Kilmer.

It'd be a great-- - Now, get the other side of the story.

- Yeah, exactly.

Do you have a favorite venue?

You guys show at the Union, the art museum, Hilldale.

- They all bring out something special.

The Cinematheque, of course, and the Chazen, we're able to show films on 35 millimeter, which is something we're really proud of and we take really seriously.

So we have plenty of restored classics shown on film, as well as new avant-garde movies that we'll be showing on film.

So that's always very special to us.

The Cinematheque is kind of our home venue, but we're always happy to be at AMC Madison on the three huge screens there.

It's amazing to see.

And then, seeing something at Shannon Hall at the Memorial Union.

I mean, that can be-- opening night can be a huge crowd, as big as you're ever gonna get to see a movie with.

And that's really a special experience.

- They're all great venues, well said.

Let's take a look at our first sampling of films that will be at this year's festival.

[dramatic music] [speaking Hebrew] ♪ Once upon a time ♪ [sings in foreign language] ♪ Once upon a time ♪ [sings in foreign language] ♪ My mother and father were binary stars ♪ [speaks in foreign language] [vehicles race by] [chiming] - We're back with Mike King from the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Mike, what is your-- [exhales] What makes the Wisconsin Film Festival different?

Is there a-- What makes it unique?

Does it have characteristics that other film festivals don't have?

- Well, I think one of the things that's really special about our film festival is we try and connect these films with film history.

I mentioned some of the David Koepp screenings where we find movies that influenced his films, and we bring those, and we try and present the full spectrum of movies.

We'll go all the way back to the '30s in this year's festival.

And we'll bring documentaries that relate to new films, old films.

So we try and make it all connected in cinema history.

- That's really interesting.

And has that been a theme since the inception of the festival?

- It has, even before anyone who's currently involved in the festival was programming it, there's always plenty of repertory stuff and a really serious look at cinema.

I think it's partially because we're based in the Department of Communication Arts here at UW-Madison.

So we take film seriously.

- Yeah, and isn't it the largest university-sponsored film festival?

- It is, yeah, absolutely.

It's something we're super proud of.

- That is pretty cool.

When I used to do stand-up, people would say, "Oh, you have a Midwestern sensibility about you."

Do Wisconsin filmmakers have a sensibility?

Is there a running theme sort of, or a recurring theme you see in their work?

- That's interesting.

I feel like our "Wisconsin's Own" spectrum is so, I mean, the spectrum's so broad of the kinds of movies that we show there.

So, to try and pin it down, I feel like would be difficult.

- Yeah.

- I mean, I'm always amazed at how-- the variety of movies that are in the "Wisconsin's Own" program as you'll see just later on the show.

- Right.

You have a background in programming art house films.

I thought when Netflix became a thing, and Prime and Hulu and all this and people became-- you know the general public became more savvy to indie films and they were easier to find, I thought they'd blow up.

Are art houses-- have they leveled off?

Or will they ever be like, not matching the megaplexes, but will they become more popular to go see movies in art houses, do you think?

- Well, I think the people are gonna be hopefully looking for the theatrical experience.

So, I think that art house movies is, they really gain a lot from being seen in a theater.

And I hope that they do come back in that way because I agree that it has been-- the landscape has changed a lot in the past few years, but the festival is strong as ever.

And we're bringing all these movies to town the way they're supposed to be seen.

So I hope that people get on board and there's a huge, a wave of art house embracing in Madison.

- I hope so-- Well, in Madison, I think there is, but I think it's great that people just, I mean for a lot of these independent filmmakers, you make a movie and it either goes to streaming or somewhere, but they rarely get to see an indie film with a micro-budget with a big audience.

So that's a great thing too about any festival really.

But, Mike, thanks.

We'll talk to you a little bit more at the end of the show.

Thanks for being here again.

- Thank you.

- Awesome.

But right now, we're gonna see a clip from the narrative short January.

[wind blows harshly] ♪ Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells ♪ ♪ Jingle all the way ♪ ♪ Oh, what fun it is to ride ♪ ♪ In a one-horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ Jingle bell ♪ - Hey, Mary Beth.

- Good morning, Marty, how ya doing?

[continues typing] What's going on with this wedding?

Is that still happening?

- I think so.

We didn't get any cancellations.

[Mary Beth continues typing] - There's nobody here and nuttin' in the sanctuary or social hall.

[Mary Beth continues typing] Is pastor in?

- Should be soon.

♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells ♪ ♪ Jingle all the way ♪ - There's a big hole in the stairwell.

- I know.

I need to get a bucket out.

Snow's leaking through the roof.

- Well, you better get that fixed!

- Well, Paul Gehrke is supposed to come and do it sometime... for free, but they haven't had time.

- You can't wait to fix that, though!

- Well, we don't have any money.

You've seen the church budget.

- Good morning, ladies.

Marty.

- What's going on with this wedding?!?

It's 9:30, and nobody is here!

- As far as I know, they're still coming.

They're late, I guess.

- There's nothing going on!

Where's the decorations?

Are they gonna do it?

- Some people don't want much-- just a quick wedding.

- Well, I know that, but nobody's told me nuttin'.

I am the church wedding coordinator, aren't I?

- Yes, you are Marty.

I'm sure they'll be here shortly.

If not, I'm expecting a call.

["Jingle Bells" continues, typing continues] - These for Sunday?

- That was a clip from January and joining me now is Tomah native Nathan Deming.

Nathan, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Hey, Pete, how's it going?

- Good how are you?

Good to have you.

- Good.

- Disclaimer, you made Speaking in Tongues, over your shoulder there, was a feature film you made, and you were gracious enough to gimme a cameo when so it is nice to see you again.

- Yeah, yeah, you were great.

- Post-COVID with longer hair, great to have you.

- Yeah.

[chuckles] Great clip, too!

Tell us a little bit about the film.

Give us an overview, if you would.

- Yeah, January is a short film.

It's kind of this character study of a super church named Marty at a dying church during a wedding.

And so, it's also kind of a portrait of this kind of small community.

And, as you can see, she's got a bit of a personality.

And yeah, it's kind of a look at a lot of things, but mainly, it's a comedy so... - It was very "Wisconsin."

No one would mistake that for being filmed anywhere else.

And even the name you chose, the "Gehrke," that's, like, such a Wisconsin name.

She's such a great character.

Talk about the woman who plays Marty, if you would.

Where did you find her?

- Becky-- her name is Becky Brown.

She's a fantastic actress here in Los Angeles.

And she's... That's where I am right now.

And she's done a lot of work on kind of all over, but she hadn't really done anything like this.

So it was really fun working with her and kind of completely creating this character out of thin air, basically.

'Cause I really wanted it to be somebody with a strong personality.

I didn't know exactly what it would be.

And it was really fun.

This whole project came together really fast.

So it was really fun to just kind of dive into it with her once I found her and kind of slowly build up what her personality would be, what her voice would be, and kind of build the whole film around her performance.

- Can you elaborate a little bit?

There's a great scene where she's talking to the bride and kind of grills her a little bit.

Can you elaborate on what's going on in that scene a little bit?

- Yeah, well, I guess that's the other kind of big conflict in the film is there's a wedding going on.

It's kind of a shotgun wedding.

The bride's pregnant.

They are all 18.

They're drinking in the church.

They're not really religious.

They're clearly just renting the church for the look of it.

And so, throughout the film, there's a bit of a culture clash between this kind of older volunteer and this like kind of younger group who doesn't really care, is just kind of there for the wedding.

But clearly, the bride has some kind of deeper issues going into it.

So, when it comes to the wedding itself, that clash kind of comes to its head and-- - It's a great scene.

- Yeah, thanks.

- So, in your bio, and I know this from working with you, you're an incredibly resourceful filmmaker.

I mean, you make the most out of your budget, as do a lot of indie filmmakers.

When it says micro-budget, I'm sure you'd love to have more money when you make your films, but does that bring you creative freedom, so to speak, working with a small budget?

- It does.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, it'd be great to have more money, but I think there's so much creativity that can come out of those situations.

I did this project 'cause I was gonna do a much bigger project that kind of, for one reason or another, fell apart at the last minute.

And so, I had about two months to scramble and put together something and knowing that like, just those fixed parameters, like knowing the amount of money I had and then, the crew still being committed, which was great.

I felt like it was the best situation to make something with those limitations.

- Very cool we have about 30 seconds left, Nathan.

Talk a little bit about how you like shooting in Wisconsin.

You shot Dog Days here that was in the festival a few years ago.

Is it an easy place to shoot?

- I love Wisconsin, yeah.

And right now, that's kind of where my head's at, that I'm trying to maybe make a few more shorts that are all kind of based on different months of the year here in Wisconsin.

This is January, and I might do March, June, April, May just as it kind of thematically all connect.

- Here's what I'm hearing.

That's 11 more appearances on the Wisconsin Film Festival episode of Director's Cut.

So get cracking on that, would ya?

- Sounds good.

- Great having you!

Good luck at the festival!

Thanks for being here.

- Yeah, thanks, Pete.

- Yeah.

Up next, a Golden Badger award-winning film.

This is What You Left Behind.

[wind blows briskly] - Woman: He was a good man.

Hard worker.

Loving, forgiving, you name it, he was it.

But he always did everything to an extreme [sniffles] and uniquely.

He was all about presentation, whether it was the business, the house.

- Man: I like that photo a lot.

[woman sniffles] - Woman: Yeah, all about presentation.

- Man: Everything looks so young.

- Woman: It does.

It does.

[exhales sadly] It was pretty.

Yeah.

- Man: Do you see him in the landscaping?

- Yep.

Oh, yeah, definitely.

Every time I look at it, that's why we put his bush from his funeral right on the end there.

- That was a clip from the documentary short What You Left Behind, and joining me is director Jayce Kolinski.

Jayce, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Hi, thank you so much.

I'm super excited to be here.

This is actually my first interview ever.

So I'm really excited, nervous, but honored.

- First interview ever.

Well, that puts a lot of pressure on you and me.

So, let's we'll handle this together, okay.

- Okay.

- So this looked like a very personal film, obviously semi-autobiographical, if not totally autobiographical.

Can you elaborate a little bit, tell us where this idea came from and what made you wanna make it into a film?

- Yeah, so back in 2017, when my father unexpectedly passed away, I remember the scene, the opening shot of the film, walking into the room and seeing his body there.

And I remember, after that moment, walking out, and, you know, just sitting in my room and kind of like just meditating in that moment for a second.

I think... it was always...

Always gonna...

I was always gonna get through this by making a film.

I didn't know what it would be at that point, but that started a three-year long process of me going through all of his documents, me filming with my mom, spending a lot of time with her, and just getting to know him better.

And when it came time for my senior year, at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, it was kind of obvious to me at that point that I wanted to make this and dedicate that full year into making it my senior thesis project.

- Wow, boy, that's incredible.

You said-- You mentioned the opening scene where you have this kind of haunting shot of just someone laying behind a bed and you just see their feet, which I assume is your father you're talking about.

And over the-- the voiceover, it said you never told your father you loved him, or he never told you.

Is this sort of a love letter to your dad, this-- making this film?

Were you close to him in real life, and is that-- or not close enough, and that's why you made the film?

- No, not really.

I would describe our relationship as a little bit estranged.

You know, kind of at the lowest it's been.

Like, when he died, my last words to him had a couple profanities in it.

And I didn't even look at him when I walked out the door.

And then, I got the call the next morning, and I kind of saw this film as almost like, kind of the end of the arc.

Like, how do I take this situation that didn't resolve itself in a nice way and kind of, dedicate a little bit of my time and find a way to kind of have some resolve at it.

And I feel like the film did that for me in a lot of ways, and did it for my mom, as well.

And I've gotten closer, not just to my mom, but to my entire family after this because of the film, I feel.

- Wow, good for you; that's great!

In your bio, I saw that you do short-form documentaries, as well as feature-length.

Can you talk about the difference in those?

Do you have a preference?

I'm sure the feature-length are much more overwhelming to undertake, but what do you prefer?

- Oh, so I probably prefer for my personal practice doing short form.

I just kind of love exploring many different stories.

And the short form is really nice 'cause you don't have to dedicate as much time to one feature project, but I have worked on a lot of feature documentaries, and I love the immersion that you get, the amount of dedication it takes to, just kind of immerse yourself in a community.

And that's really exciting.

- Yeah, you say also-- You're an award-winning artist and photographer.

In your bio, it says you experiment with alternative darkroom processes and documentary form.

Can you elaborate on that, please, to us laypeople who don't understand quite what that means?

It's an interesting sentence, though.

- Of course.

Well, the backbone of the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee program, maybe not so much now, but is learning darkroom processes.

And I absolutely loved just experimenting in the darkroom, trying to create images in kind of unusual ways.

And so, I use different types of film emulsion to kind of take images and create images that are kind of different than anything else you would see out there.

I love experimenting with what you can do shooting on VHS, working in the darkroom on 16 millimeter.

I used an optical printer on this project, What You Left Behind.

And so that was just a lot of really fun ways of exploring image-making in the documentary context, specifically.

- Well, keep up the good work.

It was a very good film.

And you just got through your first interview.

How do you like that?

- Oh, thank you.

- Thanks for being here and good luck at the festival, Jayce.

Good to have you.

We'll talk with more Wisconsin filmmakers in just to moment, but first, here's a look at more brilliant films featured at the Wisconsin Film Festival.

[suspenseful music] [razor buzzing] [water running] [speaks in foreign language] [wind whirls] [hitting table abruptly] [speaking in a foreign language] [clapping] [slap] [singing in a foreign language] [laughing] [gentle splashing] [dog barking, growling aggressively] - Where's your mother.

- Pardon?

- Where's the body?

- She was cremated.

Yes, she had a will.

- Sarah, you are the owner of the house and the bookstore.

- There must be some sort of mistake.

I'm moving to Ohio.

- Okay, let me talk to my boy-- my partner and I'll get back to you.

- Your mother had employees.

- Can I help you?

- I'm looking for Pit.

- I am Pit.

- Hi, Dad.

- I'm sorry, girl.

- My father says the elders are demanding final funeral rights for my mom.

I'm gonna help with the funeral party, get the bookstore sold, and then... [sigh] Ohio.

How do you know my mom again?

- After I got parole, my grandmother knew your mom.

She hooked it up.

I do anything for that woman.

So, what you studying?

- I'm a molecular neuro-oncologist.

- What are your plans here?

This houses is for a family.

You have a family?

- You don't live here anymore.

- You just can't use people and throw 'em away.

This a Christian bookstore, not a Walmart.

[laughs warmly] [traditional African music] - I'm not very good at being my mom.

- You don't have to be your mother.

You get to define you, mama.

- The Wisconsin Film Festival takes place in person from April 7th to the 14th.

With over 150 films to choose from, it is a movie heaven.

The festival attracts more than 30,000 moviegoers that watch films on several screens around Madison.

We're talking shorts, features, documentaries, classics, films from around the world, and films from right here in Madison.

Go to the Wisconsin Film Festival website and start picking your movies.

We've got more directors and more movies coming your way.

Here's a clip from the feature film, The Turkey.

- And how are you gonna write if you still have a kid?

- Well, I mean, it can't be that hard, right?

They sleep most of the time.

You just gotta... pick 'em up, and then, they just, like, latch and then you just kind of reach around the keyboard and you can just, like, type.

It seems, like, pretty easy.

So come on, no, of course not.

We're not having a kid!

That's insane, right?

- Really?

- No, there's still so much more to do.

- What about my art?

- I mean, do you really think that stuff's gonna happen for us?

- I mean, maybe.

You know what, Rita?

I don't get you.

Like, you spent the whole day ignoring me, and you've been completely in your head.

And now, we're talking about babies, and I don't even, and I don't even think I've heard you talking about wanting to have a kid before.

I mean, I knew you wanted to get married.

Sure and me, too.

- Marty.

- Let me finish!

- You're not just with me because you wanna have a kid soon, right?

Like, I know you're getting older, and like, I don't want that to be it.

And worse, you're not one of those white women who just, like, wants to have a kid because they'd be mixed, and you think, "Oh, mixed kids are beautiful."

- Marty, God, Jesus, no!

- Good 'cause that #### is messed up.

- Yeah, no.

- So, we are still going on this writing tour?

I mean, this was your idea.

You planned the whole thing.

You said, and I'm quoting, "This is your big break."

- Yes, of course.

Yes, of course, we're still gonna do this writing tour.

You and me, cross country.

Let's just, like, ####### do it already, though.

- Like, there's Marty, he's just here.

So, I guess he's it, ha-ha, father material.

Yeah, let's just let it be him.

- Marty, come on.

No, I want to have a kid with you.

[scoffs] [speaking in unison] - I don't know, Rita.

- You seem unreliable.

- You are all over the place.

- That was a clip from The Turkey.

And joining me is UW-Madison alum, Liz Kaar.

Liz, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Thank you so much.

Thanks for having me.

- Can you tell us a little bit about The Turkey?

And then, I wanna ask you about the music in that scene.

That was really cool!

But first, give us a brief synopsis of the film, if you would.

- Yeah, so it's a film kind of [laughs] drawn for my own life.

Where, you know, contemplating having a baby, but also being an artist and the push and the pull and all that stuff.

But it's about, a couple that wants to have a last, like, hurrah Friendsgiving before they have a baby and their lives change.

And unexpectedly, her very Midwestern family shows up, throwing a wrench in those plans.

And they're all kind of stuck in an apartment because of a snowpocalypse storm and, you know, secrets come out and betrayals.

And hopefully, that leads to comedy and drama.

And that was the intent anyway.

- Well, it sure looks like it.

Can you draw a parallel between the plot of the movie being stuck in an apartment with so many people during Thanksgiving in an actual movie shoot?

Is there other parallels there?

- Absolutely.

Well, this was pre-pandemic that we shot so that it became even more true to life, right?

[laughs] - Wow.

- Everyone's stuck.

- So the music in that clip was really interesting.

Was that-- Obviously, it's important to you, too, as a filmmaker.

Can you talk about your choice for the film and is that the kind of score we can see throughout, if we see the film at the festival?

- Yes, absolutely.

So that is by composer Joe Sepka, and he is amazing.

And I really wanted the music to kind of have a-- lend to the awkwardness and you give it a certain tone that was a little bit more off-kilter.

So that's what I went for for the music.

Because, you know, with those choices, you can have it be more on the nose comedy or a little bit-- give it a different flavor.

- It's interesting because oftentimes, people say they don't wanna notice the score.

They just wanted to enhance the picture without noticing it.

I noticed it, but it still complimented the scene really well.

So, tip of my hat to you there.

- Liz: Thank you.

- Your first love is editing.

Does that help your directing?

Is this your first feature film, I assume?

- This is my first scripted feature film.

I have been an editor for a decade on documentary films and have directed documentary films.

But the scripted world is definitely very, very different, working with actors, you know, but it's very fun, and this was a micro-budget film.

So there was a scrappiness involved, which definitely helped.

My documentary background helped with that.

- How?

How does being an editor help you direct?

- So, it definitely-- what shots you need.

You know how things cut together.

You are thinking about, did people hit the main beats of the scene?

Especially when you're micro-budget and scrappy, you're hoping everyone gets the lines, but also just the main beats of the steam.

So you're kind of editing in your head, and that's important.

- Makes you a little more efficient maybe as a director, 'cause you can see two steps ahead maybe, right?

- Yes, yes, absolutely, for sure.

- You, okay, so when I was reading about you, I love when people romanticize their life or their profession or what they find out about, especially movie making and here's what you said, and you were describing coming out of a long editing session and a small cramped editing suite.

And you said upon entering the lobby, I reacted.

The sun had set, the building was sparsely populated, and it was very late.

I had spent 10 hours doing something I love, but it felt like two hours, and I'm paraphrasing, but that's how you knew you found your calling.

Talk a little bit about that.

- Totally.

- If you would, just the editing process and how amazing you felt in that moment, in 30 seconds.

- Yeah, I just got lost in it, and that was actually at UW-Madison, and I didn't know I wanted to be a filmmaker, and I took a class, and that just led me to another one.

And then, I ended up in a production class that I was in these editing suites.

And, yeah, you just kind of get lost in the story.

You get lost in the technical, the cutting, and it's just amazing how you can create new meaning by adding music, by compressing things, by cutting things fast.

And so, I just kind of fell in love with that ability and, yeah, I think anything, when you're having fun things-- a long time frame seems like it happened in a flash of an eye.

And I was like, "Well, if this could be my job, that would be really cool."

- Yeah, wow, and you did it, so good for you.

That's fantastic.

I can't wait to see the rest of the film at the festival.

Congratulations, and thanks so much for being here, Liz.

- Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

- Next, a clip from an experimental dance film you just have to see.

This is Mover.

[dramatic music] [struggling sounds] [groans] Joining me now is director Jackson Jarvis.

Jackson, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Thank you for having me.

- Oh, our pleasure.

Really nice job on the film.

Tell us a little bit about the film and what inspired you to make this film.

- Definitely, yeah.

So Mover, it's a sort of experimental dance film, as you already said.

It explores heartbreak.

It was inspired by a breakup.

That was the original inspiration for the film, but it sort of has evolved in many ways and has become many things, and it sort of serves many different purposes in my mind as a film because at its core, it's about losing a person.

But I think it also has to do with people's connections to objects.

It has to do with people's connections to spaces and the sort of difficulty with parting with anything, difficulty with dealing with change, in general.

- Yeah, it was described as a ghost story/dance film.

Have you uncovered a new genre here for filmmaking?

Really cool.

I mean, it's very innovative.

- Thank you.

- Could that be a thing now, or what do you think?

- Sure, why not?

Yeah, I mean, I think it is interesting that I've been sort of been calling it a dance film, although it's not-- it's not expressly a dance film as far as I know, just because there's no actual dance numbers, it's just very choreographed.

And everything is very precise, and everything happens in a very precise way.

There's-- so it's choreographed, but not necessarily dancy.

So, it's an interesting kind of in-between genre, I guess, which is really fun to explore with my choreographer, who also plays the lead.

Her name is Tilly.

She also lives in Brooklyn with me, but she and I went to high school together, and we were in show choir together back in the day.

So we did the whole song and dance back in high school, and we reconnected to make this film, and it sort of became, kind of going off a tangent here, but it sort of became in a lot of ways her film, because our stories have all these crazy parallels.

Like she also went through a breakup that, sort of, she had similar experiences where she just lost somebody in her life and also had to say goodbye to a lot of objects and that kinda, so anyway.

- That is really something.

- It's been an incredible project to work on, yeah.

- I can almost hear the Broadway thing already.

Like, is there any-- Do you have aspirations to make it into something bigger?

Like a big musical?

I mean, it's very catchy and just the tempo it builds.

It's just fascinating.

- I don't know.

I think I've been asked this before, and I don't really know how I would expand it to a larger film, but I think it belongs just because of the sort of the cinematic language that it uses.

I think it kind of belongs on screen.

I've never really thought about it becoming a stage thing.

I don't know.

Maybe Tilly would know.

She's on Broad-- She's actually on Broadway.

She plays one of the company people in Moulin Rouge!

right now in Brooklyn.

- Oh, no kidding.

She would probably know better than me.

- I'm just putting it out there, so think about it.

[both laugh] - No doubt, no doubt.

- So you were born here in Wisconsin, and now you live in New York?

- That's right.

- Do you feel more creative in New York since you're around it and there's a buzz in the atmosphere or are you inspired when you're in Wisconsin, and where you're from?

- I mean, I think it's all about perspective.

I think if you're just in one place, you'll only see within that one bubble.

If I was just in Wisconsin, I think I would only see in that one bubble.

But having the perspective on Wisconsin, and then, when I go back home, I have the perspective on New York, and then, I do a lot of traveling, as well.

So, it's all about, like, standing out and looking in.

So, Brooklyn, and New York in general, is a very inspirational place 'cause there's so many super-talented people.

Like, our crew is incredible.

It's, like, the best.

I mean, I'm biased, but best crews in the world, I think, are in New York and super creative people.

But at the same time, I think I wouldn't appreciate it as much if I maybe was from New York and I didn't have the perspective of, like, if that makes sense.

- Pete: Yeah.

- But my previous film, a short film called Neptune, I shot in Richland Center in Wisconsin, actually.

And that was really interesting, too.

So, it's sort of like, now I've got like Wisconsin film and in New York film and it's been really fun to sort of explore both, two very, very different movies.

- You gotta match those two worlds together.

Like, you did horror and dance.

I think that's your thing in filmmaking is to combine things.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Hey, great job on the film, and really nice to have you here.

Thanks, Jackson.

- Thanks very much.

- You got it.

Next film is an animated experimental short called Devour.

[insects chirping] [din of background conversation] Joining me now is Kate Raney, who has screened her film at festivals all across the country.

Kate, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Hi, thanks for having me.

- Yeah, congratulations on getting into the festival.

Can you tell us a little bit about what's going on in the clip we just saw and just kind of give us an overview of your film?

- Sure, so it's animals and mostly bugs, but-- and a deer eating various things from my garden and then, it kind of gets very collage-y and kind of, there's sound from sort of all over the place.

So it's an experimental film.

It's not a straightforward narrative, and it begins off like sort of more quiet and then like builds into this more, like, strange overlapping, like animals and bugs and flower environment.

[laughs] - Yeah, the colors are brilliant, and the sound, too.

It's just a really sharp, like, colors and sound, both.

That was striking to me when I was watching it.

In that clip, you have, I assume the bees are pollinating or whatever they're doing there.

And then you have these human voices come in.

Can you explain what's going on there a little bit?

I thought it was interesting and like you're at a picnic or so something, I don't know.

- Yeah, so actually, what I did, all the bugs and the deer and everything is from video in my front yard or my front yard of my old house.

And then, the audio is from various places I traveled over the course of several years.

So I have audio that's like birds in New Mexico, and, you know, bugs on a hiking path in Italy.

And the speaking is-- actually, we were at dinner in Italy, and I tend to just carry a audio recorder around when I travel.

So I just had it in my purse, and recorded it throughout dinner.

So, it's during that dinner.

So, I know I'm speaking English sometimes in the background, but most of the people around me are not speaking English.

There's some Italian.

I think, a few other languages in there.

But I was really just kind of thinking about how, like, we all eat.

And so, those various situations in which, you know, we are consuming.

Yeah.

- So what made you decide to make this film?

Where did the idea come from to put all this together-- The colors, the sound, and the bugs in your yard-- and when did you get this idea to make this into a film?

- Yeah, so I had been-- we had this, like, amazing garden of milkweed plants mostly and then echinacea, and then, a few other things.

But, like, the milkweed, one year, we just had so much life and activity on it, and so I just started shooting stuff on my phone and just, like, kind of pocketed away for, like, sometime I'll do something with this.

And then I got that, this clip of the deer eating all of the mums off of one of our plants.

Like, it just like went through and ate the entire thing.

So, right out the window, it was really close.

And then, I decided to just put those together, and I had been collecting, I mean, I just sort of collect a lot.

So, I'd been collecting the audio over time.

And when I started thinking about like the rituals of eating and the habits and everything, I started pulling the audio from all these other travel experiences.

And then, the blue is a photographic process called cyanotypes.

And so, that's when you actually take objects and expose them onto blue paper, blue film.

Like, the blue is the chemical color.

And so, I took materials from our garden after they had, like, been eaten and died and all of the stuff.

So, like the dried flowers and the milkweed pods, and all of that and put it down on the cyanotype and exposed that.

And that, actually, like, I had done the animation and the sound and had an edit of it that I was sort of not satisfied with.

And I took a workshop on the cyanotypes, and I was like, this is the missing thing.

- Nice.

- And so, that's when I did all of those and put that together, and that really, for me, pulled it together, and it's a really short film, but it was like a three-year process of actually making it.

- Wow!

- And that's sort of separate from the collecting all of the different audio.

- Well, it was great.

Thank you very much for sharing it with us today, and good luck at the festival.

Thanks for being here today.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

And thanks to all of our filmmakers who have joined us for this preview.

Here's our final grouping of film clips.

[ominous music] [speaking in Romanian] [glass shatters] [revolver clicks] [loud bang, shudder] [alarm clock beeps] [playful music] - We're back with our final segment with Mike King from the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Thanks for being here today, Mike.

Looks like another great lineup of movies.

What are you most excited about this year?

- I mean, we're really excited to be welcoming people back, and that includes people who've maybe never been to a movie theater before, like, families, you know.

We have an amazing selection of family programming called "Big Screens, Little Folks."

And this is a great way, if you have young kids in your life, to introduce them to the magic of international cinema and the movie-going experience.

And it's shorts and features from all around the world.

- Wow, what is cool.

Do you get good turnout?

That's a yearly?

- Yeah, we've been doing for several years now, and, yeah, the turnout's really good for those, so be sure to get your tickets.

- All right.

- But it's exciting.

- Do I have to bring my family or can I just, is that creepy-- - No, plenty of people just come.

Plenty of people just do it.

In fact, one of my favorite movies is a movie that's good for all ages called Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, which is an incredibly beautiful Japanese animated movie.

It's really funny; it's really moving.

I watched it with my 10-year-old.

We were both just enraptured by it.

- Oh, that's fantastic.

Okay, well, there you-- say the title again, just so we-- - Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko.

- Okay, perfect.

Mike, excellent job.

Thanks for being with us today.

- Thanks for having me.

- And we'll see you around town for the festival.

It looks like another great one.

- For sure.

- Hey, thanks so much for being here today, all of you, and thanks to the filmmakers that joined me today, and thank you for watching Directors Cut.

For more information on this year's Wisconsin Film Festival, please go to wifilmfest.org.

In the meantime, see as many films as you can between April 7th and April 14th.

I'm pretty sure that's why God created caffeine and energy drinks.

We'll see you next time on Director's Cut.

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