Lights up on the locals of MFF 2013

The Milwaukee Film Festival usually makes headlines for the out-of-town films it brings in to the city from elsewhere – this year’s world premiere of the German film Break Up Man, for example, or last year’s screening of the Canadian Starbuck. But discovering and displaying local, Milwaukee-born film is as much a focus of the film festival as anything else – maybe even more so.

That’s why there’s Cream City Cinema, a curated cross-section of the festival devoted to films by Milwaukee filmmakers. It’s a program that’s actually existed longer than the festival itself, according to artistic and executive director Jonathan Jackson. While it hasn’t always had that specific name (that branding came about for the 2011 festival), he says the first pre-Cream City Cinema event was the very first Milwaukee Show, which Milwaukee Film put on in October 2008 while preparing for their first full festival next year.

Since then, the local program has only blossomed, becoming an increasingly significant part of the festival. The Milwaukee Show, a collection of shorts, is always highly attended, and past programs have included breakout films, including Brad Lichtenstein’s As Goes Janesville.

“It’s absolutely vital that the festival celebrates our local community,” Jackson said. “Presenting local films is a part of our mission.”

Jackson, along with programming manager Angela Catalano and a screening committee, was responsible for picking the seven programs that made it into the festival this year – three documentaries, two features, and two shorts programs. The majority of the films they look at are passed along through their no-fee submission process (“that’s very rare among film fests,” Jackson notes, “we’re proud we can do that.”), although they also keep an eye on ongoing projects from filmmakers they know in the area. In some cases – this year’s Sign Painters is one ­– they even rescreen films that have already been shown in Milwaukee, to give them a broader audience.

Before letting Jackson get back to finding out if he’ll be able to go to any films this year – he says he can measure the success of a given Milwaukee Film Festival by how many films he can see instead of putting out fires elsewhere – I asked him to talk a little bit about those seven programs, all screening throughout the week:

Billy Club, directed by Drew Rosas and Nick Sommer

This feature film is a throwback to ‘80s slasher films like Friday the 13th or Halloween, about a group of friends who reunite 15 years after a grisly triple murder tore their Little League team apart. In classic fashion, they’re shortly after pursued by a mysterious villain, clad in an antique umpire’s mask with a nailcovered baseball bat. Jackson says the directors worked together on a former Cream City Cinema film, Blood Junkie, and that Billy Club is a fun, gory genre film that is a fitting tribute to its predecessors.

Billy Club screens Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 10 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre; Monday, Oct. 7, at  9:45 p.m. at the Downer Theatre; and Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 9 p.m. at Fox-Bay Cinema.

Date America, directed by Bob Murray and Amy Neuenschwander

Date America opens with a clever premise – director and focal point Bob Murray, still unmarried at 34, decides to travel across the country looking for love, and schedules eight dates from Milwaukee to Los Angeles to see if his home city is keeping him single or just himself. Jackson says he and the selection team first became aware of the film after it got some coverage on local news stations in the city (included in the doc, natch) and were happy to see it submitted. “It’s a genuinely fun documentary that looks at a high-end reality TV-type story.”

Date America screens Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 9:15 p.m. at Fox-Bay Cinema and Sunday, Oct. 6, at 8:30 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre.

The Milwaukee Show

As always, the festival has collected some of the best shorts made in Milwaukee this year into this one-screening-only program. There’s 12 different offerings to try here, so don’t miss this buffet of delicious mini-flicks. “This is one of the most exciting and fun experiences of the festival,” Jackson said. “It’s impossible to describe, that’s what’s so exciting.”

The Milwaukee Show will be screened on Thursday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre.

The Milwaukee Youth Show

For the second year running, Milwaukee Film will also screen a version of The Milwaukee Show just for budding, under-18 film artists. Naturally, many of the filmmakers are members of local educational and extracurricular programs, driving home the importance and power of arts education as well.

The Milwaukee Youth Show will be screened on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. at the Oriental Theatre.

Penelope, by Brad Lichtenstein

The director of As Goes Janesville, the documentary chronicling the global recession’s impact on Wisconsin workers as well as the controversy over Scott Walker’s anti-collective bargaining bill, returns to the festival with Penelope. The film follows efforts to stage an original play, Finding Penelope, at the Luther Manor retirement community in Milwaukee, and asks significant questions about aging meaningfully – a topic Jackson notes is “topical, and very important for the community.”

Penelope screens Sunday, Oct. 6, at 5 p.m. at Fox-Bay Cinema; Monday, Oct. 7, at 2 p.m. at Fox-Bay Cinema; and Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 5:15 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre.

Sign Painters, by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon

Sign Painters looks at custom calligraphers, a beautiful trade hoping to survive despite the proliferation of homogenous, computer-crafted signage. Jackson said Levine, whose previous film, Handmade Nation, was screened outside the festival in 2009, has screened the film in Milwaukee before, but that there’s a big enough potential audience out there that it easily justified its place on the list.

Sign Painters screens on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 4:30 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre; Sunday, Oct. 6, at 8:30 p.m. at Fox-Bay Cinema; Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 3 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre.

When the King Tilts, by Drew Britton

This “focused chamber piece” follows two friends, Carol and J.L., who show up at a bed-and-breakfast in Door County and convince its owner Sam to stay open a little past the end of the season – although it’s a decision they may regret, as they find themselves entangled in a web of hostile manipulation. Britton is new to the festival; Jackson says he and the committee didn’t know him or the film before its submission, but knew it had to be part of the festival. “This is the best example of what fiction films can be.”

When the King Tilts screens Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 5 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre and Thursday, Oct. 10, at noon at the Oriental Theatre.