Milwaukee is much more than beer and brats. It’s a place where the cinematic arts flourish. Evidence is abundant at the Milwaukee Film Festival, which kicks off today and runs through Oct. 11.
“This city has an incredibly strong filmmaking community,” says Jonathan Jackson, the festival’s artistic and executive director. “Showcasing high-quality work from local filmmakers is part of our mission.” The platform presenting those works is Cream City Cinema.
Among the films slated for screening this year is Chris Thompson’s The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, a widely-acclaimed work which premiered at SXSW. It melds the stories of a detective, medical examiner and neighbor who came face-to-face with Dahmer, casting new light on the dark life of the serial killer.
Little Red is Tate Bunker’s takeoff on the classic Little Red Riding Hood. A young girl goes to see the wild horses of Florida’s Cumberland Island and finds a wolf of a man, one who thinks it best she not travel alone.
Sleepover is one of those films that chronicles the years of our lives – the changes that shape us. Laj P. Waghray follows four girls all the way from their teen years through adulthood. The setting is a trio of sleepovers arrayed years apart from one another. We watch them laugh, cry, grow and change into young women in this up-close-and-personal portrait.
Bending Toward the Light is a must-see for anyone concerned about the state of the education system. Filmmaker Brad Pruitt examines the Milwaukee education system. The Milwaukee Film Festival labels the work “less an indictment of the education system and more of a dialogue on what can be done to fix its problems.”
(Image: ToastyKen)
