Director of Oscar-nominated documentary to appear at Wisconsin Film Festival

Filmmaker Jennifer Redfearn will appear at the Wisconsin premiere of her recent documentary “Sun Come Up,” which was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award, on the final day of the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Redfearn is expected to introduce the 38-minute film and hold a question-and-answer session with the audience after the screening, beginning at 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, April 3, at the Chazen Museum of Art, 800 University Ave.

Nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Short category, “Sun Come Up” depicts the plight of the Carteret Islanders near Papua New Guinea, who have been called the modern world’s first climate-change refugees because as global temperatures and sea levels rise, ocean tides are washing away their shores and salt is seeping into their soil.

“Sun Come Up” is paired with “Fire, Burn, Babylon,” a prize-winning 2010 documentary about three Rastafarians who fled their spiritual island retreat in the foothills of Montserrat following a devastating volcanic eruption and resettled in the modern-day Babylon of London, reinventing themselves as rude-boy rappers and small-time hustlers on the nightclub circuit.

These and four more offerings at the Wisconsin Film Festival will be presented by the Nelson Institute Center for Culture History and Environment and Tales from Planet Earth, its popular community and film festival, last held in the fall of 2009. The other four films are:

• “How I Ended This Summer” (Wisconsin premiere), a Russian tale about paranoia and survival set on a barren and isolated island in the Arctic Ocean whose only inhabitants are a gruff veteran meteorologist and his just-out-of-school intern, who take readings from their radioactive surroundings and periodically report back to the mainland. Presented with the UW–Madison’s Center for Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia and Russian Flagship Center. April 1, 5 p.m., and April 3, 7 p.m., Stage Door Theater, Johnson Street northeast of State Street.
• “My Dog Tulip” (Madison premiere), an animated American adaptation of J.R. Ackerley’s 1956 memoir-cum-love story about his relationship with his German shepherd, who ends up being the love of his life. April 2, 6 p.m., Orpheum Theater, 216 State St.
• “Nénette” (Wisconsin premiere), a French documentary about an orangutan that has lived at a Paris zoo for 37 of her 40 years, outlasting three mates and drawing 600,000 visitors a year. April 1, 3:30 p.m., and April 3, 3:45 p.m., Play Circle Theater, Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St.
• “Summer Pasture” (Wisconsin premiere), a U.S./Canadian/Tibetan documentary about a Tibetan yak herder, filmed on the cold, high plains of eastern Tibet, revealing the fascinating details of daily life inside the family tent. April 3, 11:30 a.m., Wisconsin Union Theater, Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St.

Wisconsin Film Festival tickets are required for admission to all screenings. For ticket information and other details, visit the festival’s website at http://www.wifilmfest.org.