Film fest previews spring showings

The Wisconsin Film Festival, a public program of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arts Institute, is slated April 4-7, featuring fresh and original independent film, documentaries, world cinema, new media and the work of Wisconsin filmmakers.

Downtown Madison venues include the Orpheum and Majestic Theatres, the Bartell Theatre (formerly the Esquire) and the Madison Art Center. On the UW–Madison campus, the festival will unspool at the Memorial Union Play Circle and the UW Cinematheque.

Now in its fourth year, the Wisconsin Film Festival has quickly grown to be the region’s premier independent and specialty film event. In 2001, the festival presented 110 films from 21 countries, featured 60 local and visiting filmmakers and industry professionals. Ticket sales topped 14,000. The media has hailed the festival as “one of the best events of its kind in the Midwest” and “a vital forum for community-unifying art.”

Tickets go on sale Thursday, March 7, through the Wisconsin Union Theater Box Office, using a special festival ticket sales line, (608) 265-2933. Complete ticket-ordering information and downloadable order forms are available.

Festival highlights

Once again, the Wisconsin Film Festival presents new international cinema that will move you across borders and cultures and will intrigue, challenge, and delight.

Films include “101 Reykjavík,” an engaging dark comedy about youth culture in modern Iceland, winner of the Toronto Film Festival Discovery Award; “Djomeh,” a portrait of a shy young Afghani working on a dairy farm in Iran, winner of the Camera d’Or for best first feature at Cannes; “In den Tag hinen (The Days Between),” an engrossing debut feature about a young woman navigating life and love in Germany, winner of the Rotterdam Film Festival Tiger Award and the Grand Prix, Créteil International Women’s Film Festival; and “Maya,” the powerful neo-realist drama of a young girl’s devastating coming-of-age in India. And “Amos Gitaï: Images of Exile” focuses on the life and work of the prolific and controversial Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitaï features penetrating and unforgettable films exploring life in the fractured Middle East, including the little-seen autobiographical documentary “War Memories.”

“New Wave North: Recent Films from Québec” features the work of up-and-coming filmmakers from the French-speaking Canadian province of Québec. The series includes “Un crabe dans la tête / Soft Shell Man,” by acclaimed cinematographer André Turpin (“Maelström”); Catherine Martin’s atmospheric historical drama “Mariages”; and Philippe Falardeau’s playfully activist “mockumentary” “La moitié gauche du frigo (The Left Side of the Fridge),” winner, Best Canadian First Feature, Toronto Film Festival 2000.

“Wisconsin’s Own Filmmakers” showcases nationally acclaimed and emerging Wisconsin filmmakers, from features, documentaries, and shorts in juried competition to “E-Day!,” a comedy short starring Chevy Chase and written and directed by Scott Dikkers, former editor-in-chief of “The Onion.” Other showings include “September 11: Eyewitness,” an extraordinary collection of shorts by filmmakers living near the former World Trade Center, curated by New York-based Wisconsin native Pola Rapaport; and “Mexicanidad,” a video history of mural art by Milwaukee filmmaker Dan Banda, commissioned by the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago.

All programming is subject to change. The full lineup will be announced Sunday, March 3.

For information and to sign up for a mailing list, call (877) 963-FILM or visit the festival Web site.