O-P bleak litany that seems to cover every aspect of her being. By the time his absurdly grim monologue ends, it’s become funny, a good indication of the dark wit running through this portrait of a housewife on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Back at home, she fantasizes about finally lashing out at her domineering husband—at least, she thinks they’re only fantasies. First-time director Tonia Mishiali exhibits a remarkable tonal precision, keeping us glued to Elpida’s increasingly cracked perspective, while unsure in the moment as to whether what we are seeing is real or imagined. “A work of considerable tonal complexity, as it stirs moments of pitchblack humor and short and violent reveries into an otherwise austerely told tale of spousal strife that wants to smash the patriarchy with feats of cinematic derring-do” (The Hollywood Reporter). FIPRESCI Award, 2018 Thessaloniki Film Festival. (MK)
Once There was a House
ЖИЛ БЫЛ ДОМ
SCREENS IN: SHORT AND SWEET
Our Struggles Nos Batailles
SAT, APRIL 6 • 6:30 PM AMC MADISON - CINEMA 1 MON, APRIL 8 • 1:30 PM AMC MADISON - CINEMA 1
for a weekend camping trip with her ex (Rene Cruz). Mixed signals and power games follow suit, as the two awkwardly dredge up their past. With frank discussions of sex, desire, and heartbreak, this anti-romantic comedy foregrounds queer experience to a natural and refreshing degree. Handsomely shot and rife with small moments funny and true, Pet Names clinches Brandt’s reputation as one of Wisconsin’s most perceptive up-andcomers. Rounding out the talented cast is Goose (Chato), hands down the cutest and chubbiest pug on screen at the fest. 2018 SXSW Film Festival. (ZZ) Presented with support from Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin
MIDWEST PREMIERE • Narrative • France, Belgium • 2018 • DCP • French with English subtitles • 98 MIN
The Other Side of the Wind SAT, APRIL 6 • 3:00 PM CHAZEN MUSEUM OF ART SCHEDULED TO ATTEND: BOB MURAWSKI WISCONSIN PREMIERE • Narrative • USA • 2018 • 35mm • 122 MIN Director: Orson Welles; Screenwriter: Orson Welles, Oja Kodar; Producer: Frank Marshall, Filip Jan Rymsza; Editor: Bob Murawski, Orson Welles; Cast: John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Norman Foster, Oja Kodar, Edmond O’Brien, Susan Strasberg, Mercedes McCambridge, Lilli Palmer, Cameron Mitchell, Paul Stewart; Cinematographer: Gary Graver; Music: Michel Legrand SECTION: RESTORATIONS AND REDISCOVERIES
APR. 4-11 | 2019.WIFILMFEST.ORG
Nearly 50 years after production began, the long uncompleted late masterwork by the legendary Orson Welles has at last been unveiled for audiences. Welles’s friend and fellow filmmaker John Huston stars as Jake Hannaford, a once successful Hollywood director. Over the course of his final evening on earth, Hannaford desperately tries to raise money to salvage his latest project, also titled The Other Side of the Wind, while celebrating his 70th birthday and surrounded by collaborators, journalists, studio executives, groupies, and film students. Putting his own iconoclastic spin on the “found footage” storytelling format, Welles employs a wide array of film stock and camera lenses as he tells both Hannaford’s story and provides us with glimpses of the film-within-a-film. Innovative and undeniably personal, The Other Side of the Wind stands as an unexpectedly towering achievement, not only for Welles but for the team of filmmakers, including editor Bob Murawski, who labored with love to bring Welles’s unassembled vision to life. Academy Award winner Murawski (The Hurt Locker) will join us in person to present a 35mm print and discuss the process of putting The Other Side of the 24 Wind together. (JH)
Director: Guillaume Senez; Screenwriter: Raphaëlle Desplechin, Guillaume Senez; Producer: Philippe Martin, David Thion, Isabelle Truc; Editor: Julie Brenta; Cinematographer: Elin Kirschfink; Music: Romain Duris, Basile Grunberger, Laetitia Dosch, Lucie Debay,
Peterloo
SECTION: NEW INTERNATIONAL CINEMA
A supervisor and labor representative at a large warehouse and fulfillment center, Olivier (Romain Duris) does the best he can to fight injustice with his comrades at work. Suddenly and unexpectedly, Olivier’s wife Laura (Lucie Debay) abandons her family home, leaving her husband to juggle the needs of their two children, his increasingly pressurized work situation, and life’s other daily challenges. Faced with these new responsibilities, Olivier struggles to find the right balance. In his second feature, Belgian filmmaker Guillaume Senez quietly delivers a moving, humanistic vision of one contemporary middle class family rocked by a difficult, but not insurmountable hardship. Senez succeeds through a generous serving of humor and levity, and the deployment of an energetic and naturalistic cast of actors, in particular Laetitia Dosch as Olivier’s supportive but eccentric sister. “The major drama happens upfront in Our Struggles; the process of living with its less eventful but consistently taxing fallout, however, is where the meat of Guillaume Senez’s simple, affecting new film lies” (Guy Lodge, Variety). Audience Award, 2018 Torino Film Festival. (JH)
FRI, APRIL 5 • 6:00 PM AMC MADISON - CINEMA 6
Pen License SCREENS IN: SHORT AND SWEET
Pet Names 80 MIN FILMMAKERS SCHEDULED TO ATTEND
Tender Touches: Maniac MIDWEST PREMIERE • Narrative • USA • 2018 • DCP • 5 MIN
SCREENS IN: SHORT AND SWEET
Pause Pafsi
SAT, APRIL 6 • 11:30 AM AMC MADISON - CINEMA 5 TUE, APRIL 9 • 1:00 PM AMC MADISON - CINEMA 5 WISCONSIN PREMIERE • Narrative • Cyprus, Greece • 2018 • DCP • Greek with English subtitles • 96 MIN Director: Tonia Mishiali; Screenwriter: Tonia Mishiali; Producer: Andros Achilleos, Stelana Kliris, Tonia Mishiali; Editor: Emilios Avraam; Cast: Stela Fyrogeni, Andreas Vasiliou, Popi Avraam; Cinematographer: Yorgos Rahmatoulin SECTION: NEW WOMEN DIRECTORS, NEW INTERNATIONAL CINEMA
On the island of Cyprus, Elpida sits stonefaced as her doctor recites the symptoms of aging, an increasingly
Director: Mike Leigh; Screenwriter: Mike Leigh; Producer: Georgina Lowe; Editor: Jon Gregory; Cast: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Neil Bell, Philip Jackson, Vincent Franklin; Cinematographer: Dick Pope; Music: Gary Yershon SECTION: NEW INTERNATIONAL CINEMA
FRI, APRIL 5 • 8:30 PM UW CINEMATHEQUE
Outdoors
WISCONSIN PREMIERE • Narrative • UK • 2018 • DCP • 153 MIN
Director: Sarah Smith; Screenwriter: Phillip Guttmann; Producer: Sarah Smith, Phillip Guttmann; Cast: Frances Chewning, Paula Lauzon SECTION: WISCONSIN’S OWN
In this delirious, bite-sized musical comedy, an animal healer (Frances Chewning) rehabilitates a despondent parakeet named Portia de Rossi through song. (ZZ)
Pet Names MADISON PREMIERE • Narrative • USA • 2018 • DCP • 75 MIN Director: Carol Brandt; Screenwriter: Meredith Johnston; Producer: Chris James Thompson, Suzanne Jurva; Cast: Meredith Johnston, Rene Cruz SECTION: WISCONSIN’S OWN
Grad-school-dropout Leigh (Meredith Johnston) ducks out of Milwaukee, where she cares for her ailing mother,
After Topsy-Turvy (1999) and Mr. Turner (2014), both innovative explorations of artistic lives in the 19th century, English writer-director Mike Leigh returns to the 1800s again for a mosaic-like recreation of the events leading up to the tragic Peterloo massacre in Manchester. Set in the four years following Britain’s victory over Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, the story is told from the perspective of multiple key players—unemployed and unarmed textile workers and their families, along with community magistrates, military leaders and armed cavalry—who all ultimately converged at St. Peter’s Field for a demonstration by the underprivileged demanding voting rights. Peterloo offers dozens of characters—some of whom are fictional, while others are actual historic figures—to dramatize the events leading up to the disaster. As in other contemporary cinematic works based on complex historical happenings, from All the President’s Men to Zodiac, Leigh’s movie has all the compelling aspects of a great piece of well-researched journalism. While a great deal of attention has been paid to re-creating the period through authentic dialogue, costumes, and settings, Leigh never loses his grasp on the emotional core of Peterloo: heartfelt compassion for the working class trying to better their lives, and rage for the privileged who use violence to maintain power. (JH)