Wisconsin Film Festival

Coverage archive related to the annual UW–Madison campus-based film festival that spans eight days in April.

Five people sit at an elongated table in a moviehouse lobby. Two are seated on the right side, closer to or in the foreground, while the three on the left sit further away in the middle ground. All of them carefully pore over printed materials on the table. Other attendees mill about in the background.

The sights and shape(s) of the 2025 Wisconsin Film Festival

By , , , , , &
●
Film
●
March 9, 2025

Seven writers size up the programming patterns in the eight-day celebration of movies, which runs April 3 through 10 across UW–Madison campus and beyond.

Latest in Wisconsin Film Festival
The author, Sara Batkie, stands with her back of the camera in front of a slate-grey wall. She turns her head to the side, pointing with her thumbs to the green and black floral design on the back of her 2024 Wisconsin Film Festival volunteer tee shirt.
From the lens of a film festival volunteer
By
●
Film
●
May 7, 2024

Engaging insights at the movies and with audiences during and after the 26th annual Wisconsin Film Festival this past April.

At a close-up, eight-year-old Hana looks out into the distance at something off screen near the woods. She holds her right hand up to her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun. Hana is bundled in winter attire that includes mustard-yellow mittens, a horizontally-striped toque with dark and light blues, tan scarf, and a vivid blue heavy coat.
Oblique journeys in film (and) criticism
By
●
Microtones
●
May 3, 2024

Another post-film festival meditation on our current spaces for dialogue.

Poster art for the film "Take Me Somewhere Nice" shows a young woman lounging face-down in her underwear on a towel amid brightly colored pink tiles. While her arms lay flat on the towel, she kicks her legs up in the air.
“Take Me Somewhere Nice” offers a gently absurdist look at the vicissitudes of contemporary Balkan life
By
●
Film
●
April 4, 2024

Writer-Director Ena Sendijarević visits the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 8 to present her candy-coated existential comedy.

A close-up of double bassist Richard Davis from an archival performance recorded on video. Davis wears a red long-sleeve shirt and smiles widely. Only the neck of his instrument is in view. Stage light streams on him from the top right of the image.
In “String Theory: The Richard Davis Method,” the storied jazz bassist takes the lead
By
●
Film
●
April 4, 2024

Michael Neelsen's new documentary on the late musician and UW-Madison professor premieres at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 7.

A woman with frizzy long hair wearing floral attire faces away from the camera on the left. She adjusts her fairly large succulent houseplant on a table that is receiving direct sunlight on the right.
“Light Needs” and “Parallel Botany” use the film medium as a means to map plant consciousness
By
●
Film
●
April 3, 2024

Jesse McLean's feature documentary, Magdalena Bermudez's experimental short, and three other botanical shorts screen in a Wisconsin Film Festival program on April 6.

Aadam Jacobs, the subject of the film "Melomaniac," smiles excitedly in a still from the film. He is to the left of the image in a gray hoodie with white drawstrings. Visible behind him are two fully stocked record shelves, running along two walls. Jacobs' long black hair is pulled back, and he sports a full beard.
“Melomaniac” is a blurry but striking snapshot of an obsessive documentarian
By
●
Film
●
April 2, 2024

Katlin Schneider's roughshod ode to Chicago indie-rock show taper Aadam Jacobs screens at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 6.

A black-and-white image from the film shows a thirtysomething woman with long blonde hair in profile at a medium shot. She blows a bubblegum bubble while operating a steering wheel with her right arm.
Gig workers the world over, “Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World”
By
●
Film
●
April 1, 2024

Romanian postmodernist director Radu Jude's newest film premieres locally at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 6 and 7.

A thirtysomething woman (Joanna Arnow) with mid-length long hair kneels submissively (and shirtless) on the floor in a white-walled bedroom. She faces away from the camera and towards her partner, an older man (Scott Cohen), who is fully dressed, sitting in a chair and staring intently at her.
Everyday beauty, autofiction, and BDSM: an interview with Joanna Arnow
By
●
Film
●
April 1, 2024

The Brooklyn-based filmmaker discusses her deadpan comedy, "The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed," which premieres locally at the 2024 Wisconsin Film Festival on April 5 and 6.

A man and woman huddle close together on the left with alarmed looks on their faces, staring up at a large centipede-like silhouette on the ceiling. An older man with a mustache stands to their right in a white lab coat, and also gazes up with a concerned look on his face.
Screaming in Percepto with schlocky horror classic “The Tingler”
By
●
Film
●
March 29, 2024

Vincent Price stars as a mad pathologist in William Castle's 1959 flick, which screens twice during the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 5.