- The following program is a PBS Wisconsin Original Production.

[funky music playing] - Woman: Great, okay, now everybody's here.

Can we please get started?

[urgent instrumental music] - Hi, I'm Pete Schwaba.

Welcome to the annual Director's Cut: Wisconsin Film Festival episode.

"The show must go on" is a phrase we've heard all of our lives and it's never been more true because COVID-19 be damned, the show that is the Wisconsin Film Festival will go on.

With a few changes, but movie fans will watch movies this year.

Over the course of the next hour, we'll bring you sneak peeks from this year's films as well as some insights on the filmmaking process from the films' directors.

But first, we'll get an overview of this year's festival from a true movie buff and the Film Festival's Director of Operations, Ben Reiser.

Ben, welcome to Director's Cut .

- Thanks for having me, Pete.

- So, I have to tell you, I've been working with you over the years with the festival and I literally get chills when I see that opening montage every year on this episode and all the films that you guys are offering.

Very exciting time!

A little different this year, but it should be a blast, as always.

First question: Is it too late for me to shoot a film and get it into this year's festival?

[Ben laughing] - Pete: You laugh.

- No, Pete, for you, anything.

- Pete: [laughs] I'm optimistic.

So, a few changes this year.

It's a little bit different with the pandemic.

You guys gutted it out last year and still put on a great festival, which was really miraculous under the circumstances 'cause everything seemed to, to kind of come to a head very suddenly last year.

You've had a little time to prepare.

What are some changes we can expect this year, obviously with the pandemic?

- Well, last year our festival was pretty much canceled.

And then, after we canceled it, we thought, "Is there anything we can do to get some of these films in front of people this year?"

So, we did.

We mounted a very, very last second, very impromptu online festival that was free to the public.

And we shared as many of the "Wisconsin's own" selections that we could.

And we cut some deals with some film distributors for some of the other festival films and showed some stuff.

And we never dreamed at the time that we'd be in the same situation this year, 2021, but here we are.

And so yes, we've had time to plan for it.

And we've contracted with an, with an online platform that will show all our films.

And we've gone ahead with, basically, business as usual other than the fact that really nothing is business as usual.

We don't have any of our venues.

We won't have any in-person screenings.

Our army of 200 volunteers is, for the most part, not needed this year.

You know, it's, it's heartbreaking in a way but I think we found a way to retain at least some of what makes our festival unique.

And we're hoping to accent that stuff as much as possible.

- Pete: We're going to jump to our first showcase of films, but very quickly, are there any silver linings in this that I can't imagine?

I'm not watching a film-- Actually, hold that thought.

We'll show the clips and I want to come back.

Because all filmmakers want to see their films with an audience.

So, we'll get into that.

But right now we're gonna see our first sampling of the films that will be at this year's festival.

[men conversing in Hindi] [Meera speaking in Hindi] [man speaking in Hindi] [Independent Lens theme music] - Women on PA: Good morning, Lowell High School.

Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

- Male 1: So, like right now, the senior class is stressing over college apps.

- Male 2: If I could, I'd probably just take the MSAT every single week.

[laughs] - Same!

- Please begin.

- Teacher: In the nineties, if you went to Lowell and had a good solid B average in honors courses, you got into Berkeley.

Now, you don't.

[rowers shouting] - Woman: The kids who come here, they are competing in a world that is very high achieving.

It's terrifying.

- I would love to go to UC Berkeley.

- Harvard, Stanford.

- Columbia.

- Girl: At Lowell, it's hard to have a strong sense of self-esteem because you're always comparing yourself to other people.

- If I don't go to one of those big colleges, I will not be able to do what I want to do.

- Girl: College is just a huge goal for a lot of immigrant families.

- I'm 18.

This is my college experience.

Should I be making a decision, right?

- Man: The question is not which school is better, which school better is for Alvin.

- We pray for the seniors during this college app season at Lowell.

- The pressure is insurmountable at times.

- I just got evicted from my house.

- Woman: My worst fear would have a student apply to 10 prestigious schools and not get into any of them.

- This is going to end so badly.

[students clapping] [student exclaiming in the background] [fun music playing] - Teacher: Their objectively under more pressure.

[explosion] - It's the best!

- You want to go to that college?

I want to go to that college.

I have to be better than you.

- Boy: What the hell?

Like this is not how high school's supposed to end.

[dramatic music playing] [speaking German language] [traditional music] [rock music playing] [explosion] [folk song] ♪ Those who are marching ♪ ♪ Somewhere to the war ♪ ♪ Without reason, somewhere in the world ♪ ♪ Without reason, somewhere in the world ♪ [singing continues] [crowd cheering and applauding wildly] [reciting prayer] [crowd cheering] [man grunting] [speaking Urdu language] [suspenseful music playing] [suspenseful music continues] [discordant music, crowd yelling] [Pakistani rap song] - We're back with Ben Reiser.

He is the director of festival operations.

Just a quick note though, that film Try Harder, that was featured in that montage, will be on Independent Lens here on Wisconsin-- on PBS Wisconsin, shortly.

So, keep an eye out for that.

So, before we went to the montage, Ben, we were talking about silver linings.

Can you pick out a positive from the format this year?

- Ben: I absolutely can.

For people attending-- - Pete: I know you would.

[laughs] - [laughs] For people attending the festival.

Every year we show about 150 films in person and there's people who buy festival passes and their whole goal for the eight days of the festivals is to see as many films as possible.

Well, you know, in an in-person festival that amounts to maybe 35 films, they could probably squeeze in, if they did nothing but watch movies all day long.

But now with this online festival, the films are available for eight straight days 24/7, and you don't have to travel to venues and you don't have to worry about start times for screenings and how you're gonna get from one venue to another.

Everything's right there in your living room for you.

I think that, I think we're showing about 115 films this year online.

And I think if you really wanted to, you could probably see every single film at the festival this year if you buy a festival pass.

- Pete: That's not even optimistic.

That's realistic.

- Ben: Yeah.

- That's just binge-watching the Wisconsin Film Festival.

So, Ben, one of the things I love about festivals past is, some, you guys do restorations, and sometimes just show things on 35-millimeter.

When you're watching in your living room, you lose kind of that brilliance.

What are you doing about that this year?

If anything?

- Well, we are just showing some restorations and rediscoveries, and I suppose like the new sort of state of the art is like 4K.

And I, we might be having some 4K stuff.

- Okay.

- But, yeah, we're losing the 35 millimeter experience for this year which is one of the reasons I can't wait to get back into theaters next year.

But the truth is, you know, film exhibition has been going digital for a long time and we are sort of the exception to the rule when it comes to showing anything on actual film.

So we'll get back to that.

- Pete: And that's one of the things, I think, like, the great thing about film festivals is that you can still see, for us actual film lovers, is the 35 millimeters, so.

Great stuff.

And when we come back, we're gonna bring you back to help me close the show, Ben.

And I'm looking forward to that.

And we'll talk a little bit about Wisconsin filmmaking too.

So thanks so much.

We'll see you in a bit.

- Great.

- Up next is a clip from Iron Family, one of this year's Golden Badger winners.

- One day, I just had my notebook out and I thought this could be my reality.

- Oh, god, oh!

Whoa, hello.

- You have a new play this summer coming up, right?

Is that?

- Yes, yes, yes.

It's based on my life.

[man knocking] - Come in, Mr. McConaughey, sir.

It's open.

- I had this vision for a very long time.

My character is married to Matthew McConaughey And sometimes it's, like, crazy.

[crowd applauding] - She's either an incredible genius or she just has amazing... [laughs] luck.

- Man: People may say that you can't do something because you have down syndrome.

And do you ever start to believe that?

- Jazmine: Sometimes I do, but you have to deal with criticism.

[playful kazoo music] - Yeah, all right, take it easy on that - Chad, stop saying that!

I know what I'm doing.

- Jazmine doesn't want anyone to tell her what to do or assist her in the choices that she's made.

- She believes she's destined for greatness.

- Good morning, I have a special delivery from Brittany Spears.

- Chad and Jazmine are siblings.

- That's some obstacles that's blocking me.

And I want to get out of that and go into my subconscious.

- Jazmine: At the end of the play, when you walk on stage with all the cast and hearing the praises of the audience, it's like, exhilarating.

[upbeat music playing] [group chattering] - Welcome back to the Wisconsin Film Festival episode of Director's Cut.

It's my pleasure now to welcome in filmmaker Patrick Longstreth, who is the director of the film in the clip we just saw.

Patrick, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Thanks for having me, Pete.

- Tell us your connection.

Tell us how you found this project and also your connection to Wisconsin, if you would.

- Patrick: Sure.

Well, so Jazmine Faries is the main character of my film, and she lives in Iron River, Michigan and her brother who is 15 years older, lives down here in Savannah, Georgia.

And I know him from just an acquaintance around town and he talked me into going with him up to the Upper Peninsula and meeting his sister and documenting this amazing play that they put on every summer.

And the play is written by Jazmine and directed by her, too.

And Chad is sort of the, do-it-all man, who, behind the scenes.

And then, he produces the play, I guess you could say.

And then the cast is all family and friends from around the Iron River community.

So, my wife and I went up there to film, and we, we thought we were just filming for two or three days and get like a nice little short film out of it.

But there was just so many amazing entertaining moments in the first couple of days that we stuck around and we filmed long interviews with the whole family and we kind of got their whole family history and we met some people around town.

And then, over the course of a year later, we made several trips back to Iron River.

And just got really deep into Jazmine's world, you know, and seeing what life is like through the eyes of a Down syndrome person, you know.

Their imagination as well as their daily challenges.

And I, I got to say, I didn't know anything about Down syndrome before I started this film.

And it's been very illuminating and inspiring.

- Can you elaborate a little more on that?

Because in the clip it said she doesn't want people to treat her differently-- I believe it was something to that effect-- because she has Down syndrome.

Are people more likely to help her because she has Down syndrome or is this just she's tenacious and is gonna put this project on no matter what?

Talk a little bit about how that affects her as a filmmaker, if you would.

- Sure, well, that's a good question.

I would say that, some people are more likely to help her because she has Down syndrome and some people are less likely to help her because she has Down syndrome.

It might depend on the situation.

You know, and Down syndrome people, or people with Down syndrome, you know, are all different.

And some have different talents and can hold different jobs and others can't hold certain jobs.

So she, you know, was always struggling for independence.

She would like to live on her own, away from her mother and her brother.

And, you know, she has a crush in the film and we that's, that's a big part of the story.

So she fantasizes about, you know, being, having a boyfriend one day and living on her own and winning an Academy Award.

So, you know, she's just like the rest of us, I suppose... - Pete: Yeah.

- In that regard.

- Pete: It's great.

I read that she has a crush on Matthew McConaughey, so she, she's not alone there, certainly.

Many, many women do.

[laughing] - Yeah.

- She should reach out for her next film and get a cameo.

We have about 20 seconds left, Patrick.

Any closing thoughts you want to add?

That'd be great.

- Yeah, sure, yeah.

I forgot to mention that the characters in her play are all based on her favorite celebrities.

So, Matthew McConaughey, Meryl Streep, Mark Wahlberg.

And I think it's certainly possible she will meet Matthew McConaughey one day.

And if she does, it's all because of her imagination.

- Pete: I hope she does.

She seems to like guys with abs so that leaves me out.

But anyway-- [Patrick laughing] Thank you very much for being here and good luck with the film.

Great stuff.

- Thank you, Pete.

- Thanks, Patrick.

- Up next, a short by a talented young director.

Here's Make-A-Wish.

[funky music playing] - I got you.

- Oh, thank you, young man.

You would not believe how many people would just walk right past me.

You have a good heart.

- No problem, this is actually really heavy, though.

What's inside it?

- You want to see?

- Yeah!

- Okay.

Come on in, I'll show you.

Just put it right there.

[bell chiming] - Go ahead.

[lock creaking] [funky music playing] - It's another box.

- [scoffs] Don't be fooled.

The contents of this box is the greatest inspiration of the world's greatest myths and legends from the Holy Grail to the genie's lamp.

- Boy: That's it?

- Woman: That's it.

Isn't it wonderful.

- Yeah, there's like a high demand for Egyptian toilet paper.

- [laughs] No, no, no, toilet paper.

These are wish cards.

[chimes twinkling] - Boy: Okay, right.

[woman inhaling] - OK, I can see you're serious about it.

So, how do they work?

- Oh, it's very simple.

You just write a desire on them, a wish and you wait.

- Wait for what?

I stopped believing in magic when I was 8.

- My friend, the miracle you're about to behold is as real as the world around you.

Haven't you ever had a desire?

A wish?

- Yeah, who hasn't?

- Well, take them.

They're yours.

- I mean, I should tell you, I don't really have any money.

- Oh, no, no, please, please.

They called you.

- Boy: And I can wish for anything?

- Anything.

- All right.

Thanks.

- Mm-hmm.

Thank you.

Bye.

[woman laughing menacingly] - That was a clip from Make-A-Wish.

Joining us now is Elijah Edwards, who is a tender, at the tender age of 16.

You're a sophomore in high school.

I'm kind of in awe of how many hats you wore during this film.

And just the fact that you wanted to have an undertaking like this.

What possessed you to make a film at your age and do all the jobs on the film that you did, Elijah?

- Yeah, I guess what kind of prompted me to make the film that I'd always been interested in film.

It's always been something that's been a part of my life directly and indirectly.

And so, when I started working on the script as sort of an unrelated project, maybe two and a half years ago?

I brought it up to Ben's attention and he was like, "Yo, we should make a project together."

And I was like, "Yeah, I've never made a film before."

And as for the lot of the different hats that I wore during the production, it was more or less I was interested in a lot of different aspects of making the film.

So obviously, I was, I loved acting and also like making music.

I do that a lot in my free time.

So that was something that I was comfortable with doing.

And I just really wanted to dip my toes into as many different aspects of the filmmaking process as I could just to, you know see if I could.

- Pete: Yeah, no, that's great.

And you kind of have to wear a lot of hats when you're making a low budget indie but I want to commend you on your acting was great.

And then you had the, the woman playing opposite you was a good actor.

Did you find it challenging to find actors for a low budget film?

'Cause as good acting can really send a project south but you had great.

That was a great scene.

I mean, was it tough to find actors?

- Yeah, I wouldn't say it was tough.

I think one, you know, the, my assistant director, Ben Fritz, was always telling me that a lot of what film's about is about connections.

And so a lot of people who were in this film I had known from prior engagements.

The one that you saw in the scene with me was something, was a woman that Ben had known in the past.

And he said, "Hey, you know, we should reach out to her and this will be a great part."

And it ultimately worked out.

Yeah.

- Pete: That's great.

So you said you're interested in film.

Who are your influences?

Like what kind of movies do you like and what directors do you sort of, are you a fan of that you maybe want to pattern yourself after?

[Elijah breathing deeply] - Elijah: In the film, I really like Quentin Tarantino films, you know ridiculous six or ridiculous six.

You know, a lot of his films, I really like the style and directing he does.

It's very dynamic and really in your face, in a, in shock - Pete: Yeah.

- You know, and, and I kind of want to emulate that in the sense of like, just, just stylized filmmaking.

I guess a lot of actors too.

Donald Glover, you know Michael B. Jordan, Denzel Washington.

Those are definitely some ones that I think of when I when I think of film, so, yeah.

- Pete: Those are pretty good influences.

Ben Fritz is a pretty good influence too.

So stick by him.

- Absolutely.

- That's great.

Did you learn anything about yourself through this process?

I mean, at the beginning it was probably overwhelming.

You're a high school student.

You got through it.

That's the sense of accomplishment I would imagine.

But did you learn anything about yourself in the process?

- I guess I learned about my indecisiveness.

That was kind of, yeah, - I appreciate your honesty.

That's great.

- [laughs] Yeah, I'm very indecisive.

I wouldn't say very indecisive, but it's definitely something I have to work on.

Definitely in the filmmaking process, there was a lot of times where we had to evaluate the supplies that we were given, especially with it being an indie film and having to work with what we're given.

I have to learn to sacrifice certain things and, you know really become as decisive as I can in my creative projects.

- Pete: Well, it's a, it's an incredible accomplishment, especially for a guy your age, and I wish you luck and congratulations on getting into the film festival.

Well done, and thanks for being here!

- Thank you.

Yeah, no problem.

Thanks for having me.

- We'll talk more with Wisconsin filmmakers in just a moment but first, here's a look at more brilliant films featured at this year's Wisconsin Film Festival.

[speaking Persian language] [pan sizzling] [sirens wailing] [motorcycle revving] [bird wings flapping] [upbeat music playing] [children shouting] [crowd shouting] [water splashing] [speaking Nigerian language] [speaking French] - Girl In Black: Great, okay, now, everybody's here.

Can we please get started?

- Guy: Thank you, thank you so much.

- OK, great shoes are off, can we get started?

- Guy 1: Yeah, Yeah.

- Guy: Yes, we're all here.

[cymbals banging] - Woman: In our traditional African society, we were individuals within a community.

That took care of our community and our community took care of us.

[jazz music playing] - Man: In 1985, they came out to our home, attacked our home, and they dropped a bomb on our house.

[reading with an accent] [jazz music continues] - Woman: Art is a human expression of endless birth and rebirth.

- Man: By 18, we were fully involved in rules And by 22, we were doing a hundred years in prison.

- Woman in background: Wow!

- Girl: You know, it's funny how you educated folks are always telling the rest of us not to go to school.

- I have always been a catalyst for change.

- The virtual Wisconsin Film Festival takes place online from May 13th to May 20th.

And since this is virtual, you don't have to be in Madison to attend.

Just go to WIfilmfest.eventive.org to purchase your passes.

Choose to buy tickets to whatever films you would like or get an unlimited pass to watch every film in the online lineup.

We're talking shorts, features, documentaries, classics, films from around the world and films from right here in Madison.

That's eight days of film festival goodness.

The perfect escape for any cinephile.

We've got more directors and more movies coming your way.

Here's a clip from a short film called West.

[contemplative instrumental] That was a clip from West and now joining me is the film's director, Kate Corby.

Kate, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Oh, thanks, happy to be here!

- Yeah.

Congratulations on getting into the film festival.

Really cool clip there.

I wanted to ask you-- in the synopsis of your film that I read it says, it's equal parts conscious, subconscious, present and past, pleasure and agony.

How do you explore all those elements with a single dancer in such a short amount of time?

- This site is really, really evocative and it's covers a lot of area, so it has a number of structures on it, ruins, a chicken coop, and an old hotel, and then, the mountains and the river.

And I think that it really became a site-specific work right away.

The dancer performer, Katie Graves, is also phenomenal.

She demonstrates a wide range and most of that material came from her, her own improvisation.

And the whole project is a collaboration with Elizabeth Wad, who was a cinematographer and editor, and Katie and me, and we just spent two days on site, exploring and took a lot of footage.

- Okay, that kind of leads me to my next question because I noticed you have some handheld in there, camera work.

How do you-- You have, like you said, Katie's up, she's dancing, and it's this flawless performance.

How do you bring that out without calling attention to the camera because I thought the camera worked-- the handheld worked great.

and then there's times it's not handheld.

How do you disseminate like what to go with when you have this dance performance?

- Well for the stage, the editing process for me is the bulk of the work and this I approached this film in that same way.

It wasn't actually story boarded.

We knew-- We had a shot list that didn't necessarily have to correspond to any sort of narrative order and we ended up with a whole bunch of footage that came together in the editing process.

And to be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely satisfied with this edit and I-- I could keep editing it over and over again.

and the decisions were really made after the fact.

And we shot as much as we could within daylight hours.

- Interesting.

So was it difficult for you as a choreographer and a dancer yourself not to choreograph this piece or were you able to just wear the hat of director and not worry yourself with that and let Katie do the work there?

Also for stage work, I have a much more collaborative process and more in line with the director rather than I would say a traditional idea of a choreographer so really relying on the individuals to generate a lot of the movement vocabulary.

So, it wasn't that big of a change from how I usually work because I'm so new to filmmaking and have to defer to everyone else around in terms of expertise.

It's really just exploration to me.

So, it's-- it doesn't really feel like a change.

It just you know it feels like new experimentation.

Yeah, so we have about 30 seconds so we have to go to another clip and it's been great having you, but can you talk very briefly about what it's like not to be able to watch this piece with an audience this year under the circumstances.

- For dance artists, that question is really loaded.

I think that actually feels pretty normal to be be watching film without other people and I think it's just something that we're getting used to.

And I guess, you know, in September when I watched something stream for the first time, I felt really bizarre and now, I think we're all sort of accustomed to it for better or for worse.

- Well said!

Kate, thanks for being with me today.

It's great having you.

Good luck with the film.

- Oh, thank you so much.

- You're welcome.

Alright, next up is a clip from Wisconsin Film Festival alum.

Here's The Passing On, another Golden Badger winner.

[organ music] - So, you scared of hard work?

- No, I'm not scared of hard work.

Just, like you said, it's a new day.

- You wanna walk in on easy street.

- Yeah, it's a new day and new time.

- I can remember when I first went to see one of my grandmother's brothers that died back in '56, '57.

Phillip & Luckey Funeral Home in Rockdale had his body and they wouldn't even let us come through the front door to view him.

We had to go through the back.

They went in, oh, yes sir, you so good to us.

And we go in through the back door.

Now you can go through the front door.

- Isaiah: Since being at the age of five, I always was curious about death.

I always wanted to go to funerals.

Like, I was like called to those events.

- Professor: We are starting a new chapter today, digestive system.

We're gonna talk about some other things like intussusception of a volvulus, and then, we got the anus.

The body would die if the anus kept his mouth shut.

Right?

That's how we know this hole's always the boss.

[laughing] And what happens to sphincters when somebody dies?

Yes, did you have a question?

- Isaiah: It doesn't phase me to be in the back of a funeral home.

If you was coming to my funeral home, it would be totally a 'whoa' experience.

It has to be two chapels in there, two state rooms, I want catering, chandeliers in the sky.

I'm talkin' about biggest funeral home.

And then, of course, I wanna be different.

Can I move that flower to the end and get a tall vase and put this on top of there on the head end?

- Man: What would you move to stand to put a vase in there for?

- Isaiah: Because of vase is more personalized in a casket.

- This is what it look like.

- Yeah, and then we can see if we can... - Isaiah: You have to have young millennial people telling you, "This is what's attractive to us now."

Funeral home cannot run off a reputation forever.

- Joining me now is director Nathan Clarke.

Nathan, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Thanks so much for having me.

- Yeah, our pleasure.

- I was reading a lot about the film and I saw some clips from it about how Black funeral homes are becoming a thing of the past.

Why is that?

Is that COVID related or is just other factors at play?

- Yeah, COVID has certainly sped up that process, but I think there's probably two main things that you can look at.

I think one is the increasing corporatization of the funeral industry.

It's just harder for a mom and pop shop to stay in business.

And then I think the second thing is that as families spread out, as they sort of leave a home, it's a lot harder to gather for one, two, three weeks even for a funeral.

And so you have people come back in town for their loved one's funeral and it's a day and then, they're back out.

And so, the quicker that that process can be the better, and that really favors sort of people that have figured out the economy of scale.

- You have a lot of layers in play just in that clip.

You've got old/young.

I know that the younger guy is gay, I think I read in the biography.

He's takin' a class which is, looked like a class no one would ever fall asleep in.

What elements of this story, in addition to the funeral homes becoming a thing of the past, what element of the story is what attracted you as a filmmaker?

- Nathan: Yeah, I think what initially got my attention was that sense of mentorship.

Part of the reason why the film was called The Passing On is because it's literally the passing on of this thing that is central to James, who's our lead character, his experience to a younger generation.

And I think as I have sort of gotten into middle age and gotten more into this sort of field that that's something that I think about with my own life.

What does it mean to sort of pass on the things that have been formational for me?

For my education?

For who I am as a human being?

And pass that on to a younger generation.

- Pete: So, let me ask you this: Is there reluctance on your part as a white filmmaker to tell a story not just about an African-American man who's a pillar in this community, but who's so deeply entrenched in the community?

Is there reluctance or is it more pressure to tell that story?

- I don't know if 'reluctance' is the word.

We've talked a tremendous amount about it as a filmmaking team, and it's something we talk about regularly.

I think the place that we start is that permission doesn't necessarily mean that it's okay.

That even when somebody says, "Yes, it's okay for you to film here," there is still a strong power dynamic that happens when you bring in, as whoever you are, but in my case as a white man, as I bring a camera into that situation, it introduces power.

And so then the question becomes how do you manage that?

How do you deal with that?

And it's been very important for us to have accountability.

And that has meant within our decision-making filmmaking team that there are diverse perspectives on that team, but it also means consultants and people that are giving feedback: that we are showing them the film, we are showing them what we are doing behind the scenes of the film, and they have the power and the authority to keep us accountable to doing what is right.

- That was a great answer.

This is not your first rodeo.

Second time at the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Congratulations on getting in.

Thanks for being here today.

Good luck.

- Thanks so much.

I appreciate it.

- You're welcome, Nathan.

Next up is a clip from the short film Blood Runs Out.

[door closes, dog barking] [rain and thunder] - Traffic Light: Walk sign is on to cross.

[dog barking, birds chirping] - Welcome back to Director's Cut.

Joining me now is director Gracie Wallner.

Gracie, welcome to Director's Cut.

- Thank you so much.

- So, tell us a little bit about what we're seeing in that clip and a little bit about your film.

- Yeah, so blood runs out is an experimental slash narrative short film and it's about a woman who survives on menstrual blood from her friends and her lovers, her queer community, basically.

But one day, she runs out of blood so she fears starvation and the whole film is kind of her going through-- her starving and longing for blood process.

- So, what is the reaction so far you're getting with the film with such an edgy topic like that?

Has the response been good so far?

- Yeah, it's been great.

I love when different kinds of people watch the film and give me different reactions.

Some people think it's funny.

Some people think it's a horror movie.

Some people just take it in stride, and they're like, "Yeah, this is completely normal."

[laughs] It's been really fun.

- So, when you write a film like this, you know it's going to be a little bit controversial.

What response are you hoping to elicit from viewers or even friends and family for that matter?

- Yeah.

I don't really-- I don't think I made it really to be controversial, but I do want people to kind of take a second look and think kind of about typical vampire story tropes.

Yeah, because I really want to take the vampire story and make it more consensual and more queer, and I think if like queer vampires did exist, they would definitely drink menstrual blood instead of murder people.

So that's kind of where I'm going with this film.

So I kind of want people to, like, smile and think a little bit harder about the menstrual blood and vampires.

- It's nice to actually think about vampires not committing crimes so good for that.

Yesterday, Ben Riser, the film festival director of operations, was here and he told me just kind of in an aside that you did this over the course of COVID and you're kind of a one-person operation.

Can you elaborate on that and the COVID play a part in the pandemic in any way of easing into your story somehow?

- Yeah, so it was really fun to do on my own.

I think ideally I would have had another actor play the role, but I had to play the role and I think it was interesting to kind of separate myself from the character.

And I did have help from friends who I was already seeing, like, in my COVID bubble, so that was great and feedback from outside friends and that sort of thing, but also COVID, I think, really affected the plot because the plot of my story is about someone surviving on blood, but it's also about someone surviving on community connections.

So, I think with COVID when we're all sort of isolated, we don't have people to be close to and people to support us all the time in that way.

So, I think that was a huge part of it, and I kind of figured that out later that COVID was impacting my way.

- Very well said and I want to applaud you.

It's nice to have filmmakers over Zoom because the background looks kind of like a set.

You obviously took some time to decorate so I appreciate that and I will be anxiously awaiting-- I can't wait to see what you follow this film up with in your next venture.

So good luck with it and congratulations on getting into the film Festival.

- Yeah, thank you.

- Thanks to all the filmmakers who have joined us for this preview.

Here's our final grouping of films: [speaking in German] I was a refugee all of my life.

I did what I have to do.

Now, I got a second chance.

It be good sign.

- This one isn't for you-- not yet.

- Do you want to be good in a world that is [inaudible]?

[screaming] [tense electronic music] [man's tortured scream] [singing in Indian Maithili language] [camera shutter clicks] [gentle acoustic guitar] [all laugh warmly] [thunder rumbles] [speaking Spanish] [sharpening knife] [oven whooshes] [bags crinkling] [playful instrumental] [violin and flute music] [violin and flute music] [oompah music] [delicate upbeat piano] [laughing] - We're back to wrap things up here with Wisconsin Film Festival Director of Operations, Ben Reiser.

Ben, thanks and welcome back.

- Thanks for letting me do my costume change.

I can cross that off my bucket list.

- Let's talk about the swag.

What are you rockin' there?

- I've got a 2021 Wisconsin Film Festival T-shirt.

We've also got sweatshirts, joggers, and first time ever this year, socks.

- Sounds like you want all the festival-goers to hit the gym, maybe.

- Yeah, well, they need to after this last year.

- Shed a few pounds before they come back in person next year.

- Absolutely.

- That's a great shirt.

Where can they buy that, just on the website?

- Yeah.

- Excellent.

Well, tell us what excites you the-- Let's do this.

Tell us what excites you the most about the Wisconsin's Own category because we've got great filmmakers here in Wisconsin.

What are you most excited about in that category?

- Well, you know, two of the filmmakers that you had with you today-- the director of The Passing On and the director of Iron family-- those are our two golden Badger winners.

Those are both really, really outstanding feature-length documentaries that I recommend to everybody who asks me those kinds of questions.

- Yeah, and from a more general standpoint, really mesmerizing clips from some of your foreign selections there.

What excites you most about the foreign films?

- Just to getting the chance to see that just like everybody else.

I'll have more of a chance and more of an opportunity to get to see those films this year because I'll be at home.

I'll be up late.

I plan on really diving deep into this year's festival.

- Yeah, I'm sure you will, and now you got the time, which is great.

For people who are watching, filmmakers who are watching, and Wisconsinites is there is there something you look for in entries from Wisconsin filmmakers?

Is there any kind of theme or something you're looking for from a visual or storytelling standpoint with Wisconsin filmmakers?

- No, not really.

I mean, we are looking for a variety of things.

It's not like we have quotas, but it's great every year that we have some animations, some experimental, some documentaries, some narratives, some films that look like they were made in somebody's closet, and some films that look like, "Wait a minute.

This wasn't shot by a Hollywood studio?"

So we, you know, we love to run the gamut.

So, the wider the variety, the better for us.

- And do you anticipate-- I know you can't predict outright, but it looks like we're on a pretty good pace here for knocking this pandemic out for a while.

Will we be back at full capacity and humming on all cylinders do you think next year?

- If I've got anything to say about it, we will.

- But, you know, keep your head up because that's pretty cool because now, like you said, there's a few less films.

We can watch them all in our living room and it's still a film festival and there's still phenomenal movies that you can't see in a big megaplex.

So, that alone should give us some excitement for this year, right.

- Absolutely, and we still plan to record our sort of pre-screening intros for all the films to share with people online and do as many Q&As with the filmmakers as we can.

And another silver lining this year is that we might have more of an opportunity to talk to filmmakers who wouldn't necessarily make the trip out to Madison for an in-person festival.

This year, we can come to them.

- Yeah, talk about that a little bit.

You said you're expanding the Q&As with podcasts.

So, you really get more info from the filmmaker and about their process, right?

- Yeah, we've been podcasting all year at Cinema tech!

and I'm excited to use that format for the Wisconsin Film Festival this year.

I'm really, really excited about the in-depth interviews we're going to get to do.

- Excellent.

That's great and keep up the good work with the-- I know you do all the films to kick off the festival before the films.

- Oh, yeah.

- Telling people to shut up before you roll everything so those are always really entertaining.

- So, keep up the good work.

- Thank you, Pete.

- Yeah, you're welcome and thanks for being here today.

- Thanks for having me.

- You got it.

For more information on the Wisconsin Film Festival go to pbswisconsin.org and click on Director's Cut.

And once the festival ends you'll no doubt be craving more amazing movies.

So please join me back here for the premiere of our 13th season of Director's Cut which debuts Friday, June 11th.

Enjoy the Wisconsin Film Festival and we'll see you next time on Director's Cut.

[upbeat music] - And what about the-- - And the movie, Orca the movie, was a true story about their mentality.

They killed the female and they had a funeral for her.

And the male hunted them down until he got 'em for killing her.

Have you ever seen that movie?