Art & Artists Program – MFF26
Go into the studio, around the work, and deep into the visionary mind with these films featuring the creativity of visual, performing, literary, and culinary artists.
Presented by: Heil Family Foundation
Sponsored by: Milwaukee Magazine
The Films
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez
Documentary
AMERICAN PACHUCO: THE LEGEND OF LUIS VALDEZ celebrates the life and legacy of the Chicano playwright, from his work creating…
AMERICAN PACHUCO: THE LEGEND OF LUIS VALDEZ celebrates the life and legacy of the Chicano playwright, from his work creating theater shows for migrant food workers to studio films like LA BAMBA and ZOOT SUIT. This Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner features interviews with legends like Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips, who recognize the resounding legacy of Luis Valdez, whose influential work continues to reflect the struggles and triumphs of the Mexican-American community.
Barbara Forever
Documentary
An intimate, dream-like, and masterfully crafted look at the iconic life, work, and legacy of the pioneering feminist experimental filmmaker…
An intimate, dream-like, and masterfully crafted look at the iconic life, work, and legacy of the pioneering feminist experimental filmmaker responsible for some of the most prominent early works in lesbian cinema. Expanded from her 2022 award-winning short LOVE, BARBARA, Brydie O'Connor traces Hammer's prolific canon alongside never-before-seen documentations of her life, revealing her unconventional attempts to live on forever—especially through extensive archival efforts. Fans and newcomers alike: immerse yourselves fully in Hammer's legacy of Dyketactics.
Beyond the Duplex Planet
Documentary
Artist David Greenberger's projects, from his early 'zine THE DUPLEX PLANET to his recent work in spoken word shows and…
Artist David Greenberger's projects, from his early 'zine THE DUPLEX PLANET to his recent work in spoken word shows and recordings, have charted a career that honors humor, warmth, and sincerity. Long exploring notions of aging through art and community practice (including here in Milwaukee with our very own Paul Cebar), this documentary offers a metareflection on the life of an artist devoted to documenting the elderly who is himself in his senior years.
Misan Harriman: Shoot the People
Documentary
Featuring conversations with Rep. Ilhan Omar and Martin Luther King III, this urgent and compelling documentary follows Nigerian-born British image-maker…
Featuring conversations with Rep. Ilhan Omar and Martin Luther King III, this urgent and compelling documentary follows Nigerian-born British image-maker Misan Harriman, best known for his powerful photographs of grassroots protests against climate change inaction, Gaza atrocities, George Floyd’s murder, and more. However, even as his images provoke palpable reactions, as a self-described person of privilege, Harriman shares his doubts about his work’s effectiveness while reflecting on his life's work.
Paint Me A Road Out of Here
Documentary
In 1971, artist Faith Ringgold made a monumental painting for the women incarcerated at Rikers Island. Fifty years later, formerly…
In 1971, artist Faith Ringgold made a monumental painting for the women incarcerated at Rikers Island. Fifty years later, formerly incarcerated artist Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter bands together with Ringgold plus an eccentric bunch of activists, politicians, artists, and corrections officers to free the painting with the ultimate goal of freeing the women. MFF alum Catherine Gund chronicles the painting’s whitewashed journey and the two artists who challenge the same oppressive and persistent institutions, a half century apart.
Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story
Documentary
Blurring the line between performance and personal crisis, comedian Maria Bamford turns her mental health journey into material that’s riotously…
Blurring the line between performance and personal crisis, comedian Maria Bamford turns her mental health journey into material that’s riotously funny and ultimately inspiring. Amid hilarious moments from her stand-up specials and fellow comedians weighing in on what makes her so funny, Bamford lays bare the anxiety and persistence underpinning her career. Whether you’re a fan or a newcomer, this film feels like laughing with a friend who speaks with a fearless intimacy and joy.
Powwow People
Documentary
A celebration of the overlapping arts of music, dance, food, and dress packed into the cultural tradition of the powwow,…
A celebration of the overlapping arts of music, dance, food, and dress packed into the cultural tradition of the powwow, vérité-style documentary directed by MFF and UWM alum Sky Hopinka, POWWOW PEOPLE is grounded in the rhythms, relationships, and lived experience of a contemporary Native gathering. Rather than entering as outside observers, the filmmakers organized the powwow itself, inviting dancers, singers, vendors, and community members to participate in the making of this film.
Public Access
Documentary
An unprecedented look inside one of the greatest media experiments to hijack American screens. Rare archives from New York's underground…
An unprecedented look inside one of the greatest media experiments to hijack American screens. Rare archives from New York's underground capture a world of creators who transformed our TVs into groundbreaking spaces for self-expression that continue to shape debates around platforms, power, and free speech. PUBLIC ACCESS is the untold story of the channels that shattered norms, subverted media, defied censors, and provoked battles over free speech fortelling our world today.
The Last Critic
Documentary
Sixty years and a million records ago, Robert Christgau invented Rock music criticism. Now in his eighties, Bob is still…
Sixty years and a million records ago, Robert Christgau invented Rock music criticism. Now in his eighties, Bob is still at it—amazingly with the same vigor, wit, and masterful craft that has defined his expansive and trailblazing career. But in a world where albums are increasingly irrelevant, print is dead, and algorithms have eclipsed critics, this playful documentary asks: What happens next—for Bob, but also for music criticism as a whole??
The Way We Move
Documentary
Open Captioned Screening
Amber Galloway is a star ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter who specializes in live music interpretations. Amber teaches her art…
Amber Galloway is a star ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter who specializes in live music interpretations. Amber teaches her art to share her life’s mission: making music accessible to the Deaf community. As the film unfolds, we learn about Amber’s painful past and the lives of her students, as they come together and forge life-long bonds. THE WAY WE MOVE is a powerful film about music, Deaf culture, connection, and resilience.
Welcome Poets
Documentary
Local
Guests in Attendance
A poetically structured documentary that follows 2023-24 Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Nicholas Gulig, as he returns to his home state of…
A poetically structured documentary that follows 2023-24 Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Nicholas Gulig, as he returns to his home state of Wisconsin after nearly two decades away, following five years teaching in Thailand, joins UW-Whitewater as a poetry professor, and moves to Fort Atkinson. Feeling estranged from the state, and in a divided political climate, Gulig finds a steadying presence in the region's ties to lauded 20th century Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker.
You Had To Be There
Documentary
Comedy
The 1972 Toronto production of GODSPELL is legendary for launching many illustrious careers including Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner…
The 1972 Toronto production of GODSPELL is legendary for launching many illustrious careers including Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner and more, and ignited a comedy revolution. With its deft mix of engaging interviews, animated recreations, and other inventive means of compensating for the scarcity of original archival materials, YOU HAD TO BE THERE brings this special time back into the present with an irrepressible sense of joy.
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