Wisconsin film reads April 21, 2014

At Madison Film Forum, Sean Weitner with a guest post on Wisconsin Film Festival attendance and what the numbers might mean for its past, present, and future:

If so, then the only way for the Festival to grow is to add more venues; it can’t possibly add more days. But does it need to grow? In an e-mail interview, Reiser said the 2014 Festival “exceeded our expectations on a number of levels: attendance, critical and anecdotal feedback.” Ticket sales account for about two-thirds of the festival’s operating budget; if “exceeded expectations” means that the the festival is generating sufficient revenue to self-perpetuate, then that may be good enough.

Rob Thomas follows a bang-up post on aspect ratio and Wes Anderson with one on the importance of style in Under the Skin:

What makes these sequences even creepier and more otherworldly is that the world outside these spaces are realer than real, a gritty, bustling Edinburgh that Laura glides through in her white van, looking for prey. Glazer uses dashboard mounted cameras and natural light in these scenes, and apparently Johansson often improvises several of the interactions in the film with real people out on the street. (She’s great at this, by the way — watch how her charm suddenly switches on as she peppers her potential victims with quesitons, then suddenly blinks off when she realizes her potential target isn’t suitable.)

Arts Extract’s Scott Gordon with some quality festival appreciation and what other arts events organizers can learn from it:

Madison has a lot of people and institutions who get rooted in their particular approaches and processes to an extent that often reflects complacency and willful obliviousness.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve offered suggestions or constructive criticism to people in the arts here, only to meet with some variant of “Well, we have to [use this or that inefficient/silly process] and we can’t/won’t do [this thing that should be really easy to do] because [insert unhelpful explanation here].” The film fest provides an example of how to evolve, and on your own terms, so that you’re proactively protecting your values and your vision, and not waiting for the future to crush you.