From the Madison Capital Times March 3, 2006:

Film Fest No Trivial Pursuit

By Rob Thomas

Madison film fans have quite a busy weekend ahead of them.

On Sunday, of course, they get to pop some popcorn, make their predictions and watch Jon Stewart host the Oscars, honoring some of the most-talked-about films of 2005.

But beginning at noon Saturday, they can start buying tickets for the eighth annual Wisconsin Film Festival and start mapping out which films they'll see, films that could end up being some of the most-talked-about of 2006.

Organizers announced the 177-film lineup for its four-day festival, which will run from March 30 to April 2 on 10 movie screens in Madison, including for the first time at Hilldale. This year's lineup will include a visit from Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert, new films by actor-directors Luke Wilson and Steve Buscemi and a new documentary on the annual trivia contest in Stevens Point.

Triviatown Mike Wiza in "Triviatown."

The entire lineup can be found at www.wifilmfest.org.

Tickets can be bought in person at the film festival's box office on the second floor of the UW Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St., or online at www.wifilmfest.org. Tickets are $7 for one film, but many filmgoers opt for cost-saving packages of up to 16 tickets in past years.

Last year, more than 24,000 tickets were sold for the festival, and many screenings sold out in advance. Here's a rundown of a few just-announced titles that might catch your eye:

• "Triviatown": Stevens Point is the home of the world's largest trivia contest, a 54-hour marathon hosted by the campus radio station that separates the hard-core trivia buffs from the dilettantes. This immensely fun documentary looks at the players who come back year after year for the challenge, suspense and camaraderie of the event. It airs at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and 5:30 p.m. Sunday at the Bartell Theatre, and the filmmakers will be in attendance.

"It's the only Wisconsin feature film selected by the Wisconsin's Own jury this year," festival interim director Meg Hamel says. "We're expecting a huge turnout for it, because we expect everyone from Stevens Point to come down. And the weekend after the festival is this year's trivia contest, so the timing worked out well."

• "Our Brand Is Crisis": When the Bolivian president's re-election bid is in crisis, he calls in a team of American political consultants, including James Carville, to conduct a U.S.-style campaign. Rachel Boynton's first documentary (profiled in last Sunday's New York Times) is a penetrating look at the consequences of "exporting American democracy abroad." It will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Bartell Theatre.

• "Conventioneers": This film had a brief run at the Orpheum last fall, but is back for the festival. The drama is a Romeo-and-Juliet-style romance between a Republican delegate and a Democratic protester at the Republican National Convention in New York in 2004. What distinguishes the film is that, although fictional, it was filmed at the convention itself, giving it a "Medium Cool"-style sense of realism. It will be screened at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Bartell.

• "Laura": It's not all new movies at the festival, which also features some rare chances to see classic films on the big screen. Case in point is "Laura," Otto Preminger's masterpiece noir about a detective who investigates a murder and gets much more than he bargained for. Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert will introduce a restored print of the film at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the UW Cinematheque.

• "Lonesome Jim": Actor Steve Buscemi gets into the director's chair for this melancholy comedy that sends an aimless young man (Casey Affleck) home, where he gets entangled in the family business. It will screen at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Orpheum.

• "Little Fish": Cate Blanchett plays a recovering heroin addict in this critically acclaimed Australian drama that avoids the usual after-school special cliches about drug abuse. Hugo Weaving ("V for Vendetta") and Sam Neill ("Jurassic Park") co-star in the film, which will play at 10 p.m. Sunday at the Orpheum.

• "The Night of the Living Dorks" ("Die Nacht Der Lebenden Loser"): In this German zombie teen comedy (yes, another one), three high school nerds accidentally turn themselves into the undead, which gains them entrance into their school's "in crowd," provided that they can restrain themselves from eating the "in crowd." It's a classic film festival midnight flick, screening at 11:30 p.m. Friday and 10:30 p.m. Saturday at University Square.

• "Lady Vengeance": Park Chan-Wook's "Oldboy" was a big hit at last year's film festival, so the similarly stylish and gory "Lady Vengeance" should also be a popular late-night selection. This film has a similar arc, following a woman released from prison who exacts furious revenge on the man who put her away for 13 years. It will screen at 11:15 p.m. Friday and 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Stage Door.

• "Cinerama Adventure": Return with us now to the days when the "big screen" meant the "BIG screen," as the innovative process known as "Cinerama" used giant curved screens so large that special theaters had to be built to contain them. This affectionate documentary looks back on the process and the classic films (such as "How the West Was Won") that used it. It will screen at 2:15 p.m. in the Orpheum, and producer Randy Gitsch will introduce the film.

• "Global Shorts": Foreign films, including the annual Global Lens series, are an essential ingredient of the festival, and this special screening allows you to hit five countries in one screening. Among the award-winning selections are the French film "Elephants Never Forget," which follows two siblings on a mission to kill their deadbeat father, and "Little Terrorist," which follows a young boy on the wrong side of the Pakistan-India border. The screening is set for 11 a.m. Saturday in the Fredric March Play Circle.

E-mail: rthomas@madison.com
Published: March 3, 2006
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