From the Stevens Point Journal November 1, 2006:

"Triviatown:" Official movie of Stevens Point

By Carlos Gieseken
Journal staff

When next April's annual Trivia Contest once again takes over Stevens Point, City Alderman and County Board Supervisor Mike Wiza will be taking part in his 30th contest as a member of the Franklin Street Burnouts, a trivia team he joined at the age of 10.

This past March, Wiza, his wife, daughter and a friend flew to New York for the Westchester Film Festival and the world premiere screening of "Triviatown, A Little Movie About the World's Largest Trivia Contest," which eventually won best documentary there. The movie about the annual event also won best film at the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison.

Photo: A video and sound crew catch some of the activity for the movie “Triviatown” during April 2004's trivia contest. Journal file photo

"I think they did a real good job of capturing the essence of Trivia," Wiza said. "They did a good job of capturing how the community gets involved and how different teams almost take on different personalities and yet everybody gets along."

Prior to this Sunday's 1:30 p.m. screening of "Triviatown" at Ben Franklin Junior High School during the first Central Wisconsin Film Festival, Wiza will present filmmakers Patrick Cady and Brit McAdams with mayoral proclamations that declare the film the official movie of the city of Stevens Point.

"Not many cities can say they have an award-winning movie about their city," Wiza said.

The film festival, which will begin Friday night at the Jensen Center in Amherst, will also feature 9 short films from the student and open category made by filmmakers from throughout Portage County as well as from Neenah, Wittenberg, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, Minn.

Many of the filmmakers will be on hand at the screenings to answer questions from the audience.

"It's an exciting thing to be at a film festival," said Cady of the screenings he attended for "Triviatown." "It's very exciting. Sitting in an audience with a bunch of people who have never seen it before and talking to them afterwards. You just hope people don't say they don't get it."

He said the filmmakers and their crews grew close to the trivia teams during their filming of the event two years ago. The eight camera operators, three sound technicians and the producers were warmly invited to many homes.

"You're spending time filming, but you know, the camera isn't rolling all the time," he said. "You spend time getting a feel for all the humor inside the room and you sense the camaraderie . It's nice to be welcomed into someone's home."

"You want people who helped you make it to like it, because you realize you wouldn't have the film without their help," he said. "I hope it plays well."

The short films will be shown Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Jensen Center in Amherst and again at 6 p.m. Saturday at Ben Franklin Junior High School for $5. "Triviatown" will be shown Saturday at 8 p.m. at Ben Franklin Junior High and then again Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the same location for $10.

Call the UWSP Box Office at 715-346-4100 for ticket information.

Gieseken can be reached at 345-2253 or cgieseken@cwnews.net