From the Stevens Point Journal November 6, 2006:

Film festival highlights 'Triviatown'

By Patrick Thornton
Journal staff

A touch of Hollywood came to Portage County this weekend.

The first Central Wisconsin Film Festival, hosted by the Portage County Arts Alliance, drew movie buffs for three days of celebration of home grown movie making talent, and for the viewing of "Triviatown," which was recently proclaimed the official movie of Stevens Point.

Patrick Cady and Brit McAdams, the New York City filmmakers behind "Triviatown," bill their movie as "a little movie about the world's biggest trivia contest."

Photo: Patrick Cady, right, and Brit McAdams introduce their movie “Triviatown” on Saturday at Ben Franklin Junior High School during the first Central Wisconsin Film Festival. Thomas Kujawski/Stevens Point Journal

Over the course of the weekend, about 1,000 people got a chance to see what all the fuss is about.

"Patrick's wife is from Plover, so he was sucked into trivia by marrying into it, which happens to a lot of people," McAdams said. "Trivia is one of those one-of-a-kind events that we were excited to showcase."

McAdams and Cady shot footage over two Trivia weekends. When they were done, they had about 450 hours of footage.

"We had some ideas of where we wanted to go with the film, but once we started shooting, we found some new ideas," Cady said. "We got incredibly lucky. There are some real surprises that we were able to get on film."

"Triviatown" is generating a ground swell of notoriety as the filmmakers have screened it at film festivals around the country.

It was voted the best documentary at the Westchester Film Festival in Massachusetts and was named best film at the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Mike Wiza, a member of the Stevens Point Common Council and the Portage County Board, flew out to see the premiere of the movie in New York City with his family. Wiza's team, the Franklin Street Burnouts, is featured in the film.

He was on hand Sunday to present the proclamation declaring "Triviatown" the official movie of Stevens Point at Ben Franklin Junior High School.

"I'm very happy with the way in turned out," Wiza said. "This film can only help bring more exposure to Trivia weekend."

In addition to the 90-minute documentary, nine filmmakers screened short movies as part of the festival. The films ranged in content from animation to comedies.

"I was surprised at how good some of the short films were," Abbey Myers said. "It's impressive to see what people can do with a camera and a home computer. This is just a great way to showcase the creative work that goes on in our area."

Jim "Oz" Oliva, the master of ceremonies for Trivia weekend and 29-year veteran of the event is one of the main characters in the film. McAdams and Cady go behind the scenes with Oliva as he is formulating some of the trivia questions.

"We don't come off as a bunch of superfans," Oliva said. "I've seen other documentaries like this where the people in the film have lost all sense. We are a bunch of fanatics, but that is a good thing. I think it's an honest assessment of what the contest is all about."

Oliva said he hopes the film introduces Stevens Point's Trivia weekend to more people.

"I would like to see (Trivia) grow even more," he said. "We can have more teams playing from all over the world. If they can hack it, if they think they are smart enough then we would love to have them. But they have to remember, 54 hours is a long time."

Thornton can be reached at 345-2257 or at pthornton@cwnews.net