The Wisconsin Film Festival (WFF) in partnership with WUD Film, is excited to announce a new season of free Tuesday Night Movie Club screenings at the Marquee at Union South (1308 West Dayton Street, Madison). All screenings start at 7 pm.
Launched in the fall of 2017 as a way to build up excitement for the 20th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, these free monthly screenings featured films and shorts from past Wisconsin Film Festivals as well as special guests. This popular series returns this fall on October 16, November 27 and December 11, 2018.
Tuesday, Oct. 16 | Big Man Japan (WFF 2008)
Directed by Hitoshi Mastumoto | Japan | 2007 | 35mm | 113 min. | Japanese with English subtitles
In Big Man Japan (Dainipponjin) Daisato is a melancholy, unmotivated fellow weighed down with a family responsibility as a sixth-generation superhero, charged with defending Japan from the steady stream of attacking monsters.
“A wickedly deadpan spin on the pop image of giant Japanese superheroes like Ultraman, Big Man Japan body-slams with a stinging dry wit that ricochets to ever-higher levels of audacity. Director and star Hitoshi Matsumoto — one of Japan’s biggest comedians — pulls off a whacked-out and imaginative filmmaking debut, yet still hits upon social issues like the loss of the ‘Japanese spirit,’ the country’s diplomatic relations, the family unit and a rapidly aging population. Big Man Japan is an outrageous portrait of a pathetic, but truly unique hero.” — Colin Geddes, Toronto International Film Festival.
Tuesday, Nov. 27 | Ida (WFF 2014)
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski | Poland, Denmark, France | 2013 | 35mm | 82 min. | Polish, French with English subtitles
This enveloping drama centers on a teenaged nun (Anna) who, just before taking her vows, meets her last living relative, Wanda. Wanda reveals that Anna’s real name is Ida, she is a Jew, and that her parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation. The two set off on a journey to uncover familial mysteries.
“This moving inquiry into a national trauma achieves its exceptional power through its intimacy; Ida and Wanda are two fully realized souls, and their heartache is suffused with glimmers of beauty, humor, and music. Filmed in luminous black and white in the classic Academy aspect ratio, Ida combines some of the year’s best cinematography and art direction to create a truly immersive viewing experience.” – Mike King, Wisconsin Film Festival
Tuesday, Dec. 11 | Marwencol (WFF 2011)
Directed by Jeff Malmberg | U.S.A. | 2010 | DCP | 83 min | English
After a vicious attack, where he suffered from extensive brain damage, artist Mark Hogancamp creates a small-scale and dangerous town of Marwencol, Belgium set in WWII era. He finds creating this town and elaborate scenarios therapeutic. The art market sees some of his documentation of his creation and Hogancamp has to decide if he should let others see his world in a gallery exhibition.
This incredible, indelible documentary scooped up top prizes at the 2010 SXSW, Hot Docs, Seattle, Silverdocs, Comic-Con and Vienna Film Festivals (among others), and was named one of the year’s 10 best films by New York Magazine, Boston Globe, Slate, and NPR. “Exactly the sort of mysterious and almost holy experience you hope to get from documentaries … a homegrown slice of Herzog oddness.” — Michael Atkinson, Village Voice