Tuesday Night Movie Club: A Town Called Panic

Keep the celebration of the 20th Annual Wisconsin Film Festival going with the next Tuesday Night Movie Club event featuring the 2010 WFF selection, A Town Called Panic (Panique Au Village) in 35MM! The film is in French with English subtitles.

Here’s the original description from the 2010 Film Guide:

A stop-motion whirlwind set in a papier-mâché Belgian town populated entirely by squeaky-voiced toys, this surreal animated feature defies synopsis. But here goes: Cowboy and Indian want to surprise Horse with a backyard barbeque pit for his birthday, but a fateful typo leads to them ordering waaay too many bricks (50 million). The brick avalanche opens up an underwater alternate universe, and from there, it’s a quick jaunt to the center of the earth. In an age when so many animators are dedicated to the dubious cause of recreating reality, or stuck in formula stories, directors Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar charge in the opposite direction (or maybe all directions), gleefully reminding us that in animation, anything is possible. The characters’ movements alone are hilarious—they flail about with a herky-jerky recklessness that matches the plot’s gonzo energy. Packed with more imagination per minute than any film you’re likely to see this year, this haywire delight will have you forgetting all about newfangled fads like 3-D.

Just added! We will start the evening with a screening of 2015 WFF selection, World of Tomorrow. In this masterwork from independent animator Don Hertzfeldt, a visitor from the future brings a message to one of her ancestors. Awe-inspiring, mindbending, guffaw-inducing, and, ultimately, terribly moving.

Following that, we will present the 2017 Golden Badger Award-winning short film Daedalus and Icarus. The 4th grade classes of Madison’s Crestwood Elementary School teamed up to retell the classic Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus, using block-print, paper-cut animation and a fresh, charming perspective on a familiar tale.

See it with us right here on campus for free! The Marquee at Union South is a festive venue, with all kinds of food, drink, popcorn, and other snacks available on site at The Sett, Urban Slice, Badger Market, and Daily Scoop! Come early, and stay after.

Tuesday Night Movie Club screenings are co-presented by the UW–Madison Arts Institute, UW-Madison Department of Communication Arts, and WUD Film.