DEAR EVAN HANSEN Sneak Preview Screening Added to Fall 2020 Lineup

Monday, September 13th, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

The UW Cinematheque has added a free screening of the new Broadway adaptation Dear Evan Hansen to our Fall 2020 lineup. The special sneak preview showing will take place on Sunday, September 19, 7 p.m., at our regular venue: 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue. The pre-release screening comes courtesy of Universal Pictures, who will be releasing Dear Evan Hansen in theaters on September 24.

Admission is free, masks are required.

DEAR EVAN HANSEN (USA | 2021 | DCP | 137 min.,  Director: Stephen Chbosky Cast: Ben Platt, Julianne Moore, Amy Adams)

In this adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, Tony winner Ben Platt reprises his role as Evan Hansen, an anxious, isolated high schooler aching for understanding and belonging amid the chaos and cruelty of the social-media age. Featuring music and lyrics by the songwriting team of Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (La La LandThe Greatest Showman), Dear Evan Hansen is one of this year's most-anticipated movies. Join us at the Cinematheque for this free, pre-release screening courtesy of Universal Pictures. Dear Evan Hansen opens in theaters on September 24.

Sunday, September 19, 7 p.m., UW Cinematheque, 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706

Cinematalk Podcast: FROM NOON TILL THREE with Dan Gilroy

Monday, July 26th, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

Coinciding with the Cinematheque's Charles Bronson series and our 35mm presentation of From Noon Till Three on July 30, this episode of Cinematalk features the Cinematheque's Jim Healy in conversation with the Academy Award nominated screenwriter and director Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler, Roman J. Israel, Esq.), son of From Noon Till Three's writer and director, Frank D. Gilroy. Dan was present for the making of From Noon Till Three and he discusses the film's production, its peculiar and unpredictable screenplay, and his father's work on other Western movies and television shows. 

From Noon Till Three spoilers abound in our discussion, so we recommend viewing the movie first before listening.

Listen to Cinematalk below, or subscribe through Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Cinematalk Presents 70 Movies We Saw in the 70s: WHERE'S POPPA?

Friday, July 2nd, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

In conjunction with the Cinematheque's 35mm presentation of Where's Poppa? on July 2, we have repackaged an episode of 70 Movies We Saw in the '70s podcast on our own Cinematalk podcast.

On this episode, originally released about a year ago, the Cinematheque's Ben Reiser and the late, great Mike McPadden discuss Carl Reiner's very dark comedy with writer and film historian Kat Ellinger. Listen below or subscribe to Cinematalk wherever you get your podcasts.

UW Cinematheque Returns! Summer Screening Series Begins June 30 at 4070 Vilas

Friday, June 11th, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

After a nearly 16-month hiatus, big screen movies are making their comeback at the UW Cinematheque’s regular venue, 4070 Vilas Hall! Beginning Wednesday June 30, the Cinematheque will commence six weeks of free screenings beginning with Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow, a classic tearjerker that was originally scheduled for April 2020. The summer lineup includes canonized comedies, action blockbusters, international thrillers, contemporary gems from Asia, the complete American works of French superstar Jean Gabin, a three-film salute to Charles Bronson in honor of his centennial, and more! 

Summer programming will take place on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings and all feature films will be screened from original or archival 35mm prints. Admission, as always, is free and open to the public. Seating will be limited and socially distanced according to current UW-Madison policies. When possible, additional showtimes have been added to accommodate more viewers. 

You can view the entire summer calendar here.

See you at the Cinematheque!

Cinematalk Podcast #36: Emir Cakaroz

Thursday, April 29th, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

In conjunction with the Cinematheque's presentation of Emir Cakaroz' "Paths to Home" trilogy, this episode of our Cinematalk podcast features Cakaroz in a talk with the Cinematheque's Ben Reiser about the trilogy and exploring one’s roots through the art of cinema.

Born and raised in Istanbul, Emir Cakaroz received his MFA in film from the UWM Peck School of the Arts, where is currently an Associate Lecturer in Film, Video, and Animation. In the "Paths to Home" trilogy, Cakaroz casts his gaze on his family, and in particular, his mother and father, approaching their stories – emigrating from Bulgaria to Turkey, being treated as outsiders, suffering with illness and loneliness, surviving and passing along traditions both sacred and domestic – from unique and intimate angles. Cakaroz wields a sly, deadpan sense of humor, and his trilogy paints a complicated, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory portrait of the family unit and his place within it. Though each of the three pieces vary wildly in form and tone, seen together they form a cohesive whole, an unforgettable deep dive into what makes Cakaroz the man and filmmaker that he is.

Listen below or subscribe to Cinematalk through Apple Podcasts.

See Milwaukee Filmmaker Emir Cakaroz' "Paths to Home" Trilogy for Free!

Thursday, April 29th, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

While our campus theatrical venues remain closed, the Cinematheque concludes our series of movies you can watch at home for free with a presentation of Emir Cakaroz’ “Paths to Home” trilogy.

The 2021 Wisconsin Film Festival (May 13-20) is just around the corner, and Milwaukee-based filmmaker Cakaroz has been a familiar presence at the Festival since 2011 where his short video, Oil Wrestling, had its world premiere. In the ensuing years, Cakaroz has been back many times, with screenings of One Money (WFF 2014), Riverwest Film & Video (WFF 2018) and a stint as a Golden Badger juror in 2019.

Born and raised in Istanbul, Cakaroz received his MFA in film from the UWM Peck School of the Arts, where he is currently an Associate Lecturer in Film, Video, and Animation. In the “Paths to Home” trilogy, Cakaroz casts his gaze on his family, and in particular, his mother and father. Cakaroz approaches the details of his parents’ lives – emigrating from Bulgaria to Turkey, being treated as outsiders, suffering with illness and loneliness, surviving, and passing along traditions both sacred and domestic – from unique and intimate angles. Cakaroz wields a sly, deadpan sense of humor, and his trilogy paints a complicated, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory portrait of the family unit and his place within it. Though each of the three pieces vary wildly in form and tone, seen together they form a cohesive whole, an unforgettable deep dive into what makes Cakaroz the man and filmmaker that he is. Wisconsin Film Festival has also hosted screenings of the three shorts that now comprise the “Paths to Home” trilogy: Two Photographs (WFF 2013), Revza (WFF 2016) and Dad’s Apple (WFF 2020) and we are delighted to share them with you now as one complete package.

TWO PHOTOGRAPHS (2012 | Turkey, USA | 8 min. | Director: Emir Cakaroz) Applying voiceover narration to the title objects, Two Photographs tells the story of the filmmaker’s parents and their emigration from Bulgaria to Turkey.

REVZA (2016 | USA | 47 min. | Director: Emir Cakaroz) Cakaroz returns to his native Turkey to spend some quality time with his mother. What emerges is a singularly intimate portrait of their relationship, as well as her life alone. Clear-eyed and moving, Revza is filled with sequences in which the mundane becomes mesmerizing.

DAD’S APPLE  (2019 | USA |16 min. | Director: Emir Cakaroz |Cast: Emir Cakaroz, Rafael Cakaroz) Emir Cakaroz completes his “family” trilogy with a stylistically bold memory piece in which Cakaroz portrays his father, and Cakaroz’s son, Rafael, plays young Emir.

For instructions on how to see all of the “Paths to Home” trilogy at home for free, send an email to info@cinema.wisc.edu and remember to include TRILOGY in the subject line. No further message is necessary.

Plus, on a new episode of our Cinematalk podcast, Emir Cakaroz talks with the Cinematheque's Ben Reiser about the trilogy and exploring one’s roots through the art of cinema. Listen below or subscribe to Cinematalk through Apple Podcasts. 

Stay healthy and safe. We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

Cinematalk Podcast #35: Frank V. Ross

Thursday, April 22nd, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

As a supplement to the Cinematheque's free presentation of three features by independent filmmaker Frank V. Ross, this episode of our Cinematalk podcast features the Cinematheque's Mike King talking with Ross about his movies and career. Listen to this episode below or subscribe to Cinematalk through Apple Podcasts.

See a Frank V. Ross Triple Feature for Free!

Thursday, April 22nd, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

While our campus theatrical venues remain closed, the Cinematheque is continuing our series of movies you can watch at home for free with a triple feature by Midwest-based independent filmmaker Frank V. Ross: Audrey the TrainwreckTiger Tail in Blue, and Bloomin Mud Shuffle. The latter two titles were selections of past editions of the Wisconsin Film Festival and all three movies are available to watch at home for free through May 6 only.

Plus, on a new episode of our Cinematalk podcast, Frank Ross talks with the Cinematheque's Mike King about these three selections and his career in cinema. You can listen below or subscribe to Cinematalk through Apple Podcasts.

AUDREY THE TRAINWRECK (2010 | USA | 85 min. | Directed by Frank V. Ross | Cast: Anthony J. Baker, Alexi Wasser, Nick Offerman) Ron and Stacy are in the grind. Working unfulfilling jobs in the Chicago suburbs, they are frustrated with their day-to-day lives, but also too worn out and into their respective grooves to do anything drastic about it. But after meeting through an internet dating site, these two find in each other someone who speaks their language. Writer/director Frank V. Ross’s funny, acerbic, and scrappy gem has only grown more potent in the decade since its premiere at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival. (Mike King) “[A] scruffy, tender but very funny romance... Ross is something of an indie Robert Altman, with his huge cast of characters and plaited strands of dialogue, and he has a sharp and comic eye for intimacy, domesticity, and practicality. Ross’s images, for all their apparent casualness, display a rare and delicate wit and whimsy. The movie is a treasure” (Richard Brody, The New Yorker).

TIGER TAIL IN BLUE (2012 | USA | 80 min. | Directed By Frank V. Ross | Cast: Frank V. Ross, Rebecca Spence, Megan Mercier) A bracingly honest depiction of a young working-class marriage, Tiger Tail in Blue examines what happens when romance gives way to routine. Struggling writer Chris (played by writer/ director Frank V. Ross) waits tables at night, which puts him at opposing schedules with his new wife Melody, a teacher. Typical marital issues (bills, mostly) are compounded by the fact that the two rarely see each other and are often arguing when they do. As Chris spends more time away from his wife, he develops a workplace crush on a female coworker named Brandy. In a Buñuelian twist, Melody and Brandy are both played by the same actress, Rebecca Spence… until, at a crucial moment, they aren’t. Spence’s dual performances are truly remarkable — at first, you may not even recognize that she is playing both parts. At times caustic, at times melancholy, and at times very funny, these scenes from a marriage are never less than true to life. Featuring a rare film score by John Medeski, Tiger Tail in Blue is “One of the best indie films to surface in the past year” (J.J. Murphy, jjmurphyfilm.com). Nominated for the “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” at the 2012 Gotham Independent Film Award. (Mike King)

BLOOMIN MUD SHUFFLE (2015 | USA | 75 min. | Directed by Frank V. Ross | ​Cast: James Ransone, Alexia Rasmussen, Alex Karpovsky) Lonnie’s life hasn’t changed much in the 16 years since he graduated high school. Still painting houses, still drinking too much, still hanging out with the same old friends (including Alex Karpovsky of Girls, naturally hilarious as always). As far as he can see, his only hope for the future lies in taking his physical relationship with coworker Monica (a fantastic Alexia Rasmussen) to the next level. A recent college graduate and out of his league, Monica clearly views the older, down-on-his-luck Lonnie as a temporary fling, but he’s more invested. Writer/director Frank V. Ross makes films in and about the blue collar Chicago suburb where he himself lives, capturing the nuances of the working class that are too often absent from contemporary independent cinema. Produced by low-budget stalwart Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas), Bloomin Mud Shuffle is a gritty gem that wrings hard-earned humor out of tough circumstances. Ross’s seventh film includes strong performances from lead James Ransone (Tangerine), Natasha Lyonne (Orange is the New Black) and Rebecca Spence (star of Ross’s Tiger Tail in Blue), and a score by John Medeski of Medeski Martin & Wood. (Mike King)

To receive instructions on how to see all three Frank V. Ross movies at home for free, send an email to info@cinema.wisc.edu and simply remember to include the word ROSS in the subject line. No further message is necessary.

Stay healthy and safe. We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

See Two Brilliant Found Footage Movies at Home for Free!

Wednesday, April 14th, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

UPDATE: We have reached our limit of free views of Just Don't Think I'll Scream and There Are Not Thirty-six Ways of Showing a Man Getting on a Horse. Thank you for making this presentation such a success! 

While our campus theatrical venues remain closed, the Cinematheque is continuing our series of movies you can watch at home for free with two fascinating selections: Frank Beauvais' Just Don't Think I'll Scream and Nicolás Zukerfeld's There Are Not Thirty-six Ways of Showing a Man Getting on a Horse. Both selections use existing footage from other movies to tell new stories and examine the power of cinema. Just Don't Think I'll Scream is another excellent title originally selected for the 2020 Wisconsin Film Festival and There Are Not Thirty-six Ways was an official selection of the 2020 New York Film Festival.

JUST DON'T THINK I'LL SCREAM (NE CROYEZ SURTOUT PAS QUE JE HURLE | 2019 | France | 75 min. | French with English subtitles | Directed by Frank Beauvais) “I watched over 400 films between April and October 2016. This footage comes from them.” So begins Frank Beauvais’s astonishing feature debut, a found footage memoir refracting seven tumultuous months of life through an unceasing fusillade of movie clips. With Knausgaardian candor, Beauvais narrates the story of his break-up; his father’s death; his life in provincial Alsace, France; and above all, his all-consuming cinephilia, which accelerates as personal calamity and world events (from the Bastille Day attack in Nice to Prince's passing) lead him further inward. The film’s rapid, wildly imaginative montage toggles between film snippets largely obscure and hard-to-place: a Pre-Code dame here, a giallo knife plunge there, an aside on all the Soviet films cluttering his hard drive, John Carpenter’s Christine, etc. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream offers an incisive, full-bore exploration of all the ways obsessive movie watching can bleed into one’s personal life, and vice versa. (Zachary Zahos)

THERE ARE NOT THIRTY-SIX WAYS OF SHOWING A MAN GETTING ON A HORSE (NO EXISTEN TREINTA Y SEIS MANERAS DE MOSTRAR COMO UN HOMBRE SE SUBE A UN CABALLO | 2020 | Argentina | 63 min. | English and Spanish with English subtitles | Directed by Nicolás ZukerfeldPure pleasure for cinephiles, this illuminating essay film examines the oeuvre of the classic Hollywood director Raoul Walsh. The first half is a briskly edited catalog of clips from Walsh’s films, locating parallel actions and reactions from across Walsh’s fifty-year career. The second half delves into correctly attributing the quote that forms the film’s lengthy title, pursuing this academic grind with the intrigue of a detective story. Argentine filmmaker Nicolás Zukerfeld’s witty ride through film history has been praised by Artforum as an “exhilarating voyage through academia and film scholarship… a wildly edited, unabashed paean to classic Hollywood cinema.” (Mike King). 

For a limited time beginning April 15, the Cinematheque has a limited number of opportunities to watch both Beauvais and Zukerfeld's movies at home for free. PLEASE NOTE: There Are Not Thirty-six Ways of Showing a Man Getting on a Horse is not available for viewing outside the U.S. To receive instructions, send an email to info@cinema.wisc.edu and simply remember to include the word MOVIES in the subject line. No further message is necessary.

Stay healthy and safe. We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

LACIS Presents THREE SUMMERS - See it for Free!

Wednesday, April 7th, 2021
Posted by Jim Healy

While our campus theatrical venues remain closed, the Cinematheque is continuing our series of movies you can watch at home for free with another excellent title originally selected for the 2020 Wisconsin Film Festival, Sandra Kogut's comedy-drama from Brazil, Three SummersThree Summers is presented with the support of UW Madison’s Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program (LACIS).

THREE SUMMERS (TRÊS VERÕES | 2019 | 94 min. | Portuguese with English subtitles | Directed by Sandra Kogut) Madá is the middle-aged caretaker for a handful of beachfront villas owned by a wealthy Rio de Janeiro family. During three consecutive summers — 2015 to 2017 —Madá attempts to open her own business while tending to her privileged and not-always-so-kind employers. Later, she becomes a bystander in a major money-laundering scandal, and eventually launches a whole new career. Director & co-writer Sandra Kogut's keenly observed comedy-drama authentically captures the rhythms of daily life and the genuine struggles of working-class people, especially in relation to their pampered employers. A great deal of the credit for the energy and humor of Three Summers must be given to Regina Casé for her funny, charismatic, and very real performance as Madá, a clever and big-hearted character who reminds us that optimism and shrewd judgement are sometimes the most valuable currencies. Case won the award for Best Actress at the 2019 Rio de Janeiro Film Festival.

“Kogut's script allows gentle comedy to seep into her observations of the resilience of those working in the service of others” (Caitlin Quinlan, Cinema Scope).

For a limited time beginning April 8, the Cinematheque has a limited number of opportunities to watch Three Summers at home for free. To receive instructions, send an email to info@cinema.wisc.edu and simply remember to include the word LACIS in the subject line. Three Summers is presented with the support of UW Madison’s Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program (LACIS).

Stay healthy and safe. We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

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