Nō Studios is hosting its first Filmmaker Showcase this week. Local directors will screen their films and answer questions afterward at the series, which starts on March 6 and runs through March 10.
The showcase is divided into categories and genres, with nine total screenings and five to eight films shown per screening. On March 6, experimental films will be shown, followed by animation, comedy and music on March 7. Student shorts will screen on March 8, and on March 9-10, the final films screened will be documentaries. The showcase wraps on March 10 with Nō Studios’ Oscar Night Watch Party.
“We’re super excited to be able to showcase and support the filmmakers in Milwaukee and demonstrate that this community is incredibly talented, obviously very diverse and very broad. Being able to share that with the Milwaukee community is fantastic,” says Lisa Caesar, the COO of Nō Studios.
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UW-Milwaukee professor, filmmaker and animator Owen Klatte’s film Of Wood will be shown on March 7. The stop-motion short is Klatte’s first film, which he said is 45 years in the making.
“I just started thinking ‘What do I like?’ and I like wood and wood sculpture,” Klatte says. “I had never done any wood carving or wood sculpture before. I came up with the idea of something that I still don’t think anybody has ever done before. It’s a new technique that I thought would be interesting and challenging and then I built a story and wanted to turn it into a film.”
Filmmaker Yinan Wang’s films surround his upbringing in China, his life in the United States and how both intersect. Wang will be screening his film Decoupling on March 9. In 2020, Wang and his wife were separated from their infant daughter, who had been visiting Wang’s parents in China when the COVID pandemic shut down international travel. The documentary follows the difficult time.
“I’m looking to have more people know the experience that I had and that my family had and other Chinese immigrants are experiencing. I think it’s important to build courage with each other to communicate with each other for the people who are outside of this society to learn what’s going on,” Wang says.
Warren Matson’s film A Song Can Change a Life came together after a spur of the moment meeting with musician Joe West at an airport. Warren learned that West’s mother and father were America’s first Black Country Western duo, Sarge & Shirley West. The film documents their story and Joe’s relationship with his family.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the magic of seeing the film come together with an audience on a big screen,” Manson says. “Having done that in a number of other film festivals, there’s a couple of magical moments that you can feel in the air, with the audience and their reactions there’s just a spark that occurs.”
UWM Film student Jordan “T.J.” Blanco’s documentary, A Land Memory will be shown on March 10. Blanco said their interests are mostly inspired by the politics of images, what images can tell us about history, imperialism and the telling of Queer stories.
“A Land Memory looks at the history of Honduras and the history of colonization there, especially how the U.S. war machine played a part in that history and the creation of the concept of the Banana Republics,” Blanco says. “Looking at how countries have been seen mostly as places to get resources, the unequal power imbalances. It’s a personal love letter to Honduras.”
Jesse McLean, associate professor in the department of film, video, animation, new genres and department chair at UWM will be screening their film I’m in Pittsburgh and It’s Raining. McLain was inspired to make the experimental documentary after meeting a woman who worked as a lighting stand-in and body double for actress Anne Hathaway.
“It’s a portrait of her experience and some larger thoughts on people that are in the film but out of view,” McLean said. “It touched a personal note because it made me think about my own past relationships with people in these roles and how they are often undervalued.”
For tickets to any of the screenings, visit Nō Studios’ website.
