Jonathan Jackson has had an eventful couple of years. After COVID shut down the Milwaukee Film Festival in 2020, Jackson, the CEO, led the team in recreating the event as a virtual experience. In 2021, the festival changed its timing from fall to spring, before introducing a hybrid in-person/virtual model in 2022. The 2023 iteration runs from April 20-May 4 at the Oriental Theatre, The Times Cinema and the Avalon Atmospheric Theater. We talked with Jackson about the event.
Besides film screenings, what can people expect at this year’s festival?
There will also be talks, panels and parties that are absolutely something I’m looking forward to. We’re planning to bring even more [filmmakers to the festival] this year. It’s such a cool experience to be with the artists themselves, to see a movie with the filmmakers in the audience. It’s such a cool vibe – there’s something electric.
What parts of the festival do you wish people knew more about?
One thing is our screenings for families and kids. We have this program called “Rated K: For Kids” for ages 3 to 12. What’s so cool is that parents and grandparents and their kids all go to these screenings together. And for many of these youths, it’s their first time ever going to a movie theater, let alone one as cool as the Oriental or the Avalon or The Times. I [hope] those screenings all sell out. They’re really special and amazing for families.
What makes the Milwaukee Film Festival special?
A film festival is a chance to be transported. That happened for me last year, watching the film The Velvet Queen. I was absolutely in a different place and time, outside of all my crazy demands and stress – and that experience can only happen in a film festival, in a movie theater.
Film Fest Fanatic
KATE NEGRI has been to every Milwaukee Film Festival since 2012, and each year she makes sure to see at least 30 screenings, plus attend the opening day party and hopefully catch a panel discussion or two. “I love the cultural experience,” says Negri, who works at UW-Milwaukee’s graduate school. “I like the community engagement, and obviously the movies themselves. We get to see these great movies in theaters that we wouldn’t otherwise.”
Insider Picks
Check out these four flicks at this year’s festival, recommended by the MKE Film staff.
Oink – A charming stop-motion flick about a young girl house-training a piglet
Land of Gold – A truck driver travels cross-country to help a lost girl find her family.
Finding Her Beat – This documentary follows an all-female Japanese drumming group.
The Quiet Epidemic – An investigative documentary on Lyme disease
