Come Together
Milwaukee Film’s Cultures & Communities Festival has a little something for everyone.
“Imagine if you could take all of the social and cultural aspects of your life and wrap up all the things you love – food, news, art, dance – and just pack it all into eight days,” Milwaukee Film’s Chief Innovation Officer Geraud Blanks says. “That’s what it is! It’s truly one-of-a-kind.”
The lineup is stacked with everything from film screenings and a sneaker and streetwear expo to wine tastings and even a talk about the state of conservatism. Headliners include DJ Spinderella (yes, from Salt-N-Pepa!) and Janelle James from the hit TV show “Abbott Elementary.”
“This is a really eclectic event, but there’s a purpose to it,” Blanks says. “We didn’t just throw a bunch of crap together to say, ‘Oh, diversity.’ … I want people to understand that it’s not happenstance, that there’s a purpose behind it and a team of people who really carefully curated these things.”
A prime example of this curation is the closing night concert from Gangstagrass. The genre-bending band melds country, hip-hop and bluegrass music. Blanks hopes the event will fuse communities that don’t traditionally come together.
“A good time is guaranteed,” Blanks promises. “You’re literally going to have to go out of your way not to have a good time. It’s that fun!”
The festival runs Oct. 5-12.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Violent Femmes & the MSO
OCT. 3 | BRADLEY SYMPHONY CENTER
Celebrate 40 years of the Violent Femmes as Milwaukee’s most famous band joins forces with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to play their debut album, cover to cover.
Elixir of Love
OCT. 13 AND 15 | MARCUS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Who doesn’t love a rom-com? This opera is set in Sonoma’s wine country, where Nemorino is desperately in love with Adina. She was uninterested until her second glass of wine and the discovery that he’s inheriting a fortune. Expect the romance and the melodies to sweep you off your feet.
Witch
OCT. 22-NOV. 12 | RENAISSANCE THEATERWORKS
For the Halloween season, Renaissance Theaterworks is telling a dark comedy in which a charming devil disrupts life in a quiet town to bargain for the souls of its residents in exchange for their darkest wishes.
Chelsea Handler
OCT. 26 | BRADLEY SYMPHONY CENTER
Raw, storytelling jokester Chelsea Handler is bringing her Little Big Bitch Tour to the stunning Bradley Symphony Center. The show is a retrospective look at her life and how she became the famed comedian standing on stage.
Dracula
OCT. 26-29 | MARCUS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Sit back and enjoy two hours of passion, seduction, transformation and sacrifice. Philip Feeney’s chilling score and artistic direction from Milwaukee Ballet’s Michael Pink come together for a hair-raising thriller.
Die Stadt Ohne Juden / The City Without Jews
OCT. 29 | MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
Hans Breslauer’s Austrian silent film from 1924 – which eerily presages the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust – was once thought to be lost forever. But in 2015, a copy was discovered at a Parisian flea market. Now restored, Present Music will screen the film with a live orchestra playing the newly commissioned score from composer Olga Neuwirth.
