Tickets for the Wisconsin Film Festival just went on sale Saturday, and already several screenings for the eight-day event running from April 3 to April 10 are sold out. Now in its 26th year, the festival has built up a loyal audience of local cinephiles who will gobble up seats as soon as they go on sale.
But that doesn’t mean the more casual film fan is out of luck. With 170 films on the schedule, there’s still plenty to choose from. Here’s a few interesting-looking flicks that still have tickets available:
3:30 p.m. April 4, UW Cinematheque, and 8 p.m. April 9, Flix Brewhouse
Festival consulting programmer Jim Healy said the 4K restoration rarely-seen 1958 Argentine drama, a “Rashomon”-like puzzle drama set in a Buenos Aires boarding house, is the discovery of the festival.
6:15 p.m. April 4, Union South Marquee
Words can’t capture the delight that the City Cast Madison team exuded on learning that not only will the festival screen a new Nicolas Cage movie, but that “The Surfer” looks to be a gonzo thriller about a middle-aged man bullied by Australian surfers on the beach of his youth.
6 p.m. April 4, UW Cinematheque
UW grad David Koepp may be one of Hollywood's most in-demand screenwriters, but his second career as a director has also produced plenty of gems. This dizzyingly fun 2012 thriller, a favorite of the late UW film professor David Bordwell, features Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike messenger being chased across Manhattan by a corrupt cop (Michael Shannon). Koepp will be at the screening to talk about the film.
11 a.m. April 5, Barrymore Theatre
A documentary about cheese? That’ll never play at a Wisconsin film festival! This film looks at the spiritual nature of cheese obsessives, how it’s both a delicacy and a metaphor for life.
1:15 p.m. April 5, Chazen Museum of Art
If you thought the TV show was dark and weird, wait till you see the late David Lynch’s movie sequel. After the screening, stick around the museum for an exhibit of prints that Lynch made with Madison’s Tandem Press.
6:45 p.m. April 5, Music Hall
This Madison-made 2000 film premiered at the 2000 Wisconsin Film Festival and is back for a 25th anniversary screening in a new 4K edition. It’s not only a scrappy indie charmer about two friends trying to find their stolen car, but a cinematic time capsule of a bygone Madison.
4:30 p.m. April 6, Barrymore Theatre
Look at Packers obsession from a different perspective in Craig Benzine’s documentary about a group of Japanese fans who travel halfway around the world to Lambeau Field.
7 p.m. April 6, Barrymore Theatre
This emotional documentary follows the journey of former UW Badgers basketball player and assistant coach Howard Moore, and the 2019 car crash that altered the trajectory of his life.
