Embodied
A meditative exploration of the life and philosophy of collaborative dance artist Margaret Sunghe Paek, where the boundary between movement and everyday life dissolves.
Len Borruso is an award-winning American producer and director. His 2024 documentary Paint the City 2 won Best Short Documentary at the Driftless Film Festival, and his 2023 film First Person received Best Experimental Film at The Basin Short Film Festival. His work, including Anger, starring Dan Davies, explores life from a thoughtful and often comical perspective. Len holds a BA in Filmmaking and Culture from UC Santa Cruz and an MFA in Directing from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He is also the author of the filmmaking manifesto Neighborhoodcore. His films and writing can be found at leneb.com.
God & Country: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
From director Dan Partland and producer Rob Reiner, GOD and COUNTRY looks at the implications of Christian Nationalism and how it distorts not only our constitutional republic, but Christianity itself. Featuring prominent Christian thought leaders, GOD and COUNTRY asks this question: What happens when a faith built on love, sacrifice, and forgiveness grows political tentacles, conflating power, money, and belief into hyper-nationalism? Directed by Dan Partland. Produced by Rob and Michele Reiner.
Good Neighbors Care
For decades chemical company DuPont and its subsidiary Chemours poisoned North Carolina’s drinking water through illegally dumping forever chemicals into the Cape Fear River. On altered 16mm film, corporate promises of community care and pure water dissolve as rivers and bodies merge in a meditation on what it means to exist in an imperfect environment.
Kate E Hinshaw is a filmmaker, cinematographer, and artist. Specializing in analog film processes, her films frequently use 35mm, 16mm, and super 8mm film that have been altered and animated through bleaching, scratching, painting, and burning the emulsion. As a cinematographer, she collaborates with documentarians, narrative filmmakers, and experimental artists to bring their projects to light.
Green And Gold
Foreclosure looms over Wisconsin dairy farmer Buck (Craig T. Nelson). With mounting debt and the land his family has cultivated for four generations at risk, Buck refuses to give up his legacy without a fight. Buck’s granddaughter (Madison Lawlor) works alongside him but dreams of a career in music. Her aspirations are fanned by an emerging friendship with a famous musician (Brandon Sklenar), but chasing her dreams might take her far from the farm. With time running out, Buck places a daring bet on his beloved Green Bay Packers winning the Championship, risking it all to save everything he holds dear.
Directed by Anders Lindwall, Green and Gold is an inspiring and poignant exploration of resilience, sacrifice, and the extraordinary courage required to steward a family farm through mounting challenges. Celebrating the power of purpose and the enduring strength of family and community, the film features M. Emmet Walsh, Ashton Moio, and Charlie Berens. Produced by Davin Lindwall and Aaron Boyd. Dan Visser, Brooks Malberg, Scott Pomeroy, Craig Cheek, and Darren Moorman executive produce the feature film. The screenplay was written by Anders Lindwall, Steven Shafer, Michael Graf, and Missy Mareau Garcia.
Hundreds of Beavers
In this 19th century, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers. JEAN KAYAK finds himself stranded in a surreal winter landscape with nothing but his dim wits to guide him. Against a backdrop of ruthless elements and sinister creatures — all played by actors in full-sized mascot costumes — KAYAK develops increasingly complex traps in order to win the hand of a mischievous lover.
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg (DELIVER US FROM EVIL, JANIS: LITTLE GIRL BLUE, WEST OF MEMPHIS), this film covers the life of the rising young star with an otherworldly voice and boundary-pushing artistry, who left the ’90s music world reeling when he died suddenly, at age 30, after the release of his critically acclaimed debut album “Grace.” Told through never-before-seen footage from Buckley’s archives and intimate accounts from his mother Mary Guibert, former partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, Jeff’s former bandmates, including Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred, and luminaries like Ben Harper and Aimee Mann, IT’S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY illuminates one of modern music’s most influential and enigmatic figures.
Jane Wilcoxson: I Am An Artist
The owner of a Mineral Point Art shop, shares her personal journey into a universe of creative expression. Filmmaker Brad Weier grew up in Mineral Point and attributes much of his inspiration as a filmmaker to not only the movies he would watch at the Opera House but also ones he would check out at the library. He is especially drawn to history, mysteries and a good dose of humor.
Light Shines in the Darkness
The “making of” journey through grief on the road to healing. Light Shines in the Darkness is a healing art and music project in response to the tragic shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison Wisconsin on December 16th, 2024. Made by the students, parents, and teachers from the school.
From stage, to musical composition, to live broadcast, to film, TJ Hill has had a love for storytelling in all mediums his entire life.
He and his frequent collaborator (and brother), Aaron Hill, were fortunate to have their short film, “A Cloudy Moon” go to the Cannes Short Film Corner in 2023 and from there show at local film fests; picking up many awards along the way.
TJ is originally from Rockford, IL. He prides himself on forging cohesive partnerships in creating entertainment while pulling no punches within the craft.
Madison native Travis Agnew has lived all over the United States and has traveled the globe gathering a flood of experiences. From the sun and surf of Florida to the mountainous landscape of Colorado his music is as diverse as his travels. His styles range from alt. country, folk, rock, indie, blues and reggae.
Travis writes gritty songs with passion and energy that wrestle with brokenness, love and forgiveness. He is engaging for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. His 2011 album entitled “fragile” recorded with his band, The Tin Roof Sparrow swells with three part harmonies and alt. folk rock delights. In 2015 Travis traveled to Nashville to record the ep entitled “dry bones and tumbleweeds” and played all the instruments like a kid in a candy store. Dry bones encompassed an early version of his wilco sounding song entitled “Two” which was brought to new life on his Under the Sun release full with fiddles and lap steel guitar. Songs that move the human heart and make you feel things, that’s the aim of Travis Agnew’s music and that’s what you can expect.
Lucid
When a narcoleptic musician decides to go off her medication, her dreams become a dangerous source of inspiration as her cataplectic fainting attacks offer new musical possibilities.
Brent Ervin-Eickhoff is a filmmaker, stage director, and writer whose work explores questions of accountability, consequence, and how we define ourselves in relation to others. Brent’s films have screened at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, and as official selections of the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, TiltShift, San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival, Florence International Film Festival, and Indianapolis 48 Hour Film Project, among others. As a producer, he has worked with a diverse array of directors to bring short films in a variety of genres to life, including “Appetite,” an Official Selection at the Upstate New York Film Festival, and “Rajapart,” which played at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival in 2024. He recently completed production on “Regret Like That,” an independent feature film which he co-wrote and co-directed with his wife.
Mammoth
A fragile young woman takes her lifelike doll out in public for the first time, but a visit to the natural history museum triggers a dark childhood memory, forcing her to confront reality and let go.
Mendota: Symphony Of A Lake
This visual symphony celebrates Madison, Wisconsin’s beautiful Lake Mendota and the community that brings it to life.
Levon Blackburn is a filmmaker, videographer and video editor from Madison, WI. He has worked with the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Be the Match and Madison College among other local businesses.
His love for city-symphony films has inspired his first short, “Mendota: Symphony of a Lake.” Documenting Madison, Wisconsin’s Lake Mendota through all four seasons was an opportunity to celebrate a place and a community Levon has loved since childhood. Making the film nourished his creative spirit, but also left him eager to create more films about the places and people that make life rich and vibrant.
Now! More! Yes!
NOW! MORE! YES! follows TW Hansen, a used car salesman, a landlord, and a film ‘picture car’ coordinator living in Milwaukee. One of his tenants began following him with a camera after he drunkenly purchased an ambulance using his boss’s money.
RGBelieve
A person who lives in an empty world is entranced into trying something new, which when snapped creates a colorful environment unlike they’ve ever seen. Brought to you by the Madison College Filmmakers Club!
Spirit of the Driftless: Preserving Our Legacy
Spirit of the Driftless is a short documentary that transports viewers on a serene yet powerful journey through the rugged landscapes, hidden underworlds, ancient archaeology, rare habitats, and vibrant wildlife of the unglaciated Driftless Region.
Static
Three friends discover a tape recorder that talks back if you repeat a phrase into it. When one of the friends says the phrase, they realize they might have invited something out into their world.
Step One
A woman makes the first step towards recovery from addiction.
Aaron Hill is a filmmaker from the Chicago area who got his start doing sound for shows like Chicago Fire, the Chi, and Amazon Prime’s A League of Their Own. Experience in short form and feature length film, Aaron is fortunate enough to have his works play at Cannes International Film Festival, Barcelona International Film Festival, London International Film Festival, LA Shorts, and many others.
Té de Pasiflora
Té de Pasiflora, is a collaboration between dancer Cuauhtli Ramirez Castro and filmmaker Tate Bunker for the dance program Dance for Diversity at DanceWorks in Milwaukee.
Cuauhtli’s Solo Film Statement of Té de Pasiflora:
“My work was inspired by the deity Xochipilli from Aztec mythology. The “little flower prince” was the god of beauty, love, art, dance, song, flowers, sacred plants, as well as gay men and male sex workers. In the process for this solo I explored the intersections of my journey as a queer person and as an immigrant. The distance that once felt like freedom to exist in new ways, is the same that feeds the urge to reconnect with home. Xochipilli simply felt like the perfect concept that allowed me to bridge these ideas, by harmonizing my past within my present.”
The Dance Is Not Over
Celebrating the life and career of dancer, performer, choreographer, LGBTQ+ and publicly HIV-positive activist Patrick Scully, whose Patrick’s Cabaret was a South Minneapolis fixture for decades. His work in MN, New York and Berlin, expresses his passion for life, and touches on subjects that are often controversial and profound.
The J.O.A.T. Suit
When a lowly custodian at a spy facility gets his hands on the secret agent suit that can do everything, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a highly dangerous mission.
The Mineral Point Opera House
A visual history of Mineral Point’s venerable performing arts theater, highlighting more than a century of films, plays, concerts, and more!
The Tillie Diffely Experience
An unskilled but fiercely optimistic dancer finally gets her big break, only to discover that the stage holds stranger things than just stage fright.
Beyond the camera, Paul Gall is a laid-back, people-loving guy with a big heart and a passion for storytelling. His favorite movie is School of Rock and he could quote the whole movie straight through at one point in time. When he’s not behind the camera, you’ll probably find him driving a virtual stock car on iRacing or playing board games with friends. He’s an extroverted introvert who can strike up a conversation with just about anyone, making people feel instantly comfortable and seen, but refuels by watching a few episodes of The Office with his wife after they get their crazy kids to bed.
Timun Mas
The story of a child born from a golden cucumber, and a lonely widow’s questionable deal with a magical ogre. A quirky retelling of a Javanese folktale by the 4th and 5th grade students of Crestwood Elementary School in Madison.
Since 2016, the 4th and 5th grade students at Crestwood Elementary have been working in their art and music classes to reinterpret myths from around the world and turn them into short stop-motion films.
Welcome Poets
Follow former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Nicholas Gulig in a reflective homecoming told through the shared landscapes and poetry of his life and that of famed 20th century Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker (1903–1970) of Fort Atkinson. Weaving literary biography and memory in an extended contemplation of identity and place, this feature documentary demonstrates poetry’s power to give voice to community.
Where the River Slows
Two strangers paths cross as they realize the changes that need to be made in their lives.
Nathan Talan works as a Media Lab Technician at Rock Valley College and loves to bring his passion for filmmaking into the education space. He’s always had a love of story and hopes he can continue to tell stories for as long as he is alive.