Movie Time

It’s that time of year many of us look forward to each spring—time for the Wisconsin Film Festival! An annual tradition since 1999, the festival packs more films into more downtown theaters and venues than one could hope to take in over a four-day period. But many of us are going to try our best to see as many as possible.

The one person who has seen all the films to be showcased this year is festival director Meg Hamel. The film fanatic and longtime Madisonian recently revealed what it’s like to put on the event—and whether she ever tires of watching movies.

How did you get involved in the film festival in the first place?

I had attended film festivals in other cities when visiting friends. During the first two years of the Wisconsin Film Festival in 1999 and 2000, I was actually in Istanbul at the film festival there. Our local festival was getting bigger and I heard about the call for volunteers, so I decided to sign up and help put on this show. I think there were about thirty-five volunteers that year, compared to over two hundred now.

What were your biggest challenges when you became director of the festival?

I was hired about four months before the 2006 festival, so by far the biggest challenge was just trying to figure out what to do, and how to do it in a really short time. It was the only staff position for the festival, so there was no such thing as training. I just had to fly by the seat of my pants trying to understand what needed to be done each day. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever tackled in my life, and to be honest I have barely any memories of that time. It was so grueling my brain has just erased most of it. It was really a miracle that there was a festival that year, mostly due to the contributions of the many people who give their time and expertise to make it happen, especially the staff of the UW Department of Communication Arts and everyone at the venues that host the festival.

On a different level, there was also the challenge of following Mary Carbine’s very successful role as the original festival director. Anyone who has been the second in any position knows that this presents its own special decisions. What elements should continue on because they quintessentially define this festival and are the right thing to do? What can be changed to open up new ideas and grow in different directions? That process definitely continues on. Each year little adjustments are made in procedures or features of the festival, while keeping the identity of the Wisconsin Film Festival consistent and meaningful.

How do you choose the films to be shown?

It’s terrifically complex, actually, since there are so many separate criteria that I’m juggling. Sometimes I look for films that I think will meet the audience’s expectations in a particular way, bringing stories that continue certain themes that have been successful in the past, like Scandinavian stories or music-themed documentaries. Madison in particular is a good home for international and social-justice stories, and I do want people to leave the theater learning something about the world we live in. And of course we want to find films with local connections, like our opening night film 500 Days of Summer, and support emerging filmmakers by bringing key new work to the screen, and present films made by master directors around the world which wouldn’t otherwise play here … The list goes on.

Each year the festival partners with programs across campus to find films that can form featured series, so I’m also scouting for good candidates for these. For the disabilities series, copresented with the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education, that means searching out films made in the last year or so that explore the landscape of disabilities. We probably watch three or four times as many candidates than what makes the final selection. There really is a lot of time and effort that goes into picking just the right combination of films that work for this festival.

And tied into all of this are the circumstances of new films: Are they available yet for a festival screening? Is there a print of the film available for our dates? Is it being held to play at “A-list” festivals and not possible for us? Can we afford the screening fees of some titles?

What makes for a good movie? What trends are you seeing in films today?

Technology plays a large role in the creation of the motion picture art form. Changes in technology are affecting both the stories that can be made and how we present them. Many of your readers may have already seen stories about how improved video cameras and editing systems can make it easier for filmmakers to create good-looking work for less money. What this can mean for a festival, though, may be less obvious. With so many titles available on digital video only, it becomes a little harder to find good films available to us on 35mm film. Some of our theaters are set up to play the good old traditional 35mm film only (like the Orpheum). For most of our video theaters, we rent high-end projection systems and install in that space just for our festival (like the Bartell).

Last year we played all 35mm film in the Wisconsin Union Theater. This year we’re showing all digital video, including the first high-definition video system that we’ve used as a festival. That’s a new adventure for me, to figure out what kind of equipment to rent, how to install and ensuring that all the screenings will go off without a hitch. It’s a lot more expensive than using the film projection equipment already in the Union, but we have to make this change to accommodate the format that filmmakers are using now.

How many films do you screen each year for the festival? Do you get sick of watching movies?

I don’t track the number of individual titles, but it’s many times more than the 198 titles in this year’s festival. Far more films do not make the final program, either because they’re not right for our festival, or their schedule prevents them from being included. I don’t get sick of watching movies, but I do look forward to the times of the festival year that are more hands-on and active. So much of festival planning each year is pretty solitary: hundreds of emails each day followed by three or four films each night after I come home from work.

Watching movies is also not a finite part of the job. I pressure myself to keep looking for more, for better stories, to uncover hidden gems. This process can be never-ending, and so I always welcome the time when I have to discipline myself to lock down the schedule, confirm everything and move on to the other parts of festival planning.

Also, it’s hard to make decisions—like film selections—far in advance of the festival without really knowing what the results will be. Will people like the films? What will the weather be? Can we cover our expenses? The best part of the whole year is the festival week itself, because all decisions get boiled down into something concrete. No more guesswork, it’s just about anticipating problems and fixing them when they happen. Instead of just planning and hoping and wondering, I get to haul heavy equipment and do things with my hands. That’s really satisfying.

How does the Wisconsin Film Festival compare to other film festivals?

Film festival are so different from each other, it’s hard to make comparisons. What’s notable about this festival, though, is the commitment of the audience in relation to the size of the festival structure. There aren’t many festivals that are only four days and draw 30,000 attendees. The credit for that goes to the people here in Wisconsin who make the choice to spend their weekend watching movies. Without them, there is no festival.

Other differences exist. I tend to not focus energy into giving out lots of awards to films. Although that can be really useful to newer filmmakers who are working to get their films better known, I’m trying to think more long-term and help the audience widen their interest in different film styles. Awards tend to enforce an idea that there are only a few good ones in the bunch. Both the audience and the filmmakers are better served, I think, when we all get more adventurous with what we want to see and how we can let the filmmakers’ stories affect us.

This means that some of the features that have come to be accepted as a necessary part of most film festivals don’t exist here. We don’t have high-priced VIP access to tickets, for example. That wouldn’t be very consistent with the festival’s mission as a UW education event, and I’d rather work on making the festival more open, not less so.

On the other hand, the festival program does get admired for being strong, eclectic and representing some of the most interesting films being made today. For such a little event, we do have a very good reputation in the industry for smart film selections, an organizational structure that pays our bills on time (usually) and taking care of the films and videos that we’re entrusted with. I’m able to bring films that might not be available to other festivals, simply because we’ve worked so hard in the past to keep our promises and deliver a really good show to the audience.

What’s new to this year’s festival?

The HD projection in the Union is one of the biggest changes. But the festival itself is entirely new each year. Every single film is newly chosen just for this event, and the audience is going to be treated to a full and bursting schedule of great motion pictures.

What’s your goal for the film festival—this year and beyond?

The goal for each festival is just doing it. My whole year—both my work life and my personal life, since they are really the same thing—is focused on producing this four-day event, so there’s a lot of pressure to do it right, not get sick and make it brilliant.

I do look ahead to possibly making the festival cover more than just four days. So many more movies to bring to Madison! And I’d like to do more events through the year. Madison should have a children’s film festival and an LGBT film festival and a food film festival and more. I’d like to do more to support local film production in the state and create opportunities for younger students to discover a higher caliber of motion pictures in middle school and high school.

When I took this job, my sister Amy told me, “Go big or go home.” I'm doing my best to follow her advice.

For more information on the Wisconsin Film Festival, including film descriptions and schedules, visit wifilmfest.org.

Images—of the films 500 Days of Summer, Treeless Mountain, Being Bucky, Darius Goes West, The Beetle and A Winter of Frozen Dreams—are courtesy of the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Hit the Road

Cora Hardin has a vision for Open Art Studios, the annual event in which artists throughout the Madison area open their workspaces to the public.

Someday, Madisonians will eagerly await OAS posting its line-up of artists online. They’ll flock to the site to see who’s participating and to plan out their route to visit as many artists as possible. And the studios tour will attract art aficionados and novices alike—just as the Wisconsin Film Festival appeals to film buffs and the casual movie watcher, says Hardin, this year’s coordinator of the all-volunteer event.

While OAS is in its sixth year—it takes place Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an exhibition at Overture Center running through October 10—it has a ways to go before reaching this level of buzz, Hardin admits. But she believes it can happen, especially as more people learn about the event and check it out.

This year, 136 artists will showcase art ranging from paintings to pottery, jewelry to glasswork. Because the event is not juried, there are no limits to what the artists can feature. “They can show anything they want,” Hardin says.

The tour affords opportunities to see a wide variety of art, see where the work is created and talk with the artists. Some studios also have activities for visitors.

Visit maoas.com for an artists directory and tour map, Hardin suggests. You may be surprised at how close to home art is being created. “You can go to one or two studios in your neighborhood,” she says. “It’s fascinating because you never would think your neighbor does this.”

And here’s an introduction to four artists participating this year:

Helen Klebesadel 

Why are you participating in Open Art Studios?

The Open Studios creates an opportunity for individuals to meet, talk to and learn about the artists who share their community. I participate in the Open Art Studios to give the Madison community a chance to come in and see how and where I do my creative work. I enjoy having the opportunity to talk about my art with people who are interested enough in it to make the effort to come to my studio. By dedicating one weekend a year to opening the doors of my studio I can share my art and my work space with those who follow my art, and introduce myself as an artist to those who don't know me yet. It also guarantees that I will clean my studio at least once a year.

I have participated in the Open Art Studios every year since they started except for one year when I was teaching art workshops in Alaska.

Tell me about your art.

While I work in a number of mediums the artworks I am best know for are highly rendered, often large scale, representational watercolors with narrative themes. My work often draws on subjects associated with women or the environment or both.

What are three words you’d use to describe your work?

Beautiful, layered, meaningful.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the creative work of the artists who were not recognized as such, but whose art surrounded me as I grew up in rural Wisconsin: quilters, lace makers, gardeners and other people who made art for daily use. I am also inspired by the natural world and the search to understand ourselves as a part of nature, realizing that what we do to it we do to ourselves and vice versa.

Part of open studios is giving the public a glimpse of the art-making process. What do people commonly misunderstand about your art?

Sometimes people think my quilt paintings are photographs of quilts I've made. I also think some people think of art in general as entertainment while I understand it as representing important intellectual and creative thinking about everything we value in the world represented visually.

What do you hope people get from meeting you or seeing your work?

I hope people come away from experiencing my art and talking to me with several possible reactions. I hope my art gives the viewer a place to pause in deep pleasure for a long time; I hope it makes them stop and reconsider what surrounds them every day through new eyes; I hope they understand art making as an important contribution to our culture and I hope it makes them want to make a larger place in their own lives for the creative process.


Cate Loughran 

Why are you participating in Open Art Studios?

I am the person who originally brought Open Studios to Madison. I lived in California for eleven years, until 2001. In California Open Studios is a way of life. From San Francisco, to the Sierras, to Napa Valley they are established and very popular. I simply created a structure that fit the Midwest and began talking to people about the idea. This was in 2003. Now it is n popular annual art event. This makes me proud. I am participating because I want to use this forum to show the public my new body of art.

Tell me about your art.

I consider myself a visionary. I view my artwork as inspiring, uplifting, and peaceful. I work with nature, both mother nature and the human nature. I paint, photograph, draw and most of the time work in the world of mixed media. I like the freedom to use whatever techniques necessary to create the most perfect image. I like the freedom to work with landscape and portraiture and floral and any other genre I wish.

Generally my process is collecting images, which include my photographs, drawings, paintings, and others as well. An idea strikes me, somehow... I then proceed to find the images that will best illustrate the idea. This part of the process is something like making a collage, but with the computer, via Photoshop. I have used up eleven photographs in one image; sometimes I use one. After I refine the image, I print it on cotton paper, usually Arches hot press watercolor paper. I then go into the piece with soft pastel, sometimes watercolor and even glitter. I spend sometimes days working the image after the print stage. This makes the image one of a kind, even though there is a printing process involved.

What are three words you’d use to describe your work?

Illuminated Realism is a term I coined to describe my work. Sometimes simply beautiful, other times metaphysical, always reverent to nature and the human condition. There is a surrealistic edge to my work, but my message is always straightforward.

What inspires you?

Nature, both human and mother nature, inspires me.

Part of open studios is giving the public a glimpse of the art-making process. What do people commonly misunderstand about your art?

People sometimes don't realize they too can be artists...

What do you hope people get from meeting you or seeing your work?

I want people to feel lighter, more hopeful about life. I want my work to inspire optimism this.


Karen Calkins Ragus 

Why are you participating in Open Art Studios?

I am participating in the MOAS because I think it is important for the public to see how art is made and what the artist goes through to do it. There are hundreds of decisions that an artist makes to complete a work of art.

I have been part of the MPAS before. I was in the first two shows and I participated last year.

Tell me about your art.

I would say that I am an abstract painter and print maker. I work in water media for the paintings and oil inks for the printmaking. I am unlimited in size for the paintings but my etching press limits the size of my prints.

What are three words you’d use to describe your work?

The three words that describe my work are … abstract, mysterious and exciting.

What inspires you?

Shape, line, texture, color and all the elements of design inspire me … not objects, except for the human figure.

Part of open studios is giving the public a glimpse of the art-making process. What do people commonly misunderstand about your art?

There is no accounting for any one’s taste in art or anything else for that matter. The person who might say, “Oh, I could do that” isn't the person who would like my work. For the most part, the average person doesn’t know how the artist gets to abstract. The artist first takes a long road through representational work.

What do you hope people get from meeting you or seeing your work?

I want people to have an experience you can’t get from a book or the media. “Open your eyes and your mind and see what you are not used to.”


Nick Wroblewski 

Why are you participating in Open Art Studios?

I am participating in the Open Art Studios because I am new to the Madison area, recently moved here from Minneapolis. This will be my first time. I am quite excited to show my space and work because I have expanded my operation to a larger studio space, including a 40” x 72” printing press, large drying rack, ink brayers, etc. It is my way of introducing myself and my artwork to Madison.

Tell me about your art.

I make woodcut block prints. The images are usually inspired by the natural world, presently I am very interested in the larger dynamics of nature such as the ways the hydrological cycle churns, the ways that animals move, migrate, and reproduce. I am drawn to forms that express movement in nature: the way a landscape possesses a “gesture” or a stark horizon line defines sky and earth. My prints are multi-colored, large-scale images that contain plants, animals, and landscapes.

What are three words you’d use to describe your work?

I would describe my work in three words as dynamic, vibrant and organic.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the gradation of the sky during a setting sun. By the way lines of woodgrain mirror the subtle wisps of cirrus clouds. By the way the forces of nature absorb water, purify it, and release it back. By the way the moon draws water not only through the tides but also through the ground and up to the tips of plants. I am also inspired by how nature solves the most complex of problems in the most elegantly simple ways. I am not inspired by the net result (chain stores) of capitalism. One would get the sense driving across America that creativity and imagination have all but dried up. What is so mind-blowing about a Cabela's Super Store? How about the arial dynamics of a hummingbird?

Part of open studios is giving the public a glimpse of the art-making process. What do people commonly misunderstand about your art?

The process that I use to make my prints is sometimes hard to grasp. I generally print the final piece from two blocks of wood. One block is the background (negative space) and the other is the foreground (positive). I also print each color individually from light to dark. I am able to print more than two colors from two blocks because I use a technique called “reduction.” In a reduction print, one carves away the area that was previously printed that is to remain the last printed color. All the texture that is left is then inked and printed on top of the last color and so on down the line until most of the block is carved away. This concept of carving away what you want to keep usually is one of the crazier concepts to grasp when describing my technique. One also has to be very familiar with seeing the negative space around an object as opposed to the object itself.

What do you hope people get from meeting you or seeing your work?

I hope folks who come by the studio are able to get a sense of how a multi-block woodcut is made. They will be able to see the tools, the rollers, and the press and to hopefully see examples of the blocks that were used to make a specific image. Also, I really hope that viewers can see my work and get a sense of the whole, i.e the “spirit” of animals interacting, the "gesture" of a landscape, or the simple beauty of color as a way to define space.