Lexi McSwain and documentary filmmakers from the Wisconsin Film School. Photo by Douglas Otto (aka papp-RaZZi)

THE FASHION SHOW, a 25-minute documentary produced by the Wisconsin Film School, is available for distribution and sale. Copies are $15, postpaid.

Produced by Jess Haven, directed by Kelley Baker and edited by Jim Carrier, THE FASHION SHOW is an intimate look at three individuals with disabilities who prepare for and take part in the 2010 Fashion Show for All Abilities. The three stars are: Mike Millar, Wendy Parks and Lexi McSwain.

For more information, email info@wisconsinfilmschool.org

The movie cast and crew will receive a complimentary DVD. If you would like to order one, you may use Paypal, or mail a check for $15 per DVD to the address on the Contact page. Please include your address.

The Wisconsin Film School today announces the launch of a quarterly showcase of independent filmmakers:

Our first showcase, Dec. 10, will feature the school’s own students – more than 75 people of all ages who have taken our classes, learned skills, and been encouraged to make the films of their dreams. Many of them have.

We have emailed our alum, and asked them to nominate their films for this first show case:

Graduate Showcase Screening. Dec. 10. 6:30 p.m. 

We have a building on Madison’s West Side preserved. We’ll have refreshments, an assortment of films, and the filmmakers themselves for a Q&A. More details when our programs are announced.

Other filmmakers from Wisconsin and the upper midwest – or who happen to be passing through — will be invited to showcase their films in future programs.

Wisconsin Film School Presents is part of our founding initiative to create a community of filmmakers. With the demise of WisKino, and the reduction of filmmaking instruction at WYOU, and the state’s reluctance to support filmmaking with grants and tax breaks, we hope this program will fill a gap and grow our vibrant group.

Sign up on our Facebook page, to keep up to date.

Our thanks to Nicholas Langholff, Darren Burrows, Jeremy Patnaude, Cheryl Greer and all the other folks who wrestled a herd of films into one fine, if unusual, film festival Oct. 6-9.

Spread over four days and six communities, the cinemas ranged from animated shorts to documentaries headed to the Academy Awards. The menu included Hits, a production of the Wisconsin Film School, directed by Kelley Baker and crewed by students. It was gratifying to see our film on the marquee:

Producer Jim Carrier poses in front of the Avalon Theater in Platteville

We got to meet other filmmakers from the region, including Joe Scherrmann (Ghost Player), Charles Latimer (Love and Valor), Tony Wood (Baden Krunk), and Aaron Yonda (Zombie Bite Myth.)

The Driftless Film Festival (Oct. 6-9) final schedule is posted here. Tickets go on sale Thursday Sept. 29.

Here is the posting for Hits, produced by the Wisconsin Film School, which will be screened at noon, Saturday Oct. 8 at the Avalon Theater in Platteville.

Hits

Director: Kelley Baker

What is better than baseball, hot dogs — and mustard? A winning season. When Rusty, an old-fashioned baseball stadium hot dog vendor, mixes a special concoction of mustard for a down-and-out rookie, things start to turn around. The rookie (Carnahan) starts hitting. Soon his buddy wants a special hot dog from Rusty. Then, the whole team.

The short film, made by students of the Wisconsin Film School, from a script by Tom Dunn of the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum, looks at superstition, exploitation and the all-American game of baseball. Made with the cooperation of the Madison Mallards baseball team, the National Mustard Museum and the Wisconsin Film School.

Hits, the hot dog, mustard and baseball short produced by the Wisconsin Film School, will kick off a day of baseball movies at the Driftless Film Festival, Oct. 8. in Platteville, WI.

Hits will be shown at noon, followed by Ghost Player at the Avalon Theater on Platteville’s historic main street. Another baseball film, Ballhawks, narrated by Bill Murray, plays at Mineral Point later that afternoon.

The choice of Hits was announced by producer Nick Langholff, a cofounder of the unique Driftless festival in southwestern Wisconsin. The festival, Oct. 6-9, will feature a variety of films screened in six cities. Full details will be announced this weekend.

Hits was a unique coproduction of the Wisconsin Film School, the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum and the National Mustard Museum. Filmed at the Duckpond, home of the Madison Mallards in Madison, it was produced entirely by students who learned filmmaking in real time.

Written by Tom Dunn, directed by Kelley Baker and produced by Jim Carrier, Hits is a timeless story of baseball superstitions served on a bun. The film stars Colin Cameron, Peter Kubicki, Lauren Anastos and Rob Siverson.

The 2012 Wisconsin Film Festival is open for submissions, and Wisconsin filmmakers should take advantage of a programming change that might favor their submissions THIS YEAR ONLY.

Because of temporary staff changes, the film festival is not accepting “Open Reel” submissions from filmmakers outside Wisconsin. Instead, the festival will curate a selection of U.S. and international films for the festival April 18-22. Open Reel will return for 2013.

The deadline for Wisconsin filmmakers, for films of any length and genre, is Oct. 31, 2011. Rough cuts can be submitted, but read the rules.

The deadline for Wisconsin students is Dec. 31.

Full details are here.

This August, Wisconsin Public Television’s Director’s Cut interviews three independent filmmakers followed by a presentation their films.

At 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, Director’s Cut Host Charles Monroe-Kane interviews Brad Lichtenstein, director of the film “Chosen Towns.” Following the interview, viewers can watch “Chosen Towns,” a film that tells the story of Jews in rural Wisconsin and the age-old tension between expressing religious and cultural identity while trying to assimilate into mainstream life and reap economic success.
At 11 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, Director’s Cut offers an interview with filmmaker Justine Nagan, executive director of Kartemquin Films and creator of the film “Typeface.” Immediately following Director’s Cut Presents will show “Typeface,” a film that features the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers as it comes alive in printmaking workshops led by, and filled with, some of the nation’s top design talent.
At 10:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, Monroe-Kane interviews Scott Smith and John Fromstein about their film “Being Bucky.” The film introduces seven University of Wisconsin-Madison students who play Bucky Badger during the 2007-08 school year and will follow at
11 p.m. on Director’s Cut Presents.

This July, Wisconsin Public Television’s (WPT) Director’s Cut features interviews with several local filmmakers as well as broadcasts of independent films.

At 9 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7 Director’s Cut will air interviews with two independent filmmakers recorded at this year’s Beloit International Film Festival.
“The Father of the Modern Documentary,” legendary director Errol Morris also talks with Monroe-Kane about his body of work. WPT will broadcast that Director’s Cut program at 9 p.m. Thursday, July 14.
At 9:25 p.m. Thursday, July 14, Director’s Cut Presents will show “Alaska Far Away.”  In the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal gave 202 destitute Midwestern farm families a chance to start over in Alaska. The film weaves together personal accounts, archival footage, photographs, diaries and news stories to document the effects of this bold social experiment.
At 9 p.m. Thursday, July 21 on Director’s Cut, Mary Sweeney talks about her drama “Baraboo,” which follows the lives and interactions of several people who live in a rundown motel in Baraboo. Following at 9:25 p.m. Director’s Cut Presents offers viewers an opportunity to watch the film.
At 9 p.m. Thursday, July 28, features an interview with filmmaker Nathan Clarke, the creator of “Wrestling for Jesus: The Tale of T-Money.” At 9:25 p.m. Director’s Cut Presents features his documentary film about a man from rural South Carolina who begins a Christian wrestling league to make up for his transgressions.

Sony Creative Software hosted the Wisconsin Film School’s video editing class Friday, April 29, at their new world headquarters in Middleton. Ten students, chosen for their advance computer and video skills, spent the day with trainer Matt Kramer.

The students, each assigned a Sony laptop in the Sony training room, buzzed through video formats, transitions, graphics, green screen, audio mixing and outputting to DVDs and YouTube. The day ended with Sony handing over $2,000 in Sony video and editing software.

From Left, Sony's Matt Kramer, Edgardo Lugo, Michael Haven, Brenda Konkel, Rising Solari, Nicholas Wootton, Glenn Reynolds, WFS's Jim Carrier (rear), Carlos Miranda, Ivonne Suryana, Dave Ruhland and Kevin Fosler