Click the links below to view the films for each time slot.
Schedule
Friday, May 12 | Harvey Hall Theatre
4-6 p.m. Student Films
6-7 p.m. Student Filmmaker Panel & Awards: Best Student Film (High School), Best Student Film (College)
7-9 p.m. Student Films
Three Poems by Angie Trudell Vasquez
Lindbergh Art Department (Madison, WI)
3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students at Lindbergh Elementary School in Madison, WI create animated interpretations of works by Madison's Poet Laureate, Angie Trudell Vasquez.
In Which You Are Sculpted
Kayla Richardson, Cat Vintimilla, Kalum Carroll, Jz Hullet, Darrian Looney, Cara Milliorn, Charley Rosenberg, Nadine Waters (Interlochen, Michigan)
An animated poem on questioning identity. Created by students at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Ages range 15-18.
Dueling Toddlers
SCUOLA MOHOLE (Italy)
Students Involved: Iacopo Andreini - Fabrizia Bertino - Lara Comincini - Valentina Ferrari - Manuela Foiada - Giulia Giacomel - Luca Marangoni - Gianmarco Portesani - Alice Vergani
In a nursery school, Sarah and Tommy compete for the last remaining piece of the construction set. Who will be able to catch it first?
This short is dedicated to the art of animation, all its styles, and in particular to Bruno Bozzetto who paved the way for generations of artists.
Within Me
Divya Hazarika (India)
A non-binary child who is affected by their surrounding has had enough battling their inner depression and wants to end their life, only to realize at the last moment what is the thing they most craved for.
Petunia
Director: Ekaterina Ulyanova (Russian Federation)
There is Exactly Enough Time
Oskar Salomonowitz (Vienna, Austria)
The 12-year-old son of filmmakers Anja Salomonowitz and Virgil Widrich, had drawn 206 frames of a flip book when he died in an accident. Using the remaining blank sheets, his father continued drawing the film.
Packing Up
Mack Edward Martin (Edina, MN)
A short film reflecting on the life of all of us as we grow up and have to one day leave everything we have ever known in order to reach for our future.
Being Mr. Vicchiollo
Sarah Vicchiollo (Greenville, WI)
Culvers Documentary
Payton Kosiorek (Eagan, MN)
The Culvers in Menomiee Wisconsin was rated one of the best in the Region. I took a deep dive into what makes it so special.
Food, Family, and Hustle
Cole Finn (Mondovi, WI)
Harley and his wife Robby have been working together to run a family restaurant in Mondovi, Wisconsin for nearly fifteen years. The days are demanding due to understaffing in a small town, so the couple must rely on each other to make a living, from open to close.
Remembering Storylords
Delaney Hoffman (Menomonie, WI)
Faded Faith
Grace Sutherland (Baltimore, MD)
A girl questioning her religious beliefs experiences the complexities of returning to her childhood church.
Game Plan
Sophia Winters (Zionsville, IN)
A group of associates meet to finalize a high-stakes business deal that will lead to the end for one of them, but which one will be finished? Game Plan is a story that explores the dynamics between friendship and business as well as perceptions of power and control.
Paper Boats
Cole Finn (Mondovi, WI)
Colors
Reed Theship-Rosales (Menomonie, WI)
A fashion video sequence starring Molly Siedlecki.
Sober Thoughts
Sydney Schmidt (Menomonie, WI)
Errands
Parker Cmeyla (Menomonie, WI)
Faraway Fiesta
Carlos Lerma (Chicago, IL)
An immigrant young man prepares his apartment for his mother's birthday. However the "party" is a lonely video-call because his entire family is a country away.
The Guardian
Sara Nyhus, Delaney Hoffman (Roberts, WI)
In a post-apocalyptic world, a man struggles to protect a girl from the truth of how he killed her mother.
The Road Back to Glory
Director: Jacob Phillips (Grantsburg, WI)
The Way It Was
Director: Jake Heelein/Nate Kaiser (Rockton, IL)
It's the 1930's and the streets of midwest America run with booze and blood. Factory owner James Eston navigates life in the Great Depression while clashing with the most dangerous crime boss in town. However, his attempts to help his community may just lead to the destruction of his family.
Radiohead
Director: Delaney Hoffman (Menomonie. WI)
Saturday, May 13 | Harvey Hall Theatre & Brewery Nonic
Noon-2 p.m. International Films
2-4 p.m. Narrative Shorts & Feature
4-5 p.m. Keynote Speaker Andrew Hunt, (follow him on Facebook) & Awards: Best Documentary, Midwest Roots, Best Narrative Film
6-8 p.m. Scifi & Horror Shorts
8:30-10 p.m. Brewery Nonic 18+ Screening
When the Spirits Took Control
Kevin Tharp (Colfax WI)
Painting By Numbers
Director Radheya Jegatheva (Australia)
In a mysterious gallery imbued with strange life, shadows of the past and unresolved futures collide when a child's vision peels away the layers of what we call 'reality'...join a journey through the masterpieces you thought you knew as their hidden souls are finally given a voice.
As layers of contemporary 'reality' are stripped away, art's unseen soul brings a challenge we can neither ignore nor escape. Or can we? Will their message be heard in time?
The door is open. The masters' works await us. Who will enter?
Hindsight
Bronwen Pailthorpe, Lu Arie (New Haven, CT)
Voyager Birdman
Gerald Habarth (PA)
A dream on a long dark highway.
Voyager Birdman is a frame-by-frame experimental animation made from simple spontaneous line drawings, rotoscoped video clips, and views of the highway filmed between Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Sounds of podcast voices, old radio programs, Nasa recordings, and sampled audio files carried by the Voyager space probes launched in the late 1970’s merge with an unfolding stream of hand-drawn symbols, figures, abstractions, and fragments of the passing highway landscape. On one level, it’s about the idea of using drawing, animation and collage to find and create meaning. More directly, it’s an attempt to capture the fleeting dynamics of thoughts, memories and dreams experienced on a long night’s drive - much like the virtual and untethered character of contemporary existence - and the enduring lure of an interstellar connection.
Nice and Steady
Carter Aakhus (Eden Prairie, MN)
Shared Space
Lucas Falkavage
This Wild Abyss
Thomas Mendolia (Los Angeles, CA)
A former cowboy turned janitor with an eighth-grade education, Milt Humason forms an unlikely friendship with astronomer Edwin Hubble and assists him at Mt. Wilson Observatory, a partnership that leads to their discovery that the universe is expanding.
Waltz in Blue
Director Jeanne C Wilkinson (Brooklyn, NY)
This poem came to me in a dream, and I used images of my abstract art, which are small works on paper, to evoke the dreamy feeling of the words.
The Last Storm
Director Jeanne C Wilkinson (Brooklyn, NY)
The “Last Storm” is the latest in a series of adventures of the Painted People, a kind of Paleo-Postmodern clan of wanderers who go on vision quests and travels both “real” and virtual. Each character enters my studio as a Barbie, Ken or GI Joe before being assimilated via the transformational magic of paint. In “Last Storm” they mysteriously appear in an emptied-out version of da Vinci’s iconic painting. Just as the “Last Supper” was a symbolic and culminating event, “Last Storm” evokes feelings of a coming storm that will mark an ending of life as we know it.
Clutch and Shift
Director Lukas Medin
A car thief finds herself in an ordeal when she breaks into a car with a manual transmission and is caught by the car's owner.
Who Killed Professor Filmsworth
Director Josiah McClelland
The Wraith
Director J. Scott Sibley (MN)
A woman trying to put her past of celebrity ghost hunting behind her is dragged back into field when a mysterious man appears at her door. She must try to move past her demons in order to become the person she was always meant to be.
Lloyd Kennedy Professional Sasquatch Photographer
Director Rodney G Johnson (MN)
Lloyd Kennedy is frustrated, failing, going in circles... literally. He needs to adapt and to work smarter if he is ever going to become the world’s first professional Sasquatch photographer. It would be a good start if he could find a Sasquatch.
Blood in a Bag
Nicos Wiard (Menomonie)
Blood in a Bag is an infomercial about an incredible new product.
Project Blue Book
Director Tyler Haehn (St. Michael, MN)
In the 1960’s, a drunk farmer is abducted by a new species of aliens. Their intentions are unknown. The aliens perform various tests on the farmer, causing him much distress. The farmer is returned to his home shortly after the tests have been conducted. The farmer informs a couple of government agents about his experiences. The agents listen to his story, determining if his story is true. Once the farmer finishes recollecting, the agents deem that he was abducted by aliens. One of the agents tells the farmer that the government has been tracking the activity of the aliens. It is believed that a conspiracy is taking place. Before the farmer can react, the agents subdue him and wipe the memories of the encounter from his mind, ensuring that a massive panic is avoided.
Roswell
Director TD Stahl (AZ)
After receiving a coded transmission from extraterrestrial life, Amos embarks to fulfill a life long dream, only it doesn't go the way he thinks.
No Such Thing
Director Nicos Wiard
Two lifelong friends make a breakthrough in their search for aliens.
**Flashing lights**
Prototype
Directed by Abril Ruzmed (Germany)
Breakout
Directed by Caroline Murphy
A Cure for Clownette
Director: Joel Sacramento (Madison, WI)
For five years, Spencer has been been haunted by a traumatic encounter with a seductive, female clown. He believes that the experience has left him with a deep-seated fear of clowns. But as he begins to confront his demons, he slowly realizes that the intense emotions he associates with the clownette are actually rooted in an unexpressed love.
Tankard- Beerbarians
Director: Costas Lambou, Jasmine Lin, Joy Zou (Australia)
Official music video for legendary German thrash-metal band, TANKARD
Created by animation students at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia
Pizza by the Slice
Directed by Gabriel Muthart (New Orleans)
Gretel Redux
Thomas Muschitz, James Barany (Waukesha, WI)
This narrative in an animated retelling of Gretel, a dark fable shot on location in the Driftless region of Wisconsin in 2012. This rotoscoped interpretation is a psychological tale about survival and madness, as two young children struggle to make their way out of a vast and threatening wilderness.
Sunday, May 14 | Harvey Hall Theatre
1-2 p.m. Free All Ages Films (UPDATED from evening)
3-5 p.m. Animation Films
5-6 p.m. Keynote Speaker Mike Owens from WOMO Studio & Awards: Best Animated Film, Best Interactive Production
Wisconsin State Parks: The Volunteers
Katelyn Erath (Sherwood, WI)
A documentary that features hard working volunteers and their work with-in, and for, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The film explores the reasons, three groups decide to spend their time making the state parks and forests a better place for all.
The Butterfly Effect (Feature)
Deb Wallwork, Janet Bayliss (Minneapolis, MN)
A delightful film combining animation, narration, individual stories, and experimental film, about people making a difference for monarchs, one milkweed at a time.
Ghost’s Best Friend
Director: Michael James Leffler (Peck School)
Light
Maria Salvin (India)
Mother
Boqing Liu (China)
Vigil
Austyn Zinn (Stout)
A man lives alone in the desolate wilderness, with only an owl as company. One night, he experiences something that lets him say goodbye to someone that he lost.
Operation: Princess Rescue
Director: Hannah Niest and Qiana Comstock (Stout)
I Want You to Want Me
Director: Alice O’Brien (Stout)
Kiss ’n Ride
Olivia Jensen (Chicago)
On her way home from a lovely cafe date, a woman finds reminders of her date in every little thing, prompting her to fall in love with the Chicago winter night around her and dream of the date ending differently.
Cilindro
Director: Erika Salazar (Mexico)
The Vending Machine
Director: Sumin Cho (California)
The Body
Director: Nika Zhukova and Rimma Gefen (Israel)
Dawn
Director: Haiqing Qi (China)
Brace For Rain
Director: Yung Hsin Hsu (Taiwan)
The Quiet
Director: Radheya Jegatheva (Australia)
Western Tune
Director: Michele Assante (Italy)
Under the Endless Sky
Director: Alexandra Dzhiganskaya (Ukraine)
Bird House
Dierector: Petra Pavetic Kranjcec (Croatia)
Fish Sticks and Toast
Director: Chloe McChesney (Stout)
Life Decision
Jiwon Yoon (Republic of Korea)
It’s Not How it Looks Alike
Director: Alessandro Fortuna (Italy)
St. Android
Director Lukas von Berg (Germany)
Sparkle
Director: Yulissa Garrido (Chile)
Lump the Frog
Director: Tabitha Wekerle (Navada)
The Castle Durchdenwald
Director: John Leibbrandt (Saukville, WI)
A man infiltrates an enemy-occupied castle to steal valuable information key to the cause but finds more than he bargained for.
Tiempos (Time)
Director: David Andres Mesa (Colombia)
In the middle of the night Andrés is driving home, but how tired he feels. In an instant he will learn to be a child again, he will suffer the snubs of youth, and see face to face what he has become; a workaholic.
Second Born Son: A Transsexual Documentary
Director: Merit Thursday (Minneapolis, MN)
In 2019, I started making plans to undergo gender affirming surgeries. It made me deeply uncomfortable and distressed to learn that body tissue is discarded uncaringly after surgery. I took steps to receive the tissue back from the surgeon so I could carefully bury it in a special spot. There is something sacred about being received and recycled back into the earth, and I wanted to be able to have that experience. This film details this story.
Lullaby
Director: Fan Shi (Japan)