Winner of the top prize at the 1985 Venice Film Festival, Vagabond begins with the discovery of the lifeless, frozen body of the young hitch-hiker Mona (Bonnaire). Through flashbacks recounted by individuals who crossed paths with her (portrayed predominantly by amateur actors), Varda constructs a fragmented depiction ... more
On a new episode of the official UW Cinematheque podcast, Director of Programming Jim Healy talks with Robert M. Rubin, author of Vanishing Point Forever, a gorgeous new volume from Film Desk Books. Rubin discusses the enduring legacy of Vanishing Point (1971), director Richard Sarafian’s existential car chase classic.... more
Director of programming for UW Cinematheque and Ben Reiser, programmer for Cinematheque walk through the Cinematheque's Summer 2024 calendar which kicks off on June 19th and runs through July 26th. Full details at https://cinema.wisc.edu/
On a special double feature/dual podcast episode of 70 Movies We Saw in the 70s/Cinematalk commemorating the screenings of both films at UW Cinematheque, Ben Reiser and Jim Healy take a deep dive into a “Fistful of Feiffers”, discussing both LITTLE MURDERS (1971) and CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (1971). ‘71 was a big year for scre... more
Ben Reiser talks with Nick Libbey and Zach Tomasovic, the filmmakers behind Sawyer County, 2020, which screened at the 2022 Wisconsin Film Festival.This survey of a cross-section of Sawyer County, Wisconsin residents in the immediate runup to the 2020 presidential election reveals a lot about the state of the state a... more
On Saturday, November 13th, the Cinematheque will present a 35mm print of Sean Baker’s THE FLORIDA PROJECT. Our free screening coincides with the publication of J.J. Murphy’s revelatory new monograph on the film’s production from University of Texas press.Our guest on this episode is, J.J. Murphy, professor emeritus ... more
On October 30th 2021, UW Cinematheque presents a screening of a 4K restoration of the 1974 film THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, directed by Tobe Hooper.Five hippies on a road trip through rural Texas wind up in the clutches of a murderous, cannibalistic family in this profoundly unsettling modern horror classic. Nerve-... more
On this episode of Cinematalk, Mike King welcomes filmmaker and film teacher Brandon Colvin, whose first two features screened at UW - Madison's annual Wisconsin Film Festival. A Dim Valley is the writer/director's first foray into comedy. Mystical, sexy, and funny, this dreamlike indie casts you under its spell. Dee... more
On a new episode of the Cinematheque's Cinematalk podcast, we are thrilled to welcome Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler, Roman J. Israel, Esq.) to talk about his father's movie From Noon Till Three. Spoilers abound in this discussion, so you might want to see the movie first before list... more
After a 16 month pause, we are back with in-person screenings at our home venue of 4070 Vilas Hall. Things kicked off this week with a trilogy of films: MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW, TOKYO STORY, and WHERE’S POPPA, that each explore the relationships between elderly parents and their adult children. In conjunction with our s... more
Ben Reiser talks to Jonny Zeller and Tim Frazier about SCARS.In a world where every lie a person tells leaves a permanent mark on their body, the new boot camp instructor without a single scar is an anomaly… until one cadet discovers a single, massive sore across his back, leaving everyone on base to wonder what terr... more
Louis Valray was born in 1896 and died in 1972. Beyond that, little is known of the man except what we can glean from his two marvelous feature films, La belle de nuit (1934) and Escale (aka Thirteen Days of Love, 1935), works that combine the visual invention of Jean Vigo and the humanism of Marcel Pagnol. Both movies... more
Ben Reiser talks to Jack Duffy and Isaac Westberg about 04Shot with an appropriately nostalgic Hi8 Camcorder, 04 employs extreme tonal shifts to tell a story about two teens spending an afternoon making a short film. (BS)
Ben Reiser and Brody Coning talk to Lori Felker.SpontaneousFilmmaker Lori Felker employs a mixture of cinematic tools to convey her physical and emotional turmoil in this alternately humorous and harrowing first-person recounting of the time she had a miscarriage while attending the Slamdance Film Festival. Come for... more
Ben Reiser and Terry Kerr talk to Elijah Edwards and Ben Fritz about MAKE A WISHHigh-Schooler Elijah Edwards’ fresh variation on the classic “genie in a bottle” story is remarkably self-assured, filled with charming performances and pleasingly cheesy special effects. (BR)
Terry Kerr and Ben Reiser talk to Johanne Helgeland about THE CROSSING.Ten-year-old Norwegian Gerda wants to be a musketeer, much to the dismay of her older brother Otto. He really hates her apron cape and her wooden dagger. After the sudden arrest of their parents, right before Christmas of 1942, the siblings discov... more
Ben Reiser talks to Yael Even Or and Sam Klein about SWING COUNTRYIn this endearingly homespun documentary focusing on the run-up to the 2020 National Election, filmmakers follow Wisconsinites from the Fox Valley area who work to swing Wisconsin back to blue: Lee Snodgrass, a candidate for state assembly fights for h... more
Ben Reiser, Pauline Lampert, Johnny Fruit and Bulat Schamiloglu talk to Nick Lyell and Max Puchalsky about FALSE ALARMThe focus of this enlightening documentary is an event that many may remember: the ballistic missile alert that was mistakenly sent to the 1.4 million residents of Hawaii in January, 2018. But most ar... more
Ben Reiser talks to Yael Bridge and Christie Herring about THE BIG SCARY "S" WORD.The Big Scary “S” Word, directed by Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker, Yael Bridge, offers an in-depth explanation of the fundamentals of progressive politics and the current state of socialism in the United States. Yael weaves toget... more
Ben Reiser talks to Megan Zabel Holmes about COCOONS.A three-year-old girl narrates her own story of how she navigates the pandemic and finds a bit of blissful respite raising butterflies during lockdown. (BR)
Ben Reiser talks to Gracie K Wallner and Espere Eckard-Lee about BLOOD RUNS OUT.UW-Madison student Wallner’s vampire story features a woman surviving off the menstrual blood of her friends who realizes her supply is dwindling. This is a surprisingly charming tale of selflessness that tackles its extreme subject with ... more
Ben Reiser and Pauline Lampert talk to Edith Rodriguez about ASHES.A tragic summer romance set against the backdrop of the beautiful Texas countryside, Ashes is a bittersweet meditation on how grief and regret can intertwine and how we can choose to move past these feelings, or live alongside them. (JF)
Ben Reiser talks to Joe Brown and Rod Coronado about OPERATION WOLF PATROL.This urgent documentary highlights the efforts of a team of wolf conservationists, known as Wolf Patrol, who are attempting to monitor the activities of wolf hunters in Northern Wisconsin. These activists have no power or institutional support... more
Ben Reiser and Brody Coning talk to Dale Lindquist about BECOMING GEPPETTO.Surrounded by farmland in a small town in northern Wisconsin, father and son luthier duo, Bruce and Matt Petros make world-renowned acoustic guitars. These guitars have been played around the world by music giants like Paul Simon, and this doc... more