Jim Healy|Wisconsin Film Festival

Jim Healy is UW Cinematheque Director of Programming, a position he has held since October, 2010. From 2001-2010, he was Assistant Curator, Exhibitions in the Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. Prior to that, he was a Film Programmer for the Chicago International Film Festival. Jim is also currently the American Programming Correspondent for the Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy and he is supervising programming for the 2012 edition of the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Kristin Catalano|Director, “Clarence”
Kristin Catalano was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. She moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA’s Professional Program in Screenwriting, and then to follow, UCLA’s MFA Screenwriting Program, where she emerged with her Master’s Degree. In addition, she has received screenwriting awards, including the Jay Grossman Comedy Writing Award and the Larry Thor Memorial Award.
Storytelling is Kristin’s passion, and although writing is her forte, she consistently takes on many roles in order to bring her vision to life. Most recently, she was the writer, director, cinematographer, editor, and producer for her first feature-length documentary entitled, Clarence.

Joe Shaffer|Director’, “The Searcher”
Joe Shaffer’s films have won five Scholastic Gold Key Awards for the state of Wisconsin, and his script “And Then There’s Joe” won a Scholastic Gold Key Award for the Midwestern region. “Tag, You’re Id” was an official selection for the Chicago International Film Festival’s CineYouth; “Alex and Eve” was an official selection for the Austin Film Festival’s Young Filmmakers Program; and “The Searcher” won a Golden Badger Award from the Wisconsin Film Festival. His music video “Life Story” was also nominated for a Madison Area Music Award.
Joe reads his commentaries on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Life,” and he has contributed arts writing, news reporting and videography to the Madison alternative weekly newspaper Isthmus.
Joe has studied classical guitar, played electric guitar in several rock bands, performed in an improvisational comedy troupe, done stand-up in local comedy clubs, and acted in plays and musicals. He is a senior at Madison West High School.

Kurt Raether|Director, “Little America”
Kurt Raether is a Milwaukee filmmaker known for documentary and music video work. His work focuses on fantastical personalities and places nestled against the backdrop of Rust Belt midwest. He is partner at Sabljak Raether Hogerton, a marketing firm that specializes in content creation.

Chris Rye & Dave Freimuth|Director and Producer, “Push it to 11:Bits of Baco”
In 1990, four teenagers from northeastern Wisconsin — Chad DeGroot and Chris Rye from Green Bay, and Mark Hilson and Mark Fluette from Appleton — made a video tape documenting their freestyle BMX exploits. They called it Bacovision, and it was the first of a ten-part series that would span over a decade. Initially an acronym for Bad Ass Coping Obstacle, Baco soon became a term synonymous with the relatively new sport of bicycle motocross, and this was due not only to the BMX talents of DeGroot, Rye, Hilson, and Fluette (and the other riders who would later join them), but also to the popularity of their homemade videos. In contrast to the slickly produced tapes released by companies seeking to sell BMX gear, the Baco crew’s self-produced videos were irreverent, subversive, and weird. Intercutting BMX tricks with the juvenile antics of the riders — such as throwing a box full of Snapple bottles off a bridge — and setting the action to a solid alt rock soundtrack, the Baco videos tied freestyle BMX to a particular attitude and lifestyle. Circulating almost exclusively on VHS tapes, the Baco videos became celebrated the world over by BMX riders, both amateur and professional, for their unique videography and outrageous personalities. Push it to 11: The Bits of Baco brings the Baco crew together again to recount their origins and the impact their videos have had on the sport of freestyle BMX. But like the original Baco videos, Push it to 11 is more than just tailwhips and endos; it’s also an entertaining snapshot of independent video production and Wisconsin in the glorious 1990s.

Holly De Ruyter|Director, “Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club”
Holly is originally from Oneida, Wisconsin, just outside of Green Bay.  She grew up eating cheese curds, watching documentaries on PBS, earning Girl Scout Badges, drinking kitty cocktails at supper clubs, and catching large-mouth bass to mount on her bedroom wall.
Holly’s love for documentaries brought her to Chicago where she earned a degree from Columbia College in film and video concentrating in documentary production.  While living there she realized how much she missed Wisconsin culture and lifestyle.  In 2009 she decided to make a documentary exploring the one of her favorite aspects of that unique culture – Wisconsin supper clubs.  It has been a long and challenging five years to make this documentary, but Holly is happy to be bringing the story of the Wisconsin supper club to the screen.
Holly currently lives in Chicago with her husband Brian and her mounted large mouth bass from her youth.
 

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