Director's Cut

Director's Cut Wisconsin Film Festival Edition 2025

– Announcer: The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
[upbeat music] [“The Misanthrope” by Local H] Mere grist to feed the machinery [bright music] [cheers and applause] -Pete Schwaba: Welcome to Director’s Cut.
This year, I was gonna change things up just to do something different.
But then I realized, you’re probably not interested in watching me restore an old house and probably actually like movies.
So let’s stick with what works and kick off our annual Wisconsin Film Festival episode of Director’s Cut.
Tonight, you’ll meet many filmmakers who will join me to discuss their films.
And as usual, the Wisconsin Film Festival has a little something for everyone.
This year, we will meet passionate Japanese Packer fans who party as well as any homegrown Packer fan, a poem conceived from a daydreaming high schooler that turned into a popular song, a nutty night out on the town at a famous Chicago nightclub, and an inspiring immigrant story about leaving a painful past behind and learning what love means in a new land.
That one happens to be a Golden Badger winner as well.
But before we meet our fabulous filmmakers, let’s kick things off with a couple of swell film buffs who make this festival go.
It’s my pleasure to welcome Ben Reiser and Mike King.
Guys, welcome.
– Michael King: Thanks for having us.
– So I just wanna say, before we start, we’re breaking new ground here, having two people from the same festival on the same show for the first time ever in the history of colored television, so… [Mike chuckles] – Proud to be part of it.
– Ben Reiser: Like Salt-N-Pepa say, “It takes two to make a thing go right.”
– Pete: That’s right, wow, nice pull, Ben.
So you’re the director of festival operations.
Mike, you’re the artistic director.
Are you guys ready?
This is right around the corner.
– It’s coming up.
Yes, I think we’re ready.
The guide came out, tickets are on sale.
It’s happening one way or another, so we’re very excited for it.
– Pete: That’s exciting.
Are you ready, Ben?
– Ben: I’ve gotta be ready.
– You gotta be ready.
– Even if I’m not, like Mike says, it’s gonna happen.
– I love your posts on Facebook throughout the festival.
You do, like, a night one, a night two, like a little scrapbook, and you look a little more exhausted on each one, but like you’re having fun, so you get through it, right?
– Ben: Yeah.
– Let’s talk about the history of this really fun event.
So in case there are people watching who haven’t been to the Wisconsin Film Festival, either one of you can go here.
But tell us a little bit about the history and about the festival itself.
– So this is the 27th Wisconsin Film Festival.
So it’s, you know, we’ve been around a while.
It is an eight-day event in Madison, on campus and at the Flix Brewhouse and at the Barrymore Theater.
And it’s just a celebration of all kinds of cinema that you won’t get to see the rest of the year.
So we travel to festivals around the world to find the best new movies and bring them back to Madison.
We also, of course, have our Wisconsin’s Own section, which you’ll meet many filmmakers from today, and we also have children’s movies.
We have tons of movies from the entire history of cinema.
So really, it’s a celebration of all kinds of cinema that you could possibly get.
We also bring a lot of visiting filmmakers to Madison, so it’s a great opportunity for people to get to meet people who’ve maybe never been here before, and learn more about the behind-the-scenes process of these films.
– That’s, that’s a lot.
I don’t think what people realize is what you just said.
The festival is eight days.
– Yes.
– But finding these films all over the world is a full-time job, right?
– Yeah, we’ve got 174 of them this year.
So, yeah, it’s intense.
I spend four months watching all of the Wisconsin’s Own submissions.
Mike and Jim Healy, our other programmer, spend all year going to other festivals, receiving all kinds of screeners from studios and filmmakers.
How many films do you think you saw this year?
– Oh, I don’t count.
That would be overwhelming.
But, you know, I mean, you know, I went to Cannes in May and, you know, there are films that I saw there that are in the festival this year, right up until the last second of possible programming we can do.
So we’re watching stuff the whole time to try and put together the best lineup for Madison.
– That’s great.
Well, you guys do a phenomenal job every year.
We’ll hear more about the films soon and any potential new venues.
We’ll do that after we take a look at our first samplings of films that will be at this year’s festival, including a clip from a Golden Badger Honorable Mention winner.
[rain falling, birds chirping] – [speaking in Italian] – [speaking in Italian] – [speaking in Italian] – [speaking in Italian] – [speaking in Italian] Barbara?
– [speaking in Italian] – [speaking in Italian] [both speaking in Italian] [“Jukebox Babe” by Alan Vega] [upbeat guitar music] – [speaking French] – [speaking French] Came from nowhere To St. Francis Street uh-huh [snake hisses, animal chitters] Jukebox baby a-playin’ a little beat uh-huh [camera shutter clicks] Cadillac king Watch for the heat Jukebox baby Jukebox babe – [speaking in French] [chainsaw revs] – Uh-huh [animals roaring, child whimpering] [bird squawks] Uh-huh-huh-huh [upbeat guitar music] – Cindy Bentley: I am a person that grew up in a state institution.
It was a lonely, horrible place.
I was scared.
I just wanted to know if I’m gonna have to live like this the rest of my life.
And I did think about killing myself a few times.
All I wanted to be is to be loved.
I think for a long time, we’ve been hidden away, and people don’t know about people with disabilities.
People don’t know our stories because we never have been able to talk about our stories.
We’ve been sheltered, either in institutions or a special school or whatever.
Now, it is our time to shine and rise.
– So for those of us who do spend a substantial amount of time at the Wisconsin Film Festival every year, is there anything new this year?
Anything you guys want to talk about that’s different from previous years?
– Well, we have the same footprint as last year with the same venues, our four on-campus venues, and then the Bartell Theatre, the Barrymore Theatre, and then Flix Brewhouse for the second half of the festival.
But one thing that stands out to me, a few things that stand out to me this year, I think we have a lot of films this year that are kind of really hard to see and making these screenings kind of an event, including a film that you know something about, the original Meet the Parents, which most people don’t know there is an original Meet the Parents that does not involve Robert De Niro or Ben Stiller.
We’ve got this Rolling Stones documentary that I don’t think I can even say the title of here on public TV.
– Pete: Oh, really?
– But has been suppressed ever since it was made.
When was it, in the ’70s?
– It’s a 1972 tour movie made by the famous photographer Robert Frank.
– Oh.
– And it’s, you know, a pretty raw look at the Rolling Stones on tour.
And they never really allowed it to be released.
And it’s really hard to get a screening happening.
So we’re really excited to have this movie.
But as Ben said, probably not PBS-safe title.
I’m sure you can find it in the guide.
– NC-17 rating?
– Yeah, it’s a pretty raw movie, but it’s a really special opportunity to see it.
– Meet the Parents, on the other hand, is pretty– It’s okay for everybody, right?
There’s no– I’ll be hosting that Q&A on April 5, I can’t wait.
Greg Glienna, a disclaimer, is my sometime writing partner.
He created the Meet the Parents franchise with this film, and I’m, like, the only Chicago comic who didn’t have a role in it, ’cause I didn’t know Greg then, and I was so bummed.
But it’s a great film.
In my opinion, funnier than the original on some level, ’cause it’s a little darker.
– Michael: For sure.
– You guys agree with that, or?
– Yeah, definitely, right.
– The darker the better.
– It’d be funny if neither one of you actually like the film, but you had to take it right now and you’re trying to fake your way through this.
– Oh, no.
– So I love the venues.
You guys added a venue, or maybe it wasn’t new.
It was at the bottom of Bascom Hill.
It was, like, a little chapel or something.
It was a really charming little venue.
– Ben: Music Hall.
– Yeah, Music Hall, yeah.
And the Bartell was nice, too, I thought.
– Ben: Yeah.
– Yeah.
Is there a theme this year?
Do you guys do that year to year?
Is there a theme for the festival?
I know you have fun slogans and stuff like that, but… – I would say the theme of the festival is great cinema on the big screen with all your friends and neighbors, you know, just like it is every year.
We’re just trying to bring… – Pete: You couldn’t find anything vaguer than that?
– Yeah, right, you know what I mean?
Like, that’s the theme, right?
– You try showing 174 films and figuring out a theme.
– Michael: Yeah.
– No, thanks.
That’s for you guys.
Anything in the shorts category that we can look forward to?
I love the short films you guys choose.
– Michael: Yeah, we have several really exciting shorts programs this year, focusing on female filmmakers from the– you know, we have Shirley Clarke, a program.
We also have a program for her daughter’s film, Wendy Clarke, and Wendy Clarke will be here to present both of those screenings on Wednesday night at Flix.
We also are welcoming the Chicago filmmaker Heather McAdams, who is a big fixture in their music scene, and she’s made incredible films that we’ll be showing on 16-millimeter Sunday morning at the Cinematheque.
And she also is bringing a reel of just, she’s a collector of all kinds of, like, crazy film ephemera, trailers, weird commercials, all kinds of stuff like that.
And she’ll be presenting a screening on Saturday night at the Cinematheque called “Chris and Heather’s Big Screen Blowout” that’s just gonna be a really crazy, fun, silly night at the movies.
– We have to go to a clip in 30 seconds, but what’s your favorite venue, each of you?
– Well, I think it’s really fun to be at the Barrymore because it’s the big house, and it’s, you know, a really special opportunity to get, like, you know, 800 people together enjoying the same thing.
That’s something you can only get at the film festival.
– Pete: True; Ben?
– Yeah, and I, the one you mentioned, Music Hall.
I love that we, I don’t think they ever showed movies in there before last year.
And it’s great that we are exploiting that space for what I think is a great use.
– Absolutely.
All right, well, thanks, Mike and Ben.
We’ll talk to you at the end of the show, so don’t leave the building.
Up next, a clip from a feel-great documentary called Florence.
– Daniel Holland: You know, I don’t remember the first time I heard the song.
I do know from, you know, stories we’ve all told over the years that Noah wrote it even before he was in Little Blue Crunchy Things.
– Noah Tabakin: So, yeah, I was at Riverside at that point.
But I was 15, not paying attention, and writing lyrics, just messing around, just, like, killing time.
It almost feels like it was like an exercise.
Like I was just like, “I’m gonna write a song about something.”
– Ms. Pritzlaff: I think that was a praise poem assignment, an ode.
– Aaron Greer: One of her assignments was that you had to write an original poem.
– Mara Bach: I remember Noah singing his assignment.
– Zak Mazur: Got up in front of the class, and you could tell he was a little nervous, and he just started singing this song.
– Noah: I’m singing flipped upside down… I don’t remember this assignment, you know?
It’s completely plausible that I would have turned in a song that I wrote.
– I definitely remember that, the, “turn me upside-down, flip round and round.”
– It was just him… – Noah: …flippin’ me… – …singing his assignment.
– Noah: …turned around… [Mara laughs] Upstaging everybody.
– I didn’t even know about it ’til today, that he actually wrote it, that the song was actually published.
I had no idea until today.
[sighs] And then I listened to it on YouTube.
[laughs] I was like, “What?
How cool!”
– Noah: …what a disgrace, I’m so sad As I look up and see an angel comin’ for me There’s no disguise I close my eyes The Lord is ready for me But then I feel a kiss upon my lips What bliss it’s lovely Florence And she’s falling in love with me [groovy guitar music] – Joining me now is director Aaron Greer to talk about this clip from the film you just saw, this film clip you just saw from Florence.
Aaron, welcome.
– Thank you for having me.
– Okay, so tell us, what did we just see?
Tell us about Florence.
– Sure, so, almost 35 years ago, actually a little more now, Noah Tabakin was sitting in driver’s ed class, kind of fooling around as you do, doodling, and he wrote a poem that he later kind of turned in or performed as an assignment in English class.
I was in that English class as a sophomore in high school.
And that’s a poem he later recorded with the band Little Blue Crunchy Things.
And even though it was very different from a lot of their music, and this was a band that was kind of, had some regional success here and, you know, that song “Florence,” became one of their kind of most loved and popular songs.
And of course, now that they made, I don’t know, four or five albums’ worth of music in the ’90s, now in the streaming age, all that music is back with us, right?
– Pete: Right, right.
– And, you know, sure enough, this song, “Florence,” is the kind of song that streams or downloads the most from Spotify, Bandcamp, all those things.
And I just thought it was crazy that this, you know, something that you made as a sophomore in high school– I don’t know about you, you know, Pete, but I never did anything as a sophomore that I would want… – No one pays attention.
during driver’s ed.
– That’s right, right.
– It’s not that important.
– I wouldn’t want to revisit, so I just thought it was kind of fascinating that this thing that he did as a sophomore… – Yeah.
– …had, you know, kind of this long lifespan and is still with us, and, you know, you go to reunion shows, they’re having reunion shows now, and everybody sings the song, and so I was fascinated by that.
And it felt like it’s, in a way, the thing maybe that’s most fascinating is, even though I had a very strong memory of Noah doing this in high school, he had no memory of it.
– Pete: Wow.
– And in fact, the whole band’s memory of, like, how that song came to be, you know, it was a little, like, they– everybody has a different piece of the story, right?
– Pete: Yeah.
– So it’s kind of a, in a way, a story, really, about the ephemeral nature of memory and about the ephemeral nature of the creative process, and a little bit about how, you know, we’re all kind of, the music of our teens is really, you know, sticks with us.
– It’s, you just kind of talked about two things that inspired a creative endeavor: your friend with the song and wherever he got his motivation to write this poem, and you to make this movie, thanks to him.
When did you remember this poem that he wrote?
And what, when was that in the process?
And when did you start making the documentary based on that?
– Sure, so, as you know, Pete, I teach filmmaking here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
And I was working with a group of students last spring who were making a film that they called– this will probably hurt your soul like it hurt mine.
They called it a period piece ’cause it was set in the early aughts, late ’90s.
It’s set in an independent radio station, and they were looking for music from the period, and I said, “Oh, I know somebody who had music at that time,” and I referred them to the Little Blue Crunchy Things.
And, you know, they picked this song, “Florence.”
I didn’t pick it.
You know, they picked this song, “Florence.”
That was the song that they wanted to feature in their film, and it was the first time I was just listening back to it and revisiting the song and said, “Well, I’m pretty sure I heard this 35 years ago in English class.”
And that was the kind of the impetus to do the story, and it came together pretty quickly.
So that was, you know, we started shooting in April.
We went to a reunion show and shot some of that and some interviews, and, you know, about 10, 11 months later, the film was done.
– Pete: Wow.
You mentioned you teach film here at UW-Madison.
Do you ever– and you’ve made a lot of films.
You’re, like, you’ve done narratives, documentaries.
You’ve got kind of a great resume.
Do you ever do something on a set or through your creative process that you come back to your classroom with and make that part of your lesson plan, so to speak?
– Yeah, I… Short answer is yes.
I didn’t used to do that.
I would feel kind of shy about that.
– Pete: Okay.
– And, you know, it’s better to teach some amazing, you know, award-winning filmmaker than show my stuff.
But I think, more and more, partly to show the things that don’t always work out right.
– Pete: Right.
– I am open about my process and share some of my work, but just a little bit.
Nobody wants to see all of my stuff when they’re in my class.
They’d rather see, you know– – Well, not that you make them, like, watch all of your movies, but you might go, “Whatever you guys do, don’t do this.
I learned that the hard way,” or whatever it is, you know?
– That I definitely do, right?
Yeah, that’s for sure.
– That’s great.
Well, I wish you luck with this screening.
It sounds like it’s gonna be great.
Have you seen it with an audience yet?
– Aaron: Only an audience of my in-laws.
But it would be nice to see it with– – Are they a tough crowd, or are they forgiving?
– You know, they’re pretty good.
– Okay.
– They’re pretty good, so.
But I am excited to see it with a full audience in Music Hall and an audience of, I think, you know, Little Blue Crunchy Things fans, so.
And ’90s music fans, so it’ll be fun.
– Awesome, keep making movies.
And keep teaching like you do.
I know from firsthand, my son had you, and he thought your class was great.
So thank you for all of your giving us, everything you’re giving us.
– Oh, well, thank you.
I appreciate that.
– You’re welcome, break a leg.
All right, up next, a Golden Badger winner.
Here’s a clip from Why My Dad Loves.
– [speaking in Hmong] – Tsu Lor Xiong: Okay.
[rooster crows] [speaking in Hmong] [qeej music] [man vocalizing] [insects chirping, rooster crows] [water rushing] [splash] [ragged breathing] [gasps] [somber piano music] [speaking in Hmong] [panting] [camera shutter clicks] [speaking in Hmong] – Uh… [chuckles] That was a clip from Why My Dad Loves.
Joining us now is Nkaujoua Xiong.
Thank you for joining us.
– Nkaujoua Xiong: Thank you for having me.
– You just told me your name means… – Beautiful otter.
– Pete: Beautiful otter.
– Yeah.
– Pete: That’s a cool– were your parents fans of the otter species?
– My dad was.
– Pete: Okay.
– Yeah, he saw it on TV, and he was like, “It’s so beautiful, so I have to name my daughter Beautiful Otter.”
– Oh, God, that’s so much more, like, glamorous than Pete.
So thank you for sharing that with us.
Hey, congratulations.
You won a Golden Badger at this year’s festival.
– Nkaujoua: I did.
I’m so grateful, very honored.
– Yeah, that’s fantastic.
Well, tell us about your film.
– So Why My Dad Loves, the Hmong title is Kuv Txiv Txoj Kev Hlub.
It’s a short documentary about my father, a Hmong refugee and immigrant who fled his home country, Laos, when he was 13.
And it’s really, it really just encapsulates all of the questions me and my siblings had for my dad when we were growing up.
And so, you know, through conversations with my family members and with my father himself, I really, like, unfold parts of his past and learn about the moments in his life that shaped his understanding of love.
And on top of that, it also reflects many, or the shared experience among many Hmong refugees and immigrants, of growing and living during the Secret War and fleeing their home country of Laos.
You know, it’s a story of tragedy, sacrifice, and resilience.
– Wow, that was a great answer.
[chuckles] So your film looks like it has just a ton of heart.
And I think we all wonder what our parents were like when they were younger.
They can tell us things, but you still have no idea, really.
When did you start learning this stuff about your dad?
And when was he forthcoming with all this information about his past?
– I, like, learned bits and pieces of it, pieces of his, like, history as I was growing up.
But it was never, like, a full-on, like, sit down, tell me everything kind of deal.
And he, I guess, like– so originally, this film was my senior project, and when I went to him and I was like, “I really wanna make a film about you.”
He was very open to telling and sharing his story.
Honestly, I was just very fortunate with having him be so open.
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
– You have a great story about being, going to work one day with your dad and sitting with him at an Arby’s and having lunch, and you asked him what his dream was.
What was that like, and what prompted you at that moment to ask your dad a question you maybe didn’t totally expect him to answer?
– Honestly, so the job that we had was a painting job, and I was kind of like, “Does my dad like doing this type of work?
Like, you know, what is he actually interested in?”
And so we were just sitting there, and it was really silent.
My dad is a man of very few words.
– Pete: Right.
– And I felt very like, I should say something, you know, or I should start a conversation with him.
And that was running in my head, so I was just like, “Dad, like, what’s your dream?”
And he was just like, he, like, was very, he seemed very surprised that I asked him that, but– – Like he wanted you to ask him that, almost?
– I think he was just, like, he’s never really been asked that, you know?
And so he was like, he took a moment, and he was like, “My dream is to own a car shop and run my own business.”
And so that took me by surprise, too.
But it was just a very sweet moment that I hold near and dear to my heart.
I think, you know, he has always wanted, his, like, ultimate dream has always been to, like, support me and my siblings and to really, like, have us start at a better place than where he began.
– As a filmmaker, a documentarian, was it challenging to get your dad to talk on camera, or people in your family?
– Surprisingly, no.
– Pete: Oh, nice.
– My dad was very open.
There were definitely some things, some details that he was like, you know, “I would rather not share that.”
And I was like, “That’s definitely fine,” you know?
– Pete: Yeah.
But he was, anything that I asked, he was very, like, open, and everyone was, all my siblings were great, [chuckles] surprisingly.
– Pete: Willing to talk about your dad.
– Yeah, willing to talk.
– That’s so great.
[coughs] You seem, in your bio, anyway, it says you’re drawn to Hmong stories.
We have about 30 seconds left.
Do you have another project lined up?
– As of right now, I’m thinking about making a project about my grandpa.
He’s a Hmong Secret War veteran.
And there’s, I feel like there’s a lot of stories to be told with that.
– Pete: Yeah.
– But other than that, I don’t really have anything else.
Just really, I just really want to continue telling more Hmong stories and Hmong experiences.
– Well, good luck with that.
Now you’re all ready for the Q&A.
See, this is like practice, you’ll be fine.
You said you were nervous, but you did great.
Thank you so much for being here.
– Thank you.
– Good luck at the screenings.
We’ll talk more with Wisconsin filmmakers in just a moment, but first, here’s a look at three more brilliant films featured at the Wisconsin Film Festival.
– Man: Here’s my son, Bruno.
Now, what would a home movie be without a nice long shot, maybe with an unsteady zoom of a person who means everything to you?
The sun, the moon, all the rest.
– [speaking in Ukranian] [foreboding music] [truck rumbles] [dog barks in distance] [telephone rings] – Narrator: Separated by thousands of miles.
– Pete: Hello?
– Seth: Hey, Pete.
It’s your brother, Seth.
Hey, I knew it was gonna be you.
[both laugh] – Narrator: Two brothers.
– Pete: Mayochap.
That’s what my mother-in-law used to call me.
– Narrator: One Indigenous and one white.
[brothers laugh] Have a mission to complete.
– Seth: The goal is to make something funny, beautiful, spiritual, political, complex, simple, and true.
[engine revs] [snap] – Pete: Is it all set to go?
Okay.
I went out trapping one time with those body hold Conibear traps.
And I set it up pretty good, I thought.
So an animal wouldn’t be able to drag it away.
And… And then I saw the bait fell off.
So I thought, “Okay, I’ll just stick the bait back on.”
And… [toilet flushes] And I was just holding on to the top part of the trap when I went to stick the bait on.
– Wait a sec.
Oh, sorry to stop you.
– Hmm?
But there’s a toilet flush in the middle of the story.
[both laugh] – Huh.
[sniffs] [distorted voices] [trilling] – Voice-over 1: Endless cookie.
– Voice-over 2: Endless… – Voice-over 3: Endless cookie?
– Pete Schwaba: The Wisconsin Film Festival takes place from April 3 to April 10.
With over 150 films to choose from, it is a movie heaven.
The festival attracts thousands of moviegoers that watch films on several screens around Madison.
Go to the 2025 Wisconsin Film Festival website and start picking your movies.
We’ve got more directors and more movies coming your way.
Here’s a clip from a film of tragedy and endurance.
It’s called A Road at Night.
– Phone’s ringing.
I’m like, “Why is Joe Krabbenhoft calling me at 6:00 in the morning?”
– I saw a tweet early that Saturday morning that just said, “We’re praying for Howard.”
And I was like, “Huh?”
– So then I was like, “Okay, this gotta be something, so let me answer it.”
I’m like, “Hello?”
– And I’m like, “Hey, big bro, are you sitting down?”
– I pull over, and I make the call, and Richard told me what happened, and… – He was hysterical on the phone.
– And I was like, “Well, you know, maybe it’s somebody else.”
– It was Greg Gard– “Coach, I got bad news for you.”
– You just can’t imagine anything of that magnitude happening to a family and to someone that you love and you care about.
– That was a clip, that was a clip from A Road at Night, and joining me now in studio is the film’s director, John Roach.
John, welcome.
– John Roach: Hey, Pete, thanks for having me.
– I have to tell you, we had this phone call yesterday.
I felt like you were like a long-lost brother or something.
– John: Yeah, separated at birth.
– We know a lot of the same people.
Before we jump into the inside baseball, so to speak, of your film, tell us a little more about what we just saw.
– Well, that was a clip of some Wisconsin folks who first got the news about a tragic accident that happened to a couple and a family who were beloved.
Howard Moore was a former Wisconsin basketball player and coach.
His wife, Jennifer, graduated from the engineering school here at Wisconsin.
And along with their two children, Jaidyn and Jerrell, They were traveling by car on Memorial Day weekend of 2019 to visit Jennifer’s mother in Detroit.
They stopped to visit Howard’s family in Chicago and opted to leave at around midnight, so they avoided all the traffic, which, everyone fears Chicago traffic.
– Absolutely, yeah.
– And sadly, they were hit head-on by a drunk driver at about 2:30 in the morning, just outside of Ann Arbor.
Jennifer was killed, Jaidyn was killed.
Howard suffered serious burns and later had a setback that has left him non-verbal and non-ambulatory.
Jerrell is the one family member, at 14 years old then, now he’s 19, who survived.
He actually pulled his dad out of the car.
– Pete: Wow.
– But the piece is about, my daughter said, “Well, Dad, “it’s a crime documentary, except you tell everyone who did the crime in the first scene.”
It’s really the aftermath of the consequences and the cascade of events that occur when someone chooses to drive drunk.
This young woman, Samantha Winchester, was out with her friends, a seemingly innocent night, and the three people, the bartender, her friend, and Samantha, all had a chance to make one good decision, and none of ’em did.
And the Moores paid the consequences and are still paying the consequences.
– Wow.
Have you seen the film with an audience, and if so, do you get the response you’re hoping for?
I mean, it’s such a deep film.
– We did a screening on campus for the Moore family members and friends of Howard and Jen, and it had a pretty powerful impact on them.
There were a lot of tears, but there is some hope.
And there’s forgiveness, which is shocking to me.
So there’s inspiration in the midst of tragedy.
– How was that for you as a filmmaker?
You’ve been, you’re a very prolific producer.
You’ve written feature films, and– But sitting through this and a story that’s close to you, what was that like as a filmmaker, having to watch this footage over and over during the post process?
– Well… [clears throat] it consumes your life.
It did for two years for me… – Yeah.
– …for Joe Fung, my editor, who’s a Wisconsin grad, for Dan Boyle, my co-writer, who is from Madison.
The crew is all Wisconsin people, so they were feeling every minute of it.
And it was very difficult to live with.
My daughter said, “Dad,” when we took on the assignment, my daughter Kate said, “Dad, this is gonna be really rough on you.”
But as I said to everyone on the crew, as rough as it is for us to tell this story, nothing is as rough as what the Moore family has lived through, and it was our hope to help carry that weight for them.
– Pete: Nice.
You’ve, okay, so, you fascinate me because you co-wrote The Straight Story, which was directed by David Lynch.
Mary Sweeney, your writing partner on the project.
Got a lot of critical acclaim, great film.
You also created a show I loved when I was in college that I used to watch with my friends, called The Sportswriters on TV with these old guys with stogies.
It was like sports radio before there was sports radio.
– Sure, yeah.
– These old dudes talking sports, so great.
You’ve had so many different projects.
Where do you go from here?
Now you’ve made this really moving documentary.
How do you pick your projects?
– At this stage of my career, carefully.
– Pete: Yeah.
– Because I know that they’re all-consuming, and I’m not 18.
[chuckles] I do have another doc planned that, you know, I’m not talking about right now.
It will be more fun and whimsical than this piece.
– Pete: Okay.
– But I pick it…
I think I’m a voice for the crew that I work with.
I’m a leader of sorts, but I can’t do anything without, you know, my great shooters.
Billy Roach helped shoot this; no relation.
He has 15 Emmys with his work on the ESPN series 30 for 30.
Billy’s a Wisconsin grad, too.
So we have this merry band of folks, my brother Jim, and I kind of feel everyone out and say, “What do you think?
Do you want to do this one?”
And if I have consensus, then we forge ahead.
– Pete: Wow, that’s interesting.
– ‘Cause I, you know, the beautiful thing about film, but also the most challenging thing about film, it’s highly collaborative.
– Pete: Oh, yeah, for sure.
– It’s, you know, at the top of the artistic food chain, because you have writing, and you have photography, and you have acting, and you have wardrobe and makeup and hair, and you have to coordinate all those elements, which is, you know, tough, and so you have to have buy-in from everyone.
– Well, it’s all on display here at the Wisconsin Film Festival.
Great job, and it’s been great getting to know you, and break a leg with the screenings, John.
– Thanks, Pete.
You know, we’re Wisconsin folks in the Wisconsin Film Festival, so it feels perfect.
– Well said.
Next, a clip best described as a documentary meets a concert film.
Here’s a clip from Lifers.
[crowd chanting “Local H!”]
[hard rock music] – How you feeling?
[“The Misanthrope” by Local H] Hack actors choking on the scenery – Ready to go?
– My first show back.
I’m not missing the first song.
Mere grist to feed the machinery – I’ll take an extra large in the red, the lifer shirt.
This is your welcome to the family All hail the cult of misanthropy The church and then the steeple Bring out the weak and feeble This world that turns on the thought of you dead – You know, the best thing to ever happen to Local H is them not getting a chance to be huge rock stars.
– What kind of fan are you?
– This is where the rainbow ends.
Dead – Joining me now is director of Lifers, Scott Lucas.
Scott, welcome.
– Scott Lucas: Hey, thanks for having me.
– All right, so your film has been described as energetic, funny, borderline psychedelic as a movie experience, not quite a documentary, not quite a concert film.
So I’m really excited to hear you tell me about Lifers.
Please do.
– It sounds confusing, right?
It’s… – Sounds interesting.
– Like, we’ve been saying, like, [chuckles] we’ve been saying it’s like a cross between Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same and Richard Linklater’s Slacker.
So instead of me riding around on a white horse saving damsels in distress, I sell merch.
I, you know, sell t-shirts.
– Pete: Sure.
– But it’s mostly a concert film.
But there is some…
I don’t know, fiction aspects to it that are based on real things, and it is confusing to tell people what it’s about, but it is mostly just trying to recreate the experience of being at a show.
– Okay.
When you say it’s not quite a documentary, not quite a concert film, is that what you set out to make?
Or is that, when you looked at all your footage and you’re like, “Let’s do it this way?”
Or was that the goal from the start?
– No, that’s what I wanted to make, was just something that was like, somebody wanted to record the show, it was the last show of the tour we were doing, and I was like, “Well, that’s not that interesting to me.
What else can we do?”
And I had seen this movie, Goodbye, Dragon Inn, and it’s this Taiwanese movie where all these people are just watching this, we’re watching a movie the last night of this theater being open.
And I thought, like, “Well, what if there, “what if we made a concert movie that was just as much “about the people watching us and what goes on around, “and it had, like, little vignettes and stories intertwined with the music?”
– So was that what inspired you to make the film, was the last night that this theater was open?
Was this the Metro in Chicago, the former Cabaret Metro?
– Yes, this is the Metro in Chicago, yeah.
– Pete: So that’s closed now?
– Yeah.
No, no, no.
– Pete: Oh, okay.
– No, no, this movie that I saw called Goodbye, Dragon Inn, it’s about a movie theater closing.
– Pete: Oh, gotcha, okay.
– And it’s about people, you know, watching the movie.
And so you’re following, like, hustlers or actors who are in the movie that they’re watching, and you’re seeing the movie in the background, but it’s more about people reacting to the movie.
And I was trying to do some of that with this movie.
Metro is not closed.
– Pete: Okay.
– There are no plans to close it.
It’s okay, don’t get nervous.
– I didn’t even know they changed the name from Cabaret Metro to Metro.
So that’s how out of the loop I am, so… – It’s kind of a sticking point with Joe Shanahan.
Like, I’ve asked him about that, and I can’t quite get a real answer out of him either, so don’t worry, we’re all confused.
– So what made you want to do this, Scott?
Like, you’re a singer and a guitarist in a band called Local H. What made you just decide, “I’m gonna spend a couple years and make a film?”
– I just like movies a lot.
And we’d done, like, concert videos, and I just wanted to do something that was a concert movie, you know?
And people kept saying, “Oh, you’re working on this video.”
It’s not a video, it was a movie.
And I was very adamant about that.
And so, you know, I taught myself to edit and spent a long time editing, and then we spent a long time working on the sound.
And, you know, it took a while, but I’m happy with it.
And I think it, you know, it feels homemade.
– Pete: Good.
Can you explain the title, Lifers?
How does that represent the film?
– It’s just this idea that you’re devoted to this thing.
I mean, it’s my job, being in a band and making records, but it is more than that, and it’s almost like I’m addicted, you know?
And so you get into this thing where it’s this blessing to have this job that I love, and that I’m able to express myself and say what I want and do what I want.
No one tells me what– high that you’re constantly chasing.
Also, a lifer is somebody who’s in prison for life.
So it is that.
[Pete chuckles] – We have about 30 seconds left, Scott.
Have you seen it with an audience yet?
– Yeah, that’s why I’m in this stupid car right now.
I’m out on tour.
I’m actually in Jersey right now, about to drive to Philadelphia.
I’ve been on tour with the movie, showing it to audiences.
It’s not streaming, and it won’t be streaming, and the only way to see it will be in theaters.
– Very cool.
Well, I noticed you’re not wearing a seat belt.
That concerns me, but make sure you shoulder check, all right?
– That will get on, yeah, yeah.
– Okay, thanks a lot, Scott.
Have a great screening here at the Wisconsin Film Festival.
– Thank you.
– Thanks for joining us.
You got it.
– Thanks for having me.
– Think you’re dedicated, Packer fans?
Think again.
Here’s a clip from No Packers, No Life.
[television playing indistinctly] [cheers and applause] [all chanting indistinctly] [indistinct shouting] [all cheering] – Man: I’ve always known that the Packers have had a huge following all over, but Japanese culture is very much its own culture.
Certainly, they take things that they like from all over the world, but that was one I never expected, that there would be a group of Japanese Packer fans that were insanely passionate, to a degree which probably most people from Wisconsin aren’t.
– Quarterback: Green-19!
– Green-19!
– [cheering] [crowd cheering] – Suh: Number 2!
– Interviewer: Number 2!
[Suh laughs] – Mason Crosby.
– Interviewer: Mason Crosby.
– Suh: My favorite player!
– Mario: [speaking Japanese] – Interviewer: Is she gonnna be a Packer fan?
– Ayaka: Yeah!
– Omi: Yeah, of course.
She’s wearing… [interviewer laughs] [Tomoka coos] – Ayaka: Yay!
– Interviewer: What does she think of the Bears?
[all booing] [Ayaka laughs] – No Packers, no life.
– Interviewer: Cheppo’s crying.
[laughter] – Cheers.
– Cheppo: Different occupation, different generation.
Boys and girls, men and women.
Just one reason: we connect together.
[all cheering] All loves Packers.
– In unison: Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah Go, Pack, go Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah Go, Pack, go – That was a clip from No Packers, No Life.
And joining me now is director Craig Benzine.
Craig, welcome.
– Craig Benzine: Thank you.
All right, I have a lot of questions for you.
– Okay.
– First, tell us a little more about your film.
– Okay, it’s, I have this friend named Ty who is a businessman who goes to Japan once every few months.
And he’s from Wisconsin, and he went, one of his trips, he came across a guy in a Packers jersey, and he went up and talked to him.
And then all of a sudden, like, 20 different Japanese people with Packers jerseys on came out, and they discovered that they were going to watch a screening of one of their favorite games from the previous season.
– Pete: They were going to watch a game that had already been played.
– Yeah, yeah.
– Wow.
– They do it on a regular basis.
And then during the season, they’ll watch probably either late at night at home, or they’ll meet later and watch it.
– Pete: How did they find, where did their love for the Packers come from?
And 20, that’s like… – Yeah, it was, like, 20, 25.
They, well, it’s different for each of them.
I asked a bunch of them different, like, one of the… A guy named Fat Dragon lived in Milwaukee for– – Pete: I would kill for a nickname like that.
– I know.
– Pete: I’m stuck with “Cobra.”
– He lived in Milwaukee for a little while and was a San Francisco 49ers fan, and he had a 49ers coat on, and everyone was, like, not so happy with him.
So he switched, he switched to the Packers.
But some, a lot of ’em just, they got into the NFL, like, for some reason, in the ’80s especially, the the Bears-Patriots Super Bowl, like, was worldwide for some reason.
And they, a lot of them got into football around that time, and then heard about this small town in Wisconsin, Green Bay, where the stadium holds more people than the population of the town, and it just fascinated ’em.
– That’s fantastic, so, all right, so where did, how did that start, like, how did you get involved?
Your friend told you about these people.
How did you get in touch with them?
How did you get them to agree to be subjects in a documentary?
– Well, I actually came onto this documentary later, so my friend decided to fly them to a Packer game in Green Bay, or as many that could go.
And a couple friends of mine and him decided they were gonna make a documentary about it.
I wasn’t even on board yet.
And then it was dragging for a while, and so then he recruited me to help finish it, and he flew me to Japan to interview people, so… – So in your bio, it says these Packer fans from Japan love roller coasters, and it sounds like they party like any tailgater at Lambeau would.
How do you know, like, how much time did you spend with them to learn those– – That is, yeah, absolutely true.
That is, yeah, they– – Pete: What roller coaster?
– The Zippin Pippin in– – Pete: At the Bay Beach?
– Yeah, yeah, in Green Bay, yeah.
They, well, not all of them liked it, actually, but– – Pete: I wouldn’t say that’s the craziest roller coaster in the world either.
I mean, it’s pretty– – No, but a lot of them were kind of scared by how rickety it was and old it was.
– Did they go on the roller coaster after they tailgated?
That would have made it a little more dangerous, I think.
– No, I think it was a different day.
– Okay.
– Yeah, um…
But, yeah, they party.
I think they fit right in Wisconsin as far as how much, you know, well, there’s, you know, the drinking culture here.
– Pete: Sure.
– And drinking culture there is pretty on par.
– Really?
– Yeah.
– Oh, no kidding.
You also have a YouTube handle, WheezyWaiter.
– Mm-hmm.
– You’re great with nicknames.
You have over a million subscribers.
– Yeah, yeah.
– I assume that’s, you have income generated.
What made you want to take time away from another passion of yours to make– these films take a while to make.
– Yeah, I mean, I did say no initially to this because my, ’cause Ty, he really needed someone to make this thing.
And I was like, “I don’t have time, I can’t do this.”
And then eventually, you know, a trip to Japan was nice.
So that helped, but I said yes.
– Pete: Yeah.
– And I ended up, it ended up taking quite a while to finish, to go through all the footage and to put it all together.
I did end up taking four months off of YouTube to finish it.
– Okay.
– And the reason I did it, I think it just sounded like a fun project.
I also want to get into more filmmaking than YouTube.
– Okay, interesting.
– And this was a good first step, I guess.
– You need more of a headache in your life than managing… – Craig: Yeah.
– We have about 30 seconds left.
What, did you show this yet to your subjects, your Japanese Packer fans, and what was their reaction if so?
– I have not witnessed them watch it.
I think Ty has sent it to a few of them, but he’s telling me we’re gonna do a screening in Japan at some point, so I’m looking forward to that.
– Pete: I’m in.
– Yeah, all right, yeah.
– Pete: Just send me a plane ticket.
I’ve never been to Japan; that sounds fun.
Well, I wish you luck.
When is your screening, do you know?
– It’s April 6, I think, at 4:30 at the Barrymore.
– Pete: Fantastic, that’s a great venue.
You’ll have a blast.
Break a leg, good luck.
– Thank you.
– Thanks for being on the show.
– Thank you.
– All right, thanks to all the filmmakers who’ve joined us for this preview.
Here is our final grouping of film clips.
– Here you go, sweetie.
[silverware clattering, indistinct conversations] – Woman: Excuse me?
Excuse me?
You have a chip clip in your hair.
– So?
– It’s for preserving chips.
– Why are we discussing potato chips?
[heart monitor beeping rhythmically] [gentle piano music] [triumphant brass music] [all speaking in Spanish] – It’s like a wedding, a union.
– A wedding?
– A wedding, a wedding, a wedding, union.
– Man: But the other way round.
[all speaking in Spanish] [gentle string music] [all speaking in Spanish] [man singing in Spanish] [all speaking in Spanish] [bright music] – Pete: Oh, I like that, too, yeah.
All right, so, Mike, Ben, it looks like another great lineup this year.
What excites you guys the most?
You have good guests coming, I assume, like you always do?
– Yes.
– Absolutely.
This year, you know, we have some really great comedies at the Barrymore.
I think we could all probably use a laugh these days.
– Yeah, for sure.
– And on Friday night, we’re welcoming back Amy Landecker, who’s a UW alum, and she was on the show Transparent, and she just directed a new movie that’s really funny called For Worse, and she’ll be presenting that in person.
Saturday night at the Barrymore, we have another new comedy from South by Southwest called The Threesome, and the writer, Ethan Ogilby, will be here presenting that.
And we also have some great repertory guests as well.
– Yeah, we’re showing a 35-millimeter archival print of everyone’s favorite, Starship Troopers.
– Pete: Nice.
– We’re gonna have the producer, Jon Davison, there, and the writer, Ed Neumeier, who I think, did he also write RoboCop?
– Oh, wow.
Well, it sounds like… – Don’t quote me on that.
– …it’ll be fun.
The Barrymore sounds like it’s where it’s at for your personal appearances and that.
You guys always do a great job with that.
Thanks so much, guys.
It’s always fun.
– Thanks for having us.
– First time ever, two guests from the same film festival on color television.
Thanks for watching this presentation of Director’s Cut.
For more information on the Wisconsin Film Festival, please go to wifilmfest.org.
I’d like to thank all my guests for being with us and wish them the best of luck at their screenings.
I hope to literally see all of you at the movies in a couple weeks, enjoying this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival.
I’m Pete Schwaba.
We’ll see you next time on Director’s Cut.
[low tempo guitar music] [thunder crashes, both gasp] [rain falling] [monkey chitters dejectedly] – [speaking in French] Ah!
[chuckles] [monkey chitters] – Oh!
– [gasps] [both chuckle] [grunts] – Ah.
[thunder crashes]