We are music people. We don’t play films on the radio, but that is just because that wouldn’t make any sense. Really, we are arts people. We love music, movies, books, the whole gambit of the arts world. That is why we love the Milwaukee Film Festival. It brings throngs of people in Milwaukee out to celebrate the best of the best in film.

So we got our highlighters out, opened up the guide, went through the 300 plus films at the festival this year, and picked the films that we are most excited to see. Each day we picked a feature film, a documentary, and a short film collection. These are our picks for the first weekend.

Monday

Feature: Gueros (10PM at the Downer Theater)

A Spanish movie about a rock’n’roll pilgrimage that is shot in the style French New Wave? Sign us up.

Documentary: Cincinnati Goddamn (9:30PM at the Oriental Theater)

The title of this film is a riff on Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam” which was a reaction to the bombing of the 16 ^th street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. This doc shows how that song, and it’s message is sadly still applicable in 2015, with the death of Timothy Thomas and Rodger Owensbury in Cincinnati. Goddamn.

Shorts: Shorts: Out of this World

The shorts have a license to be weird. This is their chance to get extra weird. Out of this World shorts can go anywhere and everywhere. Get ready.

Tuesday

Feature: Krisha (7PM at the Oriental Theater)

“Krisha” was one of our favorite short films in the Milwaukee Film Festival last year, and we are so excited that it was made into a feature length film and picked up by the film festival this year. A+ for follow through on this one Milwaukee Film.

Documentary: “Most Likely To Succeed” (1:45PM at the Times Cinema)

This documentary about reforming the education system will change the way you think about every F you ever got. It’s the system, man. This looks at how we can change the education system to go along with our changing world.

Shorts: Shorts: Stories We Tell (9:45PM at the Downer Theater

This is your last chance to see a short documentary about a guy who was in a sexual relationship with a dolphin.

Wednesday

Feature: Extraordinary Tales (10PM at the Times Cinema)

A ghoulish animated anthology celebrating the macabre works of Edgar Allen Poe, featuring voice work from Sir Christopher Lee, Guillermo del Toro, and more? Two tickets please.

Documentary: Sex(ed) The Movie (9:45PM at the Fox-Bay Cinema)

Did you stifle back laughter while your high-school gym teacher said the word “Penis”? Have no fear, tonight we will all be laughing like immature teenagers who are not quite sure what sex is, but knows that it’s hilarious when an adult is sweating nervously while trying to tell you about the missionary position.

Shorts: Shorts: Stranger than Fiction (7PM Avalon Theater)

The greatest spear hunter in the world get’s his own mini-doc. How do we know he was the greatest spear hunter in the world? Because he made a spear hunting museum and painted the outside wall of the building with a picture of himself and the words “World’s Greatest Spear Hunter” next to his likeness. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
 

Thursday

Feature: The Wonders (2:00PM at the Oriental Theater)

“The Wonders” is a surreal look into the mind of a child in Italy. It promises to be Fellini-esque. We will hold it to that standard.

Documentary: Raiders! (7:00PM at the Oriental Theater) Closing Night Film

Raiders! Is the closing night film. It’s about a group of young men that remade “Raiders of the Lost Ark” shot-for-shot with all their own equipment, sets, and determination. It looks great, and it must have been picked as the last film to screen for a reason.