Milwaukee Film on Thursday doubled up on the enticements to get people interested in tickets for its annual festival: a Leap Day discount and a quick glimpse of the movie lineup for this year’s event.
For the non-cinephiles out there, the most recognizable film on the screening roster is Footloose, the Kevin Bacon/Kenny Loggins vehicle that — two years before the Beastie Boys — taught everyone the importance of fighting for your right to party. The movie, which also features the greatest Chris Penn dance routine in the history of cinema, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and will thus receive the “Cinebuds LIVE!” treatment from our podcast duo of Dori Zori and Kristopher Pollard.
That’s clearly the most exciting facet of this morning’s announcement, which also included other things like Oscar nominees and award-winning directors and so forth. The rest of the lineup revealed today can be found below, and if anything in there piques your interest, you can take advantage of Milwaukee Film’s Leap Day flash sale. Good Feb. 29 only, a six-pack of tickets to this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival is $70 ($55 for members), a 10-pack is $105 ($90 for members), and an all-access pass is $475 ($375 for members).
2024 Milwaukee Film Festival selections
- Anselm — From acclaimed German director Wim Wenders, this documentary centers on contemporary artist Anselm Kiefer and dives deep into his work, blurring the lines between film and painting.
- Bye Bye Tiberias — A documentary in which Hiam Abbass (Succession) and her daughter return to Abbass’s home village in Palestine decades after she left to build what turned out to be a very successful acting career.
- Four Daughters — Up for Best Documentary Features at this year’s Academy Awards, the film deals with the subjects of loss, hope and family through the lens of Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters, two of whom become radicals and disappear from their home.
- Green Border — A family of Syrian refugees, an Afghani English teacher and a guard meet on the border of Poland and Belarus during a humanitarian crisis.
- Let the Canary Sing — The story of music icon and activist Cyndi Lauper, told through pivotal moments in her life and career.
- Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros — 93-year-old master director Frederick Wiseman embeds himself at a restaurant in France that has maintained a three-star Michelin rating for more than 50 years.
- Mountains — A Haitian demolition worker is faced with the realities of redevelopment as he is tasked with dismantling his rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.
- Riddle of Fire — A fractured fairy tale about three children who find themselves on an unexpected adventure after their mother sends them on a simple errand.
- Robot Dreams — The David among Goliaths in this year’s Oscar race for Best Animated Feature tells the age-old tale of a lonely dog who fights solitude by building a robot companion.
- Rosa and the Stone Troll — A Danish animated film about a flower fairy living in a rosebush who becomes friends with an adventurous butterfly, only to have her companion kidnapped by an evil stone troll.
- Unsyncable — The most cleverly titled of today’s announced films focuses on senior swimmers preparing for the U.S. Masters Artistic Swimming Championships.
