This past winter, the Milwaukee-made film, "Give Me Liberty" premiered at the Sundance film festival and received critical praises from outlets like Variety and IndieWire.
Now the film will make the trek to France to screen at the prestigious Directors' Fortnight, which runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival.
"Give Me Liberty" is one of the 24 films from around the world that was selected for Director's Fortnight, which takes place May 15-25.
Directed by Kirill Mikhanovsky and written by Alice Austen, “Give Me Liberty” is a dark comedy set in Milwaukee. When a riot breaks out in America’s most segregated city, medical transport driver Vic is torn between his promise to get a group of elderly Russians to a funeral and his desire to help Tracy, a young black woman with ALS.
"We are honored and proud to have GIVE ME LIBERTY, our narrative feature film, generated and made entirely in Milwaukee, selected to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, the world's most prestigious cinema forum. We are thrilled to deliver on our promise to put Milwaukee on the map, and being a part of the world-class competition at the Director's Fortnight section of Cannes, does it in a truly grand way. Thank you, Milwaukee, for the inspiration, collaboration, and support" -Kirill Mikhanovsky and Alice Austen
We covered the film back in 2015 when Mikhanovsky and Austen announced their Kickstarter to raise $35,000.
This is not the first time Milwaukee-made films have been screened at Cannes. UWM film students have shown short films at the festival in 2012 and 2016.
