Twenty Years Ago this Month the Milwaukee International Film Festival was Born

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Illustration by Tim Czerniakowski

Milwaukee International Film Festival

Twenty years ago this month, the Milwaukee International Film Festival (MIFF) opened its first 11-day season with 90 films from 33 countries presented at four theaters. Never had there been a film festival of its scale in Milwaukee. Some said it couldn’t be done, but happily, the founders of MIFF didn’t listen to doubters.

MIFF was more than a year in planning before the festival’s first film was screened at the Oriental Theater. In April 2002, two young men from Lake Geneva wanted to meet with Dave Luhrssen, arts and entertainment editor and film critic of the Shepherd Express, to discuss their upcoming film festival, the two-day Black Point Film Festival. Due to his interest in international films, Shepherd publisher Louis Fortis went along to that meeting at La Boulangerie in the Third Ward. 

After the meeting, Fortis asked Luhrssen why Milwaukee didn’t have an international film festival. Noting that the city had several festivals with a specific focus, such as the Jewish Film Festival and the LGBT Film Festival, Luhrssen said something bigger hadn’t been discussed. In a moment of high energy, Fortis said, “let’s create one.”

After all, he reasoned, the Shepherd’s 258,800 readers (according to Media Audit) looked to it as a consistent source of high-quality arts coverage. So why not use the newspaper to vigorously promote an international film festival? Doing some research, Fortis found that 47 out of America’s top 50 cities already had film festivals. And that these festivals were quickly becoming one of the major requirements for any “world-class city” in the 21st century. 

It became clear that Milwaukee not only needed a festival but coming so late in the game relative to other cities, Milwaukee needed a world-class festival right from the start. Such a festival needed to be more than just a weekend of movie screenings. Thus, the festival that opened on Nov. 6, 2003, was a large, sophisticated, 11-day event whose goal was to bring unseen films to Milwaukee and to make Milwaukeeans even more proud of their city.

The Shepherd Express was the founding sponsor, but couldn’t support the festival singlehandedly. It would also need to raise financial support from local businesses, foundations and individuals. Major corporations got behind the festival. Included were Roundy’s, Time Warner Cable, Reinhard Boerner, Baird and Laughlin Constable. Support came from foundations such as Bader, Brico, Greater Milwaukee Foundation and others. In subsequent years, MIFF received support from Potawatomi, the Lubar Family Foundation, the Jack Rosenberg Charitable Foundation and others. MIFF sought involvement from community and ethnic groups in cosponsoring films of interest to their constituents.

Goals of the Festival 

MIFF was started with four goals in mind.

One: Break down biases and prejudices in our society. MIFF believed that better understanding of other cultures could be achieved by viewing high-quality cinema from around the globe via the festival’s World Cinema program. 

Two: Make the festival a learning opportunity for local high school students. MIFF brought some of its highly educational films into high schools where teacher volunteers led pre- and post-screening discussions. The festival would also create year-round programs where students learned how to write a screenplay or learn all of the techniques and skills necessary to produce a short film.

Three: Bring screenwriters, directors and the best cinema in the world to Milwaukee for 11 days each fall, creating an event that would make Milwaukee an exciting place where young professionals would want to work and live.

Four: Encourage the development of a filmmaking industry in Milwaukee and all of the businesses and jobs associated with it. If this strategy worked, thousands of high-paying jobs could be had for the city. MIFF also created a Midwest filmmaker competition to begin to build the image of Milwaukee as a center for independent filmmaking, as well as a Milwaukee Issues program of videos examining local concerns. 

The Challenge of Creating Something New 

While planning the first festival and asking people for their support, many told Fortis and Luhrssen things like, “It just won’t work in Milwaukee,” or, “There was a reason that there was no film festival in Milwaukee,” or, “If you are able to pull off a festival the first year, don’t assume that there will be a second year.” And on and on. 

However, there were enough people who believed there was a new Milwaukee that was striving to be a great 21st-century city. Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, was perhaps the most heroic. Without her help, there might never have been a second festival.

Even before he decided to run for mayor, Tom Barrett said the festival was something Milwaukee desperately needed. “Just tell me how I can help,” he told us. And another early player was attorney Matt Flynn, who was on a number of arts boards and was especially helpful. 

For example, when Flynn and Fortis met with Dick Abdoo, CEO of WE Energies, Abdoo said, “I will support the festival, but if we make a financial commitment, how do I know that the festival will actually happen?” Fortis told him he would guarantee that a festival would be launched and that the Shepherd Express would end up being the angel if there was a shortfall in revenue. It would lend MIFF the money to put on a world class festival. Abdoo said fine and WE Energies was onboard.

Luhrssen became the festival’s executive director and hired Jonathan Jackson, formerly manager of the UWM Union Cinema, as programming director. Operations director Rubina Shafi played a key role, including organizing a memorable opening night party at the Renaissance Place on Milwaukee’s East Side. When Jackson was temporarily sidelined by health issues, MIFF asked Eric Levin, owner-manager of the Times Cinema, to stepin as acting programming director. A team of eager volunteers assisted in organizing the festival including Mark Metcalf—a star of Animal House—who lived in Milwaukee at the time. The festival recruited an impressive advisory board numbering former Mayor John Norquist, future Mayor Tom Barrett, Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Senator Russ Feingold, Francis Ford Coppola biographer Michael Schumacher, Violent Femmes drummer Victor DeLorenzo, singer-songwriter Willy Porter and Summerfest Director Bo Black.

MIFF’s November 2003 festival was a great success in bringing excellent world-class cinema to Milwaukee, and also sparking excitement and interest in a broad base of Milwaukeeans. The festival was on the local news each night for the entire 11 days. Members of various ethnic communities contacted MIFF to say how proud they were to see a movie from their country or heritage being screened at the festival.

The Milwaukee International Film Festival operated under its original management for five years through 2007. When the Shepherd stepped back, the Milwaukee International Film Festival morphed into Milwaukee Film with Jonathan Jackson assumeing the role of executive director.

Off to a great start in 2002, Mayor Barrett said, “I’m incredibly impressed that an independent group like the Shepherd Express just stepped forward and created an institution of this magnitude. It was an extraordinary gift to our city.”