Cactus Club Independent Film Fest
The second annual Cactus Club Independent Film Festival is happening later this week. The four-day event includes short and feature length films, documentaries and animation, from new and emerging filmmakers from around the world. The festival will be eld at Cactus Club Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 10-13. Doors open at 6 p.m.
The event is an outgrowth of Moving Image, the Cactus Club’ monthly series screening work by indie filmmakers. Moving Image’s Carolann Grzybowski answered some questions.
Why did you decide to launch this festival? Are its objectives different from other film festivals in Milwaukee?
As an emerging filmmaker, I’ve experienced first-hand how difficult it is to have work recognized at film festivals when you have little to no budget, limited experience and feel disconnected from the broader film network. I knew I wanted to foster more opportunities for first timers, genre bending experimental filmmakers, and queer and BIPOC creatives.
When I came on as an intern at Cactus Club in 2022, I had the opportunity and support to bring this dream to fruition. Film festivals are not just forums of “show and tell,” rather they create a space for community, connection and learning. It wasn’t until I coordinated the first Cactus Club Independent Film Festival that I realized being part of a festival network offers a sense of belonging, acceptance and empowerment.
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I think our objectives are a little different from other Milwaukee film fests. Above all we hope to create a safe place for filmmakers of all backgrounds to take pride in their work. I would love for our fest to aid in a dramatic positive evolution for our city, but what really brings me fulfillment is seeing the work of growing artists provoke connection to the creatives around them. For young folks to be in charge of their own belonging- that’s where it starts.
How do you program the festival? Is there a jury-committee? If so, who’s on it and what are their backgrounds?
We organize our submission call by genre: experimental, diaristic, documentary, narrative, feature films and installation pieces. After the final selection process, I included at least one film from each genre in our different shorts programs. These were paired together by the themes, styles and runtimes that fit best together.
The hope is for audience members to watch films outside their comfort zone and engage in conversation over material they might not normally seek out. We don’t judge the films through a jury, rather we invite the audience to vote on their favorite films from the fest. Each filmmaker that wins an audience award is offered the opportunity to become a guest film curator at Cactus Club. Competition is not meant to be the focus of the fest, I think there’s enough of that in this field. However, we did want to find a way to give filmmakers the authorship to model their own screening or workshop and continue to bring new perspectives to our Moving Image program.
Tell me about the films and the filmmakers in this year’s festival.
Our film submissions doubled from last year and originated from over 28 different countries which was an incredible honor. After a very difficult selection process, we have chosen 51 films to be screened in our festival this year. Every single film brings something unique to the table. Infernal Flesh, one of our two feature films screens Friday August 11 at 7:30 p.m. This offbeat DIY thriller-comedy was made over 12 years by Milwaukee native, Vincent Maslowski. An intelligently gory home-movie style fever dream that will make you convulse with either laughter or nausea.
Switching gears completely, director Hanna Norberg-Williams of the United Kingdom will screen their experimental animation, Eating Soup with a Fork,with us on Thursday August 10 at 6:30 p.m. Every frame is a work of art in this textural masterpiece portraying neurodivergence through a character’s subconscious experience with the outside world. The full fest program can be found at cactusclubmilwaukee.com.
