Milwaukee has not yet become a motion picturemecca—it’s not another Vancouver or Toronto. But more often than in the past, filmmakersfrom elsewhere are using our city as a backdrop and even a setting.
Russianborn director Kirill Mikhanovsky lived in Milwaukee for a time before moving onto Brazil, where he shot Sonhos de Peixe, winner of the Cannes festival’s prixregarde jeune. After spending several years in Cuba and back in Russia, he hasreturned to the U.S. to collaborate with Chicago playwright Alice Austen (whoseadaptation of Animal Farm is currently playing at Chicago’s SteppenwolfTheatre).
Their planned film, Give Me Liberty, isdescribed as a “fresh take on the American dream set in Milwaukee,” a formerfactory town in transition, “inspired by Mikhanovsky’s early experience as animmigrant driving handicapped transport.”
Mikhanovsky and Austen hope to begin filming inMilwaukee this winter. They are launching a Kickstarter campaign on Monday,Nov. 17 to help fund the project. For more information, go to their Kickstarter.
