They are breathless and barely off the plane as they arrive for our interview. Writer Alice Austen and director Kirill Mikhanovsky had flown in from Moscow, but despite crossing half a world of time zones, they aren’t tired or jet-lagged. Instead, they ride a cresting wave of adrenaline. Their film, Give Me Liberty, shot and set in Milwaukee, had just opened to great acclaim in Russia.
“The premieres in St. Petersburg and Moscow were packed with the intelligentsia—writers, directors, actors. All of the premieres were packed with people,” Austen says. Mikhanovsky adds, “There wasn’t a single bad review and it’s a tough audience. They came to see something terrible made in America but 10 minutes into the film, people were in love with it.”
Already open on 120 Russian screens, according to Mikhanovsky, Give Me Liberty makes its Milwaukee debut on Aug. 22 at the Oriental Theatre. The story unfolds within a single day and follows a Russian-American immigrant (played by Chris Galust), driving one of those wheelchair-ready vans that transport the disabled to their appointments. Rather than casting actors in handicapped roles, Give Me Liberty employed local disabled people through the nonprofit Eisenhower Center.
The film took five years to complete, mostly from fund raising problems. “Everything that came our way was unexpected,” Mikhanovsky says. Early prospective investors deemed the film “unproduceable, uncastable.” Nevertheless, Give Me Liberty was accepted at Sundance, but in the dim light of Hollywood, it was regarded as “undistributable” because it fits none of the industry’s algorithms. One result of Sundance: the New York Times’ Manohla Dargis saw the film, writing that it “draws you in with its moving performances and blasts of broad comedy.”
Next stop for Give Me Liberty: Cannes. Normally, the festival only entertains world premieres but somehow the Sundance screening was overlooked. Like the film’s protagonist, Mikhanovsky is a Russian immigrant to Milwaukee, a factor that may have stimulated interest in his homeland. “People in Russia responded to its humanity,” he says. “I know it’s supposed to be cool to be cynical, but people were taken by its innocence. There’s still something innocent in America, despite everything going on in the world.”
Chicago’s Music Box Films decided to distribute Give Me Liberty in the U.S. After the Oriental, the film will fan out to theaters in other major cities.
“Cinematically, Milwaukee is an extraordinary city,” Austen says. “Our cinematographer was floored” by the varied architecture, landscape and seasons. “The people here were incredibly helpful once we started making the film. Milwaukee could become a place where people come to make movies.”
