Photo: Shari & Lamb Chop - shariandlambchopdoc.com
Shari & Lamb Chop
Shari & Lamb Chop
This year’s Milwaukee Film Festival will present 300 films (131 features and 169 shorts) at four venues—the Oriental Theater, the Times Cinema, the Avalon Theater and here’s the big news, the reopened Downer Theater. “We’re really excited about bringing the Downer back into our footprint,” said Artistic Director Cara Ogburn at the festival’s March 25 media event at the Oriental. For many filmgoers, the Downer and the festival’s hub, the Oriental, are within walking distance. “It’s the right size of a festival for our city,” Ogburn added.
In a shift away from virtual and an embrace of live experience, most films in this year’s festival will be shown two or three times on big screens. Among the attractions are opportunities to speak with filmmakers and post-screening parties. Among the highlights this year are Shari & Lamb Chop, a documentary on Shari Lewis, the woman behind the beloved sock puppet; and Fawzia Mirza’s The Queen of My Dreams, a Bollywood romantic romp through Swinging Karachi circa 1969; and the animated, no dialogue Robot Dreams, set in ‘80s New York with the Twin Towers looming overhead. The Milwaukee Film Festival has the advantage of drawing from movies already tested at Berlin, Cannes and other major festivals from around the world.
As in past seasons, the 2024 festival includes several distinct programming tracks. Among them, Art & Artists (featuring Wim Wenders’ documentary Anselm and a Gene Wilder biography), Black Lens (emerging filmmakers of African heritage), Cinema sans Frontiers (focused on Latin American experiences), Cinema Hooligante (cult flicks), Cream City Cinema (Milwaukee filmmakers) Documentary Features (from war in Ukraine and Palestinian repression to education and feral cats). The documentaries look at “our common humanity, our common struggles,” Ogburn said. Other programming tracks include Genrequeer, North American Independents, Rated K: For Kids and Shorter is Better.
The Milwaukee Film Festival runs April 11-25. For tickets and more information, visit mkefilm.org.
