'Give Me Liberty' premiered in Milwaukee Thursday night.
For a few hours Thursday evening Milwaukee got a taste of Hollywood.
Milwaukee Film hosted a full house at the Oriental Theater for a movie premier. Filmmakers Alice Austen and Kirill Mikahnovsky were on hand for the screening of their film, the 35mm print format of Give Me Liberty, along with members of the cast. At the red-carpet pre-film event Austen agreed that the film could be a springboard for future Milwaukee projects, “It is the spirit of the city,” she said.
It is certainly interesting to be sitting in the balcony of the Oriental Theater and see a van onscreen drive by the very building.
“We stuck by our guns to make the film in Milwaukee. That was a big point of ours. There was no attempt to take it anywhere else,” Mikahnovsky said, noting they turned down offers to make it elsewhere, “it is not a travel agency ad.” But is an incredible snapshot of the intersection where Russian, African-Americans and the disabled meet – they are all in the same boat.
Taking place in one chaos-filled day we meet Vic (Chris Galust), a young medical transport driver who gets talked into chauffeuring a cadre of elderly Russian immigrants to a funeral while attempting to make his rounds transporting disabled folks to their regular stops.
His intentions to do his job are stalled nearly every step of the way by his grandfather who needs special attention to clients who are not ready to be transported to Dima, the nephew of the Lila (a charismatically duplicitous Maxim Stoyanov), the subject of the funeral.
The story walks a delicate balance between comedy of errors and sheer frustration as Vic deals with his overbearing mother, a fender bender and a street protest blocking his route. His refrain of “10 minutes, tops.” to the dispatch operator rings hollow awful fast. An impossible-to-open jar of cabbage serves as a comic McGuffin.
Vic’s relationship with one passenger, the ALS-stricken Tracy (Lauren "Lolo" Spencer) is one of the story’s anchors. Woven among this rich tapestry is a team of non-professional actors who just happen to be disabled: Vic’s sagacious confidant (played by James Watson), Tracy’s wingman (Steve Wolski) and a poignant scene featuring blaring EDM at the in-patient facility.
The filmmakers chose to enhance the violently intense final scene by presenting it in black and white, heightening the sense of off-balance unreality.
Following the film, a Russian choir comprised of some of the film’s actors and accompanied by accordion performed.
Then came a Q&A session with the filmmakers. The challenges were many including budget and casting limitations. They were told the film was unmakeable, distributable and unmarketable. It has since played at both Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals.
Austen said they were intent on telling a story set in contemporary Milwaukee. Mikahnovsky, who attended UW-Milwaukee when his family came to the United States in the ‘90s said “the film was inspired by Milwaukee had to stay in Milwaukee.”
