Milwaukee International Short Film Festival 2024 poster
Next month, the Milwaukee International Short Film Festival returns to the Avalon Theater for their third run at the historic Bayview cinema. “We’re very happy there—it’s a beautiful venue and the staff is so accommodating and friendly,” says the festival’s founder and director, Ross Bigley.
The festival, let’s call it MISFF for short, began in the ‘90s but has been an annual event since 2004. For many years the programming was true to its name with a preponderance of short films from around the world. This year continues MISFF’s post-Covid trend of more Milwaukee, Wisconsin or at least Upper Midwest submissions. According to Bigley, no less than 90 percent of this year’s 55 titles are from Wisconsin filmmakers. The origin points for submissions “has switched dramatically,” he says. Perhaps the proliferation of small film festivals around the world has diminished the need for a director in, say, Iceland, to submit to a Milwaukee festival. “It could also be that we’ve taken care in building relations with local filmmakers. If you’re from here: ‘This festival does you right!’” Bigley insists.
Over the past 20 years, changing technology has enabled virtually anyone to make a movie, another factor in the growth of local filmmaking. Free editing and screenwriting software are available. Cameras are cheap and people can shoot from their phones. “Many of this year’s films are very Wisconsin,” Bigley says. “There’s a Midwest sensibility, a Wisconsin sensibility in our sense of humor and how we look at the world. Moreso than in previous years, this year’s festival has a very Wisconsin feel to it.”
With one exception—the Voices Heard track—Bigley watches all submissions and curates MISFF’s programming. “I like to have films that complement each other. They can complement each other in tone, in subject matter, in theme.” Many of this year’s submissions are under three minutes in length. Attention deficit filmmaking—or is it an awareness that brevity can convey more meaning than verbosity? “There also are more horror films than ever,” Bigley continues, including many made by women and people of color. “The genre is popular with younger people. Maybe it’s part of growing up over the past 20 years and seeing what the world is.”
Voices Heard: Voices Seen banner
That one exception to Bigley’s programming, Voices Heard, is a selection of 11 films by filmmakers of color from Milwaukee chosen by LaRheatra Cole, Shun Powell and Clarence Aumend. A panel discussion on “Being a Filmmaker of Color in MKE” will follow the Voices Heard screening on September 7. Also planned are a poetry slam, a virtual panel discussion on horror films, an after party and prizes for best films.
The Milwaukee International Short Film Festival runs September 7-8 at the Avalon Theater, 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Tickets are on sale at ntg-wi.com. For more information, visit mkeshortfest.blogspot.com.
