33 movies you should check out at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·10 min read

Milwaukee Film Festival organizers hope the third time will be the charm.

The 2023 film festival, which runs from April 20 to May 4, is in spring for the third straight year. Unlike a fall film festival — held when movies and their makers are gearing up for award season — a spring festival attracts films and filmmakers hoping their works will be discovered by audiences who can spread the word.

So far, Milwaukee ticket-buyers seem to be in discovery mode. Even before the 2023 festival's lineup was announced, sales of ticket packages and all-access passes were up 20%. And about 200 people came out to the Oriental Theatre, the film festival's flagship venue, for a preview event April 6, the day the lineup was unveiled.

As important, this year's festival attracted a number of movies that premiered at bigger festivals earlier this year, such as the Sundance Film Festival and the SXSW Film & TV Festival (aka South by Southwest), said Cara Ogburn, artistic director of Milwaukee Film, the nonprofit that operates the Milwaukee Film Festival.

“That filmmakers … see Milwaukee as a place they want to play after they premiere at Sundance or South by (Southwest) kind of tells us that that’s a bet that’s paying off,” she said of the move to spring.

With 135 feature films and 19 programs of short films, there's a lot to discover — and a lot to sort through.

This might help.

Here's a guide to some of the must-see movies at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival, organized by topics of moviegoing interest. The full lineup is available at the festival's website, mkefilm.org/mff23.

Tickets go on sale online April 12 (April 10 for Milwaukee Film members) and at the Oriental box office starting April 14.

Tickets are available at the festival website and the Oriental box office. Except where noted, tickets at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival are $15; $14 for seniors 60 and older, students and educators, and members of the military, $13 for Milwaukee Film members, and $8 for kids 12 and younger.

The movies are showing at the Oriental, the Times Cinema and the Avalon Theater.

Movies you can see before they go into wide release

From left, Abby Ryder Fortson, Amari Alexis Price, Wilmington actress Elle Graham and Katherine Mallen Kupferer in the movie "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," out April 28.
From left, Abby Ryder Fortson, Amari Alexis Price, Wilmington actress Elle Graham and Katherine Mallen Kupferer in the movie "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," out April 28.

‘Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret’

Judy Blume’s beloved coming-of-age story finally makes it to the big screen, with Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and newcomer Abby Ryder Fortson. It opens in wide release four days after its debut at the film festival.

5:30 p.m. April 24, Oriental (premium screening; tickets are $20)

Forrest Goodluck stars as a member of a group of young environmental activists who plan a destructive assault on the oil industry in "How to Blow Up a Pipeline."
Forrest Goodluck stars as a member of a group of young environmental activists who plan a destructive assault on the oil industry in "How to Blow Up a Pipeline."

‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’

This story, a thriller adapted from a climate activist’s controversial manifesto, is expected to open in Milwaukee theaters later this spring.

9:30 p.m. April 24, Oriental; 6:45 p.m. April 26, Times

With unprecedented access to Mary Tyler Moore’s vast archive, the new documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore” chronicles the screen icon whose career spanned 60 years.
With unprecedented access to Mary Tyler Moore’s vast archive, the new documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore” chronicles the screen icon whose career spanned 60 years.

‘Being Mary Tyler Moore’

The new documentary, co-produced by Lena Waithe (“Queen & Slim”), explores the life and career of one of TV’s most influential figures in front of and behind the camera. It’s expected to air on HBO in May.

2:30 p.m. April 29, Oriental; 12:30 p.m. May 4, Oriental

Movies with a Wisconsin accent

"Beyond Human Nature" tells the story of Tom Monfils, who died in November 1992 after he called the police on a fellow millworker.
"Beyond Human Nature" tells the story of Tom Monfils, who died in November 1992 after he called the police on a fellow millworker.

‘Beyond Human Nature’

This documentary takes a deep dive into the 1992 investigation of the death of Tom Monfils at a Green Bay paper plant, and discovers finding truth is a tricky business. It’s a long time coming; filmmaker Michael Neelsen (“Last Day at Lambeau”) began shooting the documentary in 2014.

12:30 p.m. April 29, Times; 9:15 p.m. May 1, Oriental

RELATED: Documentary about 30-year-old Tom Monfils case makes world premiere Friday in Green Bay

After Randi Johnson, left, had a mastectomy, her entrepreneur husband Brian Johnson wanted to find a way to make her healing go better. The Eau Claire couple's solution, perfecting a prosthetic nipple, is the focus of the documentary "Mom & Dad's Nipple Factory," which will have its world premiere as the opening-night movie at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival.

‘Mom & Dad’s Nipple Factory’

Justin “Justinsuperstar” Johnson directed this documentary/love story about his father, an Eau Claire entrepreneur named Brian Johnson who, after his wife Randi survives breast cancer and a mastectomy, sets out with his wife to invent a realistic prosthetic nipple to help her through the healing process. The Johnson family, along with others involved in the production, will be on hand for the April 20 screening — which also is the movie’s world premiere.

6:30 p.m. April 20, Oriental (opening night; tickets are $20); 12:30 p.m. April 21, Oriental

The filmmakers behind "Lake Michigan Monster" are back with "Hundreds of Beavers."
The filmmakers behind "Lake Michigan Monster" are back with "Hundreds of Beavers."

‘Hundreds of Beavers’

A drunken applejack salesman has to defeat, you guessed it, hundreds of beavers in this horror comedy — in black and white, with no dialogue — from the makers of another campy Wisconsin horror movie, “Lake Michigan Monster.”

9:30 p.m. April 28, Oriental; 9 p.m. May 2, Oriental

US Air Force JAG Attorney Yvonne Bradley shares her odyssey through justice by way of Guantanamo Bay in Milwaukee filmmaker Chris James Thompson's "We Are Not Ghouls."
US Air Force JAG Attorney Yvonne Bradley shares her odyssey through justice by way of Guantanamo Bay in Milwaukee filmmaker Chris James Thompson's "We Are Not Ghouls."

‘We Are Not Ghouls’

Milwaukee filmmaker Chris James Thompson (“The Jeffrey Dahmer Files,” “MECCA: The Floor That Made Milwaukee Famous”) extends his documentary reach following an Air Force attorney’s journey defending a death-penalty defendant being held at Guantanamo Bay.

6:30 p.m. April 30, Times; 4:45 p.m. May 3, Oriental

The Black String Triage Ensemble, shown performing after a shooting on Milwaukee's East Side in 2019, is the focus of Marquise Mays' documentary short "Black Strings," showing at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival.
The Black String Triage Ensemble, shown performing after a shooting on Milwaukee's East Side in 2019, is the focus of Marquise Mays' documentary short "Black Strings," showing at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival.

‘Homegrown: Future Visions’

This collection of short documentaries, produced by Firelight Media in partnership with PBS and the Center for Asian American Media, features eight docs made by filmmakers of color from the Midwest. Among them: Milwaukee’s Marquise Mays, with “Black Strings,” on the African American ensemble that performs on the scene after incidents of gun violence in Milwaukee.

6:30 p.m. April 22, Oriental

Movies about pop-culture giants

The making of "The Star Wars Holiday Special" is recounted in jaw-dropping detail in "A Disturbance in the Force."
The making of "The Star Wars Holiday Special" is recounted in jaw-dropping detail in "A Disturbance in the Force."

‘A Disturbance in the Force’

Few pop-culture moments have been more baffling — or little-seen — than “The Star Wars Holiday Special,” a 1978 TV special that George Lucas has spent 45 years trying to bury. This documentary, the festival’s closing-night movie, shows things you won’t be able to unsee.

7:15 p.m. May 4, Oriental

"Black Barbie: A Documentary" recounts the development of the Black Barbie doll through the stories of the three women who made it possible.
"Black Barbie: A Documentary" recounts the development of the Black Barbie doll through the stories of the three women who made it possible.

‘Black Barbie: A Documentary’

Filmmaker Lagueria Davis explores the origins of the first Black Barbie doll (named Christie), and the trio of Black women (including Davis’ aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell) who made it possible.

5:45 p.m. April 23, Avalon; 4 p.m. May 1, Oriental

‘Enter the Dragon’

Bruce Lee’s 1973 martial-arts landmark gets a 50th-anniversary showing on 35-millimeter film. Dori Zori and Kristopher Pollard, co-hosts of the “Cinebuds” podcast, lead an audience Q&A after the screening.

7:30 p.m. May 1, Oriental

Movies that show how we got this way

"1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture" recounts a change in the translation of a Bible passage more than 75 years ago that helped shape the anti-gay movement in America.
"1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture" recounts a change in the translation of a Bible passage more than 75 years ago that helped shape the anti-gay movement in America.

‘1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture’

Until 1946, the word homosexual could not be found anywhere in the Bible. That year, a new translation of a Greek word in the New Testament in the Revised Standard Text altered the meaning of a passage — and bolstered the anti-gay movement in the United States for decades. This documentary shows the efforts to trace back to how the translation happened, and its impact since.

11 a.m. April 22, Oriental; 1 p.m. May 2, Oriental

Think the Gamestop stock shuffle and the Jan. 6 insurrection aren't related? The documentary "The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution" begs to differ.
Think the Gamestop stock shuffle and the Jan. 6 insurrection aren't related? The documentary "The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution" begs to differ.

‘The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution’

What do the Jan. 6 insurrection and the Gamestop stock squeeze have in common? More than you might have thought, according to this new documentary by Ondi Timoner (“Dig!”). It’s showing on April 29 in a rare film-festival double feature with another of Timoner’s documentaries exploring digital culture, 2009’s “We Live in Secret.”

Noon April 29, Oriental (double feature; tickets are $20); 9:15 p.m. May 1, Oriental

In the documentary "And the king said, what a FANTASTIC MACHINE," filmmakers Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck use archival footage to track the history and philosophy of images and their meaning in society.
In the documentary "And the king said, what a FANTASTIC MACHINE," filmmakers Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck use archival footage to track the history and philosophy of images and their meaning in society.

‘And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine!’

This Swedish-Danish documentary blends more than 150 years of archival footage, from early photographic experiments to foolishly death-defying selfies, to show the camera’s impact on society.

8:30 p.m. April 28, Oriental; 3:30 p.m. May 1, Oriental

‘Join or Die’

Twenty-three years ago, an influential book called “Bowling Alone” looked at the decline of connected-ness during the end of the 20th century. This documentary looks at where the trends have gone since (spoiler: we’re lonelier than ever) and what it might mean for democracy.

1 p.m. April 21, Oriental; 6:30 p.m. April 22, Avalon

Elaine McMillion Sheldon's "King Coal" explores the legacy of coal in the life and culture of Appalachia.
Elaine McMillion Sheldon's "King Coal" explores the legacy of coal in the life and culture of Appalachia.

‘King Coal’

Part real-life chronicle and part impressionist storytelling, this documentary by Elaine McMillion Sheldon embraces the past, present and future of Appalachia and the role coal has played in its identity and culture, for good and ill.

6:30 p.m. May 1, Avalon; 9:30 p.m. May 2, Avalon

Movies that take you inside communities you might not know

When the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma begins censoring its free press, a reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in the documentary "Bad Press."
When the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma begins censoring its free press, a reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in the documentary "Bad Press."

‘Bad Press’

When a reporter for Mvskoke Media in the Muscogee Nation tries to tell the truth about tribal leadership, it sets off a battle over independent media and, as this documentary shows, the fight to hold government accountable.

5 p.m. April 29, Avalon; 1:30 p.m. May 3, Avalon

‘Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter’

Trotter was a Chicago master chef who rewrote the rules on fine dining in America and all but created the role of celebrity chef. He also was a man driven to push himself (he died of a stroke at age 54) and others beyond normal limits; this documentary portrait examines his life and legacy in contemporary restaurant culture.

Noon April 24, Oriental; 4:30 p.m. April 30, Oriental

‘Finding Satoshi’

What started as an online puzzle — find a man in a photograph known only as Satoshi — turned into an alternate-reality game that connected hundreds of thousands of players around the world. This documentary, narrated by Appleton native Willem Dafoe, celebrates the way technology can actually bring people together.

9:30 p.m. April 26, Avalon; 4:30 p.m. May 2, Avalon

A teenager is determined to bring her murdered brother back from the dead in the "Frankenstein"-inspired thriller "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster."
A teenager is determined to bring her murdered brother back from the dead in the "Frankenstein"-inspired thriller "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster."

‘The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster’

After her brother is murdered, a brilliant teenager sets out to bring him back to life in this thriller about the survival of family in the face of systemic threats, inspired by Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”

10 p.m. April 21, Oriental; 8 p.m. April 23, Times

A Hmong man returns to help his family as they struggle with their father's health crisis in "The Harvest."
A Hmong man returns to help his family as they struggle with their father's health crisis in "The Harvest."

‘The Harvest’

In this drama, a Hmong man returns home to help his struggling family in southern California and finds their world turned upside down because of traditions, secrets and his father’s resistance to medical treatment for kidney failure.

6:30 p.m. April 21, Times; 4:30 p.m. April 23, Oriental

Amin Joseph and Skye P. Marshall in a scene from director-writer Qasim Basir's Detroit-filmed movie, "To Live and Die and Live."
Amin Joseph and Skye P. Marshall in a scene from director-writer Qasim Basir's Detroit-filmed movie, "To Live and Die and Live."

‘To Live and Die and Live’

A Hollywood filmmaker with a hidden addiction returns to his native Detroit for a funeral and is pulled back into the city’s drug-saturated after-hours world. Qasim Basir wrote and directed this story of pain and community.

8:15 p.m. April 30, Oriental; 9:30 p.m. May 3, Avalon

Movies about friends and families (some of them dysfunctional)

‘Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberita’

Unlikely pals Ernest (a bear and a violinist) and Celestine (a mouse) are back, and they’re hitting the road to Ernest’s hometown, the home to the world’s greatest musicians and as well as Ernest’s father – a judge upholding the town’s ban on music. The original “Ernest & Celestine” movie was a delight; this one, also appropriate for kids ages 6 and older, looks to be more of the same.

11 a.m. April 23, Oriental; 10:15 a.m. April 29, Times

‘I Like Movies’

An Ontario teenager obsessed with becoming a filmmaker talks his way into a job at the local video store in this Canadian coming-of-age comedy.

6:30 p.m. April 21, Oriental; 9:30 p.m. May 2, Oriental

Seret Scott in a scene from Kathleen Collins' "Losing Ground" (1982).
Seret Scott in a scene from Kathleen Collins' "Losing Ground" (1982).

‘Losing Ground’

This 1982 drama about a couple at a crossroads, one of the first feature films directed by a Black woman (Kathleen Collins), gets a welcome spotlight.

7:45 p.m. April 23, Oriental

In the French road adventure "Okthanksbye," a pair of teenagers sneak away from their school for the deaf to find an ailing grandmother.
In the French road adventure "Okthanksbye," a pair of teenagers sneak away from their school for the deaf to find an ailing grandmother.

‘Okthanksbye’

A pair of teenagers sneak away from their school for the deaf to find an ailing grandmother in Paris in this French road adventure, told mostly with signed dialogue.

11 a.m. April 22, Times; 10:30 a.m. April 23, Oriental

A couple's attempt to punish their son backfires, with life-changing repercussions, in "The Punishment."
A couple's attempt to punish their son backfires, with life-changing repercussions, in "The Punishment."

‘The Punishment’

When their son misbehaves during a road trip, a couple decide to leave him by the side of the road as punishment. But when they return, he’s vanished, triggering a police investigation and parental second-guessing in this Argentine-Chilean thriller, shot in one continuous take.

6 p.m. April 21, Avalon; 12:30 p.m. April 26, Oriental

Franz Rogowski, center, finds himself caught between an affair with a young woman (Adele Exarchopoulos) and his relationship with his husband in "Passages."
Franz Rogowski, center, finds himself caught between an affair with a young woman (Adele Exarchopoulos) and his relationship with his husband in "Passages."

‘Passages’

A German filmmaker in Paris (Franz Rogowski, “Transit,” “Undine”) begins an affair with a young woman (Adele Exarchopoulos), complicating his relationship with his husband (Ben Whishaw) in this festival-favorite drama by Ira Saches.

1 p.m. April 21, Avalon; 8:45 p.m. April 30, Avalon

Movies that take you to another world

Fritz Lang's 1927 futuristic classic "Metropolis" will be shown at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival with live-music accompaniment by the Anvil Orchestra.
Fritz Lang's 1927 futuristic classic "Metropolis" will be shown at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival with live-music accompaniment by the Anvil Orchestra.

‘Metropolis’

The template for a century of science fiction was laid with this stunning 1927 classic, in which the technocrat rulers of a futuristic city face an underclass on the brink of rebellion. The silent movie features live music accompaniment by the Anvil Orchestra; traditionally, this event has been one of the festival’s hottest tickets.

7:30 p.m. April 27, Oriental (premium screening; tickets are $20)

It's bears vs. unicorns in the surreal animated comedy horror movie "Unicorn Wars."
It's bears vs. unicorns in the surreal animated comedy horror movie "Unicorn Wars."

‘Unicorn Wars’

A pair of brother bears join the fight against a unicorn army in this animated horror comedy/allegory that the festival describes as “ ‘Bambi’ meets ‘Apocalypse Now’.”

9:30 p.m. April 21, Times; 11 p.m. April 29, Oriental

"32 Sounds" is a cinematic meditation on the impact of sound in our lives.
"32 Sounds" is a cinematic meditation on the impact of sound in our lives.

’32 Sounds’

To investigate the grip that sound has on the imagination, filmmaker Sam Green crafted this immersive meditation on how sound shapes and reshapes who we are and how we feel using 32 recordings.

Noon April 28, Oriental; 1:30 p.m. April 29, Oriental

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself as a director who winds up in trouble with the authorities in "No Bears."
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself as a director who winds up in trouble with the authorities in "No Bears."

‘No Bears’

Embattled filmmaker Jafar Pahani (who recently was released from prison in Iran) plays a version of himself in this story of a director who, after traveling to a rural border town to make a movie, gets caught up in a local scandal.

7 p.m. April 22, Times; 3:30 p.m. April 24, Times

‘R.M.N.’

Returning to his village in Transylvania, a man discovers a town in tumult after the local bakery hires a bunch of newcomers in the latest drama from award-winning Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”).

Noon April 21, Oriental; 8:30 p.m. April 24, Oriental

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 33 movies you should check out at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival