Milwaukee Film Festival 2023 unveils its opening-night, closing-night and centerpiece movies

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·3 min read

For the Milwaukee Film Festival's 2023 edition, documentaries will have the first, last and middle word.

Milwaukee Film, the nonprofit that operates the film festival, unveiled its opening-night, closing-night and centerpiece movies Wednesday, as a prelude to the release of the festival's complete schedule Thursday.

While all three movies are documentaries, the resemblance stops there.

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The festival's opening-night movie is also a world premiere — and it's a Wisconsin story.

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.

  • Screening at the Oriental Theatre at 6:30 p.m. April 20, "Mom & Dad's Nipple Factory" tells the story of 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 — and launch an unlikely business success story. The quirky love story is directed by the Johnsons' son, Justin "Justinsuperstar" Johnson, and the Johnsons and the movie's crew will all be on hand for the red-carpet premiere.

The documentary "Little Richard: I Am Everything," chronicling the rock 'n' roll legend's influence as a Black and queer icon, is the centerpiece film at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival.
The documentary "Little Richard: I Am Everything," chronicling the rock 'n' roll legend's influence as a Black and queer icon, is the centerpiece film at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival.

  • The centerpiece film, "Little Richard: I Am Everything," celebrates the title rock 'n' roll pioneer (born Richard Penniman) as the groundbreaking star who broke boundaries for Black and queer performers despite the music industry's efforts to whitewash his image and his music. The documentary, by "All In: The Fight for Democracy" director Lisa Cortes, is showing at 6:15 p.m. at the Oriental.

"A Disturbance in the Force" dives into the making of "The Star Wars Holiday Special." (In case you were worried, this scene is from the documentary, but not from the holiday special.)
"A Disturbance in the Force" dives into the making of "The Star Wars Holiday Special." (In case you were worried, this scene is from the documentary, but not from the holiday special.)

  • The festival's closing-night movie makes the most of its date, May 4. "A Disturbance in the Force" chronicles the making of what's been called one of the worst television productions of all time — "The Star Wars Holiday Special." The May 4 (aka Star Wars Day) screening is at 7:15 p.m. at the Oriental.

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Tickets for the opening-night movie at the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival are $20; $18 for seniors 60 and older, students and educators, and members of the military; $17 for members of Milwaukee Film. Tickets to the screening include admission to the opening-night party after the movie at the Pritzlaff Building, 315 N. Plankinton Ave.; you can get in without a movie ticket for $15, $12 for Milwaukee Film members.

Tickets for the centerpiece and closing-night movies 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.

Tickets go on sale online April 12 (April 10 for Milwaukee Film members) and at the Oriental box office starting April 14. For info, go to mkefilm.org/mff.

The full 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival lineup will be released online April 6. Milwaukee Film also is holding what it's calling a Friends & Family Preview Night, offering highlights and trailers of some of this year's lineup, at the Oriental at 6:30 p.m. April 6. Admission is free.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival: Opening, closing, centerpiece movies